Fifteen still in Congress for at least 37 years, so far!

The longest serving members of the U.S. Congress –both Democrats and Republicans—prove by their voting records that the longer they’re in there, the further from the people they drift.  I flinch when I see the reference to “serving” because it implies that they serve the people by honoring the rule of law and keeping their oaths of office. A study of their records shows that, by far, most of them tend to serve themselves, --first, by making getting reelected Job One. Many have become very rich in office. Harry Truman said, “You can’t get rich in politics unless you’re a crook.”

They’re not all bad guys. But most have long since offered innovative ideas or examined long-outdated programs and damn few have tried to limit spending. Hence, our $20 trillion --and growing! -- national debt. This criticism applies to the hundreds who have been in Congress for too many years in addition to these old boys.

National Taxpayers Union (NTU) is the non-partisan Voice of America's Taxpayers. NTU mobilizes elected officials and the general public on behalf of tax relief and reform, lower and less wasteful spending, individual liberty, and free enterprise. It rates individual members of Congress by their voting records. We’ll use their ratings to some extent help understand each of those referenced here.  

  The late Sen. Robert Byrd (D- WV), a former Ku Klux Klan leader, holds the record in the Senate at 57.5 years, he retired in 2010. Rep. John Dingell (D-MI) beat that record –he was At The Trough since 1955! –a total of 59 years!

--Connect to the links indicated by the blue letters for details on the members for whom we have produced posters. –

Those still in Congress with exceptionally long tenure are:

In office for 53 years is Rep. John Conyers NTU: Big Spender (D-MI) currently in the news for sexual harassment.  He’ll not be running again in 2008.

Sen. Thad Cochran NTU:C (R-MS) has been in Congress for 45 years as has Rep. Don Young NTU: B-  (R-AK)

Sen. Patrick Leahy NTU:F Big Spender  (D-VT) and Sen. Chuck Grassley NTU:B (R-IA) are at 43 years and counting.  Grassley doesn’t have the worst overall record, but he has insured his reelections by becoming the “Godfather of the Corn Ethanol Lobby” by pandering to farmers with the costly law mandating the addition of ethanol to gasoline. 

Rep. Ed Markey NTU: D Poor (D-MA) and Sen. Orin Hatch  NTU: C (R-UT) 41 years and still spending like mad. All but one of the career pols mentioned here have contributed more than their share to grow the national debt.

The exception in this 37+-years group that proves the rule is our one  NTU: A  Taxpayers’ Friend, James Sensenbrenner, Jr. (R-WI)  who has served 39 years, so far. Also, still in there at 39 years and counting is Sen. Richard Shelby NTU: C+ (R-AL). 

Several are still in there after 37 years in Congress:  Of these, all Democrats, are rated “F” by NTU, Big Spenders, all. They are Sen. Ron. Wyden (D-OR), Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD). 

 Rep. Harold “Hal” Rogers NTU: B (R-KY), Sen. Pat Roberts  NTU: B  (R-KS), and Rep. Chris Smith NTU: C+ (R-NJ)  are all at about 37 years, so far. 

We’ve highlighted 15 of the top 110 who are still at the trough for more than 36 years as of this date and we’ll feature more of them in future posters. Interestingly, only nine of the entire 110 were defeated in a general election.  Yet, some people wonder why we need term limits.  On average, 95% of incumbents are reelected because of the advantages of incumbency with its name recognition and the massive amounts of money that lobbyists bestow on their “honest politicians.”  BTW, they define their honest pols as those who, once bought, stay bought.  

Most begin their “service” with good intentions and reasonable-sounding promises of spending restraint but the longer they’re in there the more they accede to their political party leadership and their supporting lobbyists’ demands for special interest favors and government spending on their behalf.

For the list of the 110 of those with the longest tenure in Congress, go here. You’ll find more interesting historical data on them.

As you would expect, all the Republicans are more taxpayer-friendly than the Democrats but, except for Sensenbrenner, they, too, have room for improvement. 

Request of my readers:  please send me the names of congress-critters you’d like to see profiled here as a poster child.  You’re welcome to write the piece which I’ll work over with you for publication.  -Thanks, -Geo.

