tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-89535412300842033892024-03-13T12:19:31.561-04:00The Downfall DictionaryCataloging the past political scandals of the United States.Dirk Langeveldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10347292004358347133noreply@blogger.comBlogger125125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8953541230084203389.post-90831773267393256612022-02-18T10:48:00.001-05:002022-02-18T10:49:25.556-05:00George V. Hansen: The "Dragon Slayer" Repeatedly Brought Low by Financial Scandals<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEifxVXFq5ByKdOmLJSMAIbk1yjFiM7LNNURgSDOlrGE6UxCka98MVXBDyS8_zNER93l-nIJcW9DzxxOM6MgaG3A6d3Xoj7HMFZ349EWltl9rM3MG3-Y4vFnlzmy9yWiodirZfqwXyxE_BXVasjbsPLp1zgOIzwZHi1D7REmwZqHcGhg5k9iRqcCzwJX6A=s764" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="764" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEifxVXFq5ByKdOmLJSMAIbk1yjFiM7LNNURgSDOlrGE6UxCka98MVXBDyS8_zNER93l-nIJcW9DzxxOM6MgaG3A6d3Xoj7HMFZ349EWltl9rM3MG3-Y4vFnlzmy9yWiodirZfqwXyxE_BXVasjbsPLp1zgOIzwZHi1D7REmwZqHcGhg5k9iRqcCzwJX6A=s320" width="251" /></a></div><p style="text-align: center;">(<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/20/us/george-v-hansen-seven-term-idaho-congressman-dies-at-83.html">Source</a>)</p><p><br /></p><p>On the morning of October 1, 1985, protestors gathered in Boston to hurl boxes of tea into the city's harbor. Although it clearly called to mind the Boston Tea Party, one of the events that helped kick off the American Revolution, it wasn't a historical reenactment. Rather, it marked the start of a nationwide campaign by a coalition of groups calling for reforms to the Internal Revenue Service.</p><p>George Vernon Hansen, a former Republican congressman from Idaho, was part of the effort. He had headed the political consultancy group New Continental Congress since leaving the House of Representatives, and said it planned to run advertisements on IRS abuses in a bid to raise public awareness.</p><p>"We came up to kind of kick off the other side of tax reform," said Hansen. "The President has been pushing structural change in the tax system. We're saying you're not going to have real tax reform unless you reform the IRS. They're intimidating and abusing the taxpayer in the process of collecting taxes."</p><p>While the protest took place decades before the creation of the Tea Party movement of the early 21st century, it exemplified how Hansen would be a forerunner the vocal conservative movement and what it regarded as government waste or overreach. He would remain a stubborn foe of the IRS for decades, and routinely accuse it and other federal powers of persecuting him for his beliefs.</p><p>The protest came as Hansen's political career and influence were waning. He had twice been convicted of skirting financial disclosure and ethics laws, and was fighting jail time related to the most recent charges. