Historic Tidbit: Congressman Frank Annunzio, an aging Chicago Democrat who chaired a banking subcommittee (and for a time the House Administration) was notorious for butchering colleague’s names. One day, while introducing Wisconsin colleague Jerry Klezca, he did it again to which Klezca replied, “Thank you Chairman Annunciation.”
My series on the six Jewish House members elected in a relatively small class of 22 continues (1980) continues.
Ron Wyden-Oregon
Wyden was a political novice whose victory over Congressman Robert Duncan was an upset. Duncan was enjoying a second life in the House more than a decade after nearly denying outgoing Governor Mark Hatfield a seat in the Senate in 1966 (it was a rare case of the Republican opposing the Vietnam War while the Democrat backed it). Duncan regained his House seat later, but the Portland area district was trending too liberal for Duncan. His complacency, and Wyden’s youth, helped him stun Duncan 60-40%.
Wyden grew up in Wichita (where another longtime Jewish Congressman, Dan Glickman,served)
Wyden ran for the Senate when Bob Packwood stepped down. He beat his Democratic colleague, Peter DeFazio in the primary but struggled in the general against Gordon Smith. Wyden was tripped up by not knowing the price of milk and for not being able to locate Bosnia on a map. But the special election came just after the government shutdown, and that was enough to propel Wyden to a 48-47% win. His three subsequent elections have been non-affairs.
In office, Wyden has acted as a champion of oversight and has been one of the most bi-partisan members. That has caused Wyden consternation from some members of his party, as his GOP sponsor of a major health reform piece was Paul Ryan. But Wyden seems to realize he was sent to DC for a mission and continues to persevere. With Jeff Bingaman’s retirement, he is now chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, a panel where cooperation, both bi-partisan and regional, is a must.
Tom Lantos-California
Lantos’ story is among the most compelling of any member on the hill. A Holocaust survivor who twice was sent to a concentration camp (and twice would escape), Lantos came to America from his native Hungary in 1980. His experience never led Lantos to forget human rights violations in any part of the world. He would co-chaired the Human Rights Caucus and was once arrested with other members outside the Sudanese embassy for protesting the atrocities in Darfur.
While Lantos’ voting record fit his San Francisco district like a glove, Lantos was more hawkish on defense matters. His vote for the Iraq War caused him problems late in his career, though never enough to seriously threaten his re-election. When the Democrats reclaimed the House, Lantos replaced Gejdenson as ranking member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, then became the panel’s Chairman when the Democrats retained the House. But Lantos would only hold the post for one year. He died of esophageal cancer in 2008 at 80. One footnote: Lantos’s son-in-law, Dick Swett, represented a district in New Hampshire for two terms, and his daughter Katrina sought the seat as well.
Sam Gejdenson-Connecticut
Sam Gejdenson may be the most obscure obscure Jewish member from ’80.Born in a displaced person’s camp in Hungary, Gejdenson was a farmer in eastern Connecticut.His voting record was reliably liberal, which caused him nary a re-election worry during his first decade, even in a mixed district.
Gejdenson was an assiduous backer of regional interests, particularly saving the Seawolf submarine base. By 1992, however, the climate changed. The anti-incumbent sentiment, already rising nationwide, was toxic here and Gejdenson was hurt by 40 overdrafts at the House bank. With CT-2 giving Ross Perot one of his best showings in the east, Gejdenson held just 51-49%. In 1994, against the same opponent, he escaped defeat by 21 votes (he led by just 2 the day after the election).
By 2000, Gejdenson appeared to be back on track but a late breaking scandal involving campaign workers caused backlash, and Gejdenson ended up a surprise second fiddle to St.Senator Rob Simmons.
Bob Shamansky-Ohio
Shamansky is easy to forget, as he was a one-term wonder. But his background and creativity was second to none. A Harvard Law graduate who became rich while in practice, Shamansky would go on to a tv career and brief tenure in Congress that resulted from an inattentive House incumbent. And throughout his life, he would come to embody the politics of caring about the next generation.
Indeed, his political career went counter to the national trend. In 1980, as legendary Democrats were falling, Shamansky was beating Samuel Devine, a Republican who had held a fairly reliably Republican district since 1958 (and who had beaten Shamansky once before in 1966). But DeVine’s voting record was a little right-of-center, possibly more in line with his fellow Ohian John Ashbrook, who in fact challenged Nixon for renomination in 1972.
DeVine had been on the Columbus political scene for three decades, starting with a stint in the Ohio General Assembly, where he chaired the Ohio Un-American Activities Committee. He then became Franklin County prosecuting attorney, before capturing a House seat in 1958. There, founded the Republican Regulars, which sought to pull the caucus to the right, and was a regular “no” on most Democratic legislation.
Sam DeVine (Photo from US House of Representatives)
DeVine also had another unique aspect. An FBI agent by trait, the 6’4 DeVine was a football referee, a task he continued even as a member of Congress. But he did spurn offers to referee. “The referee gets a lot of attention walking off yardage and signaling penalties,” he said. “That’s the kind of attention, it may be noted, that a politician can do without.”
But he also made moves which, given the fact that there was no political upside, had to be bizarrely altruistic, if not borderline suicidal even in such a GOP stronghold. He presented Spiro Agnew with dozens of signatures from GOP colleagues supporting him (Agnew would resign soon after). And DeVine was one of the people Nixon called from the plane en route to California after he resigned.