How Do West Virginians Spell Pork? It's B-Y-R-D

Robert C. Byrd was born in 1917 and has been in the US Congress since 1952. He worked as a gas station attendant and grocery store clerk before being elected to the W. Virginia House of Delegates in 1946 and to the W. Va. Senate in 1951. Sometime after he was elected to the US Senate he obtained a law degree. He did have some extra-curricular activities, if not any real job experience, to inform his law-making career. F’instance, he joined the Klu Klux Klan in 1942 and was elected Grand Cyclops and then Kleagle (recruiter). It wasn’t until 1947 that he dropped out as the KKK affiliation was apparently beginning to affect his political life. During that period he made racist remarks, so vicious, that I wouldn’t print them here. Since leaving the Klan he has disavowed them and apologized over and over again.

But when the Civil Rights Act of 1964 came up for a vote, Byrd filibustered against the bill for 14 straight hours! Of course, it passed with 80% Repubs and 63% Dems voting Aye. Byrd is the only Senator to have voted against the nominations of both Thurgood Marshall and Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court, the only two African Americans to have been nominated to the court. The Dems still call Byrd “the conscience of the Senate.”

He loves animals, though. As proof he was honored by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) as their 2007 Person of the Year. Then he was honored by the Humane Society as a defender of animal rights and the headline was "The Prince of Pork Now Tries to Save the Hog."
Citizens Against Government Waste has an entire page called Byrd Droppings dedicated to Sen. Byrd in honor of his “fiscal incontinence.” CAGW quotes him there, "They call me 'The Pork King,' they don't know how much I enjoy it." (Sounds like our Poster Boy John Murtha.) http://www.cagw.org/site/PageServer?pagename=news_byrddroppings “After he secured $97 million in fiscal 1999, Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-W. Va.) became the first person in CAGW's Congressional Pig Book history to obtain more than $1 billion in pork for his voters and contributors. So entrenched is he as a result of his enormous earmarks that he has never really had any serious opposition. He explained how career politicians think: "One man's pork is another man's job. Pork has been a good investment in West Virginia. You can look around and see what I've done." If you look around in W. VA you’ll find no less than 40 buildings and projects of all kinds named after him. He set a new standard for taxpayer-funded narcissism by convincing the West Virginia Legislature to erect a statue of himself in the state Capitol. The statue violates state law prohibiting statues of government officials until they have been dead for half a century. Rule of law? Not for entrenched career pols. [Byrd's statue is currently housed in the Capitol Rotunda, as shown in the picture, and it is said if you stand under the statue the senator's hand points directly at your pockets.]
Some other positions: He opposed the Iraq war saying that of the more than 18,000 votes he has cast as a Senator, he is proudest of his vote against the Iraq war resolution. Byrd has also voted for funding the Iraq war with a timetable for troop withdrawal. He voted against the ban on partial birth abortion, then subsequently voted for it. In February 2009 he was one of only two Democrats to vote against the District of Columbia Voting Rights Act of 2009 which provided a voting seat in the House of Representatives. These are just to fill in a quick sketch of the man.
Our point is that when a politician is in congressional politics as a career he does what he has to to stay in office –that is his goal. It is not to “serve” the country by adhering to his oath of office. He “serves” by extracting taxes from one group to serve up to another group who will contribute to his campaign or vote for him. This is vote-buying, not serving. It has been like this for so long that it is hard to remember the citizen-legislator who goes to Washington to perform a civic duty and then goes home and lives under the laws he helped to pass. (There have been a few lately, generally self term-limiters.)
When we had citizen-legislators from The Founders on until 20th century they were men of accomplishment successful at a business or profession and they applied that experience to the benefit of the country. Our Poster Children have not had real-life experience, only political experience, which means that they have no successful insights to apply to those problems that they attempt to solve through legislation. Is it any wonder that our career pols invariably exacerbate virtually every problem they address? Usually, I must add, they are trying to solve problems that they themselves have caused by their taxing and regulating. This current financial crisis is a case in point –see the posters on Chris Dodd and Barney Frank, below.