WELL, PARDON ME!

During a 1998 radio interview, former Congressman Dan Rostenkowski, who died yesterday from cancer at the age of 82, said, "With all the legislation that I passed, with all the history that I've written with respect to the economics of the country, they're always going to say there's a felon named Danny Rostenkowski. That's going to be the obituary." And that is what it should be; but it isn’t. The laudatory quotes that are coming from politicians falling over themselves to praise a man who stole from the people he was elected to serve are making me sick. Like this one from Democratic Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan on how the former congressman was devoted to the state of Illinois and Chicago and how Rostenkowski's efforts to help "regular people" wade through the tangle of government was "unparalleled." Even the Republicans are praising him. In a brief statement, former President George H.W. Bush asserted everyone in the Congress respected Rostenkowski. The former president added that he and his wife, Barbara, "loved him and will miss him.” Readers of this blog are educated enough to know about Rosty’s career as one of the most powerful United States Congressmen from 1959 to 1995, so I don’t have to dwell on that. Nor is it really necessary to write about how, during his chairmanship of the Ways and Means Committee from 1981 until 1984, he brought a lot of pork to Chicago and Illinois because various obituaries will list the legislation he worked on. So to paraphrase Marc Anthony, “I write to bury Rosty, not to praise him; the evil that men do lives after them.” Rosty was a politician of the old Democratic machine. Back then elected officials did what they wanted without regard to legalities or proprietary. A 1977 Chicago Tribune investigation found he had filled his congressional payroll with friends and business associates and was renting office space in his district from a building owned by his two sisters.

I want everyone to remember that in 1994, he was charged with 17 counts that included: Abusing Congressional Payroll: Accused of placing on his Congressional payroll from July 1971 to July 1992 at least 14 people who did little or no official work, but who performed a variety of personal services for him, his family, his family insurance businesses and his campaign organizations. Payments to these people exceeded $500,000. Trading Stamp Vouchers for Cash: Accused of taking cash on numerous occasions from 1978 to 1991 in exchange for vouchers that members of Congress used to buy stamps. Charged that he obtained at least $50,000 in cash by disguising transactions at the post office as stamp purchases. Misusing Office Expense Accounts: Accused of charging Congress more than $40,000 for items from the House stationery store, including hand-painted chairs, crystal sculptures, and fine china, which he gave as gifts to his friends. Misusing Personal Vehicles: Accused of buying seven vehicles from 1987 to 1992 for use by himself and his family and paying for them with more than $70,000 in official House funds, and $100,000 from his campaign funds. Obstruction of Justice: Charged that he had a House employee engrave brass plaques for him at no charge and then told the employee not to mention this to the grand jury investigating the case. He lost re-election to continue to represent the 5th Congressional District to Republican Michael Flanagan in 1994; ending his career in disgrace—one would think. In 1996, as his federal trial date neared he negotiated his last deal with the Federal government by pleading guilty to two counts of mail fraud. He served 15 months in prison, two months in a half-way house and had to pay a $100,000 fine. I attended the first luncheon that Rosty spoke at after his sentence was completed and it was one of the most nauseating events I was ever at. A room full of 350 prominent business and civic leaders; politicians and media stood and applauded him as he entered the room. I was the sole person to stay seated. I wrote letters to the editors of both the Sun Times and Tribune telling of my disgust. Both papers published the letters which I wish I still had so I could share the sentiments here again. When President Clinton pardoned Rosty in 2000, the New York Times published an editorial on December 23rd that read,”President Clinton's pardon yesterday of Dan Rostenkowski, the former chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee who pleaded guilty to mail fraud charges in 1996, is a misuse of the presidential pardoning power in order to pay back a loyal political lieutenant. We sought to caution Mr. Clinton last week to show restraint in exercising this extraordinary power during his last holiday season in office, but our cautionary note was replaced in most editions by an editorial on the Supreme Court's late-night ruling in the election case, so we return to the subject today.” In justifying the pardon, Clinton said, “Rostenkowski had done a lot for his country and had more than paid for his mistakes." We taxpayers paid also because Rosty received a federal pension of between $97,000 and $125,000 per year for the 16 years since he left office; that’s more than $1.5 million paid to a convicted felon. Great country we live in. May he rest in peace.