Historic Tidbit: Edith Nourse Rogers was among the first women to serve in Congress (her 35 plus years have only been surpassed by Barbara Mikulski). And Rogers, who served Massachusetts from 1925 until her death learned the disadvantages to being outnumbered by gender. One day, Rogers asked a male colleague to yield during debate and he replied, “Not now. It’s not very often that we men are in a position where we can make the ladies sit down and be quiet.”
By Scott Crass
The end of the 112th Congress saw a large turnover in membership. 84 new men and women took their seats in the House, along with 12 new Senators. A number wisely decided that the bickering and “do-nothing” reputation that seemed the moniker for the last Congress was enough incentive to head for the exits. But for many others, redistricting was the major culprit for Congressional career enders.
While the number of turnovers was less than the 96 freshman that entered following the GOP wave in 2010, and less than the recent record of 110 following 1992, it is still a hefty number. And it’s not just quantity. Many members who left, such as Washington’s Norm Dicks, California’s
Jerry Lewis and Howard Berman, had seniority that their respective states depended on greatly
.
Indeed, when it comes to states where the loss of seniority will be most significant, California leads the pack. At the beginning of the new Congress, the “Golden State” surrendered 224 years of seniority.
On the Republican side, Lewis led the pack with 24 years of House service, though David Dreier was close behind at 32 years. 13-termers Elton Gallegly and Wally Herger also decided to call it quits, as Mary Bono-Mack, Dan Lungren, and Brian Bilbray were unseated. Bono-Mack, who filled the seat of her late husband Sonny Bono, had been in office 14 1/2 years, while Lungren and Bilbray served 18 and 12 1/2 non-consecutive years respectively.
For the Democrats, Berman’s 30 years in office made him one of the House’s most senior members, but a Bay area member, Pete Stark, actually had more service. Stark, the fifth most longest serving member, was shown the door after 40 years of service. Bob Filner was elected Mayor of San Diego after 20 years of representing his city, while Joe Baca (13 1/2 years) and Laura Richardson (5 1/2 years) lost to fellow Democrats.
California’s high turnover emulated New York in 1992 when, the House bank scandal, the remap and retirements cost the “Empire State” just under 185 years (a slightly uneven number because Ted Weiss died that September&Bill Green had won Ed Koch’s seat in a 1978 special. Statewide, the blow spared no regions.
Four of the five members whose districts covered Long Island would be no more. Republicans Norm Lent and Ray McGrath, with influential seats on Energy and Commerce and Ways and Means retired. Democrat Bob Mrazek had been planning to challenge Senator Al D’Amato, but the revelation that his 978 overdrafts at the House Bank made him the highest among sitting members, caused him to retire as well. Suffolk County’s Tom Downey did not have nearly as many overdrafts as Mrazek, but voters decided that 151 was enough to bounce him. Downey had a senior position on Ways &Means, a seat that was all the more lucrative to his district due to his close proximity to powerful Chairman Dan Rostenkowski. Only George Hochbruecher retained his seat by the barest of margins, and ironically, he, not Downey, was expected to be a victim of the House bank. Hochbruechner had 49 House overdrafts.He did lose in 1994.
Additionally, five of the Empire State’s six Watergate babies retired or were defeated (Downey, Matt Mc Hugh, Henry Nowak, Steve Solarz, and Jim Scheuer, though the latter did have a brief stint prior to ’74. Only Buffalo’s John LaFalce stayed on).
The Ohio delegation suffered big blow in ’92 as well, though the Cleveland area took the bulk of the loss. 4 of 5 members, all Democrats, did not return, Dennis Echart, Ed Feighan, and Don Pease retired, while Mary Rose Oakar lost her seat to the banking scandal. Lou Stokes remained, and his seat on Appropriations was necessary. Ohio also lost two Republicans from central and southern Ohio who were part of the class of 1966, Chalmers Wylie and Clarence Miller. Two junior members, Democrat Charles Luken, and Republican Bob McEwen, also departed.
In order for the incoming and remaining members oif Congress in the 103rd to serve their people adequately, the lack of cooperation was not an option. Members of Congress of both parties, senior and not, had to work together for the good of their people. And while there were partisan skirmishes — a democracy must have some, things got done.
I fear today that it might not happen. We saw the vote on the Sandy relief package. While the members from the Mid-Atlantic region stuck together, others did not. The $9 billion package that John Boehner brought to the House floor only after his Speakership was darned near crushed, we saw 67 “no” votes. Several of those members were from states prone to Hurricanes, and when the local press began attacking them mercilessly, their minds were changed darned fast for the ensuing $59 billion package, which saw an even larger 180 dissensions.
Curiously, one of the members who changed his mind, Steve Palazzo of Mississippi, earned a primary threat from the Club for Growth which means that, politically speaking at least, the situation is not always win-win. Yet if every member of Congress followed his/her conscience, the political atmospherics would take care of themselves.
Beyond the newspaper criticism, Palazzo was persuaded to change his mind when a colleague from New Jersey invited him to tour the Sandy ravaged Jersey coast. Therein lies another problem. Many believe one reason for the breakdown of collegiality (and as a result productivity) is that, unlike the past, members of Congress have little quality time together.
Delaware Senator Tom Carper was the most recent Senator to address the matter on the floor. He said once votes end, people are in a rush to get out of dodge (that being DC), the 24 hour fundraising, etc. He spoke of how many people from far-away states would stay in DC on weekends. Another fact is that many members on opposite sides got along because they’re kids often played sports together. Many even carpooled to work together.
During their service together, Democrat Tom Harkin, one of the Senate’s most liberal members, and Republican Steve Symms, who next to Jesse Helms was likely the most conservative, commuted to work every day. If these folks could do it, so could folks of today. At the very least, it would foster more understanding.
The bottom line is that the crushing loss of House seniority among many delegations in 1992 proved no vice to remaining members bonding together to take care of the folks back home. Today, there is little of that. Hopefully, that must change. In a representative government, it darned well must.