Nixon had carried the district with 68% in 1972, so it was all the more stunning that DeVine came within a cat’s whisker of losing the seat twice in a row. He beat Columbus Councilwoman Fran Ryan just 51-49% in 1974, and just 46-45% in ’76 (an Independent candidate almost certainly saved him). He lost Franklin but ran up enough of a margin in rural Delaware and Morrow Counties to squeak back in.
Was he impervious to the backlash? To an extent. But it’s more likely The Almanac of American Politics 1978 succinctly summed up DeVine’s problems, stating “there is something wrong with a Republican who didn’t carry Columbus.”
But by 1980, DeVine was top Republican on the House Commerce Committee and appeared on stronger ground. But Shamansky came at him hard. He’d spend $90,000 of his own money and ran some clever ads and was recognized from his past Columbus television presence. One of those ads asked “whether or not the district was properly represented. My approach was that my opponent doesn’t vote for the needs of the district.” And in a commercial that required Chutzpah, Shamansky linked himself to four-term Republican Governor Jim Rhodes on the issue of trade, an issue that played well with Ohio’s blue-collar work force. DeVine, Shamansky claimed, was beholden to corporate interests.
Sam DeVine-Wiki
Meanwhile, DeVine did not appear to have taken the challenge seriously. So when Shamansky beat him 53-47%, DeVine and nearly everyone else was surprised. The loss also made DeVine the only senior Republican to lose, and one of only three Republican House members (the other two had served less than a full term). DeVine was classy in defeat. “Winning 14 out of 15 isn’t bad,” he said. “I’m used to landslide victories but I have no regrets. The people of central Ohio have been good to me.” And by beating DeVine, Shamnasky would become the first Democrat since 1937 to hold the seat. But it would be brief.
In the House, Shamansky sat on the Foreign Affairs and Science and Technology Committees. And he went after the tobacco lobby which, partner James Feibel said “which was probably not politically astute for a freshman Congressman.” The oil and auto industry were not immune to Shamansky’s wrath either, as he advocated fuel efficient cars even while representing an area with many factories. But Shamansky was in politics for all the right reasons. Feibel would call him “one of the brightest people I’ve ever met, with a sharp sense of humor and unfailingly preppy wardrobe. He never stopped dressing as he did when he went to Harvard Law School, in the Ivy League tradition.”
But with 1982 shaping up to be a glorious year for Democrats nationally and in Ohio, it may not have mattered. But redistricting did not end on Shamansky’s side. But not enough. He became the only Democratic incumbent in the nation to lose his seat, to State Senator John Kasich, later a Presidential candidate and currently the state’s Governor.
Shamansky (Wiki)
Shamansky faded into oblivion, before mounting a bid for his old seat in 2006 against incumbent Pat Tiberi. Why did he do it?According to law partner James Feibel, “He was very concerned about the direction the country was headed in. There was nothing in it for him. He just really wanted to try to turn things around.” The Iraq War had given him momentum, and Republicans expressed concern late in the campaign. John Glenn, with whom Shamansky had served during his single term, cut an ad for him. But in the end, it wasn’t close. Tiberi won 58-42%. Shamansky died in 2011 at 84.
Shamansky during his 2006 comeback attempt (Photo by Worddomination.com)
Shamansky conceding defeat (Columbus Monthly file photo)
The 1980 elections nearly produced a 7th Jewish Democratic Congressman, as Joe Lieberman almost won a House seat in as well. In the only defeat of his career (save the 2006 Democratic primary in which his Indepenent bid was still able to keep his Senate career alive),he lost 52-46%. But Lieberman rebounded fast by becoming Attorney General two years later.
There was a Jewish Republican elected in 1980. Bobbi Fielder upset Jim Corman for a Los Angeles seat by 700 votes., While the busing issue, most credited her win to Jimmy Carter’s concession speech while voting in the western states was still well underway.
More and more Jewish Congressman are winning in the most unlikely places. Steve Cohen represents a heavily black district in Tennessee, and Gary Trauner came within 1,000 votes of winning a seat in Wyoming in 2006. New Hampshire long ago had a Jewish Senator, and very nearly another in 1992.
nd get this! One Senate seat in Minnesota has been held by four Jews in a role (Rudy Boschwitz, Paul Wellstone, Norm Coleman, and now, Al Franken).And for 18 years, the state of Wisconsin had two Jewish Senators (Herb Kohl and Russ Feingold), prompting “The Almanac of American Politics quipped that “only in America. The state with the largest German population has two Jewish Senators.” This is positive a testament to the fact that religion is sparsely considered by the voters.Joe Lieberman attested to this when he said, following the 2000 campaign, that he didn’t encounter a single negative incident relating to his Judaism.
While all 9 Jewish Senators in office last year were Democrats (as was every Congressman but Eric Cantor), as recently as 30 years ago, it was more even. In fact, after the 1982 elections, The chamber had eight Jewish Senators. Four (Levin, Zorinsky, Lautenberg, and Metzenbaum) were Democrats. And four (Boschwitz, Hecht, Rudman, and Specter) were Republicans.
In closing, 6 Jewish Democrats in a class of 22 is definitely worth noting. And If it sent a red herring (Jewish speak) to the rest of the conference, it is that the Chutzpah Caucus, complete with the noshing of bagels, will increased infinitesimally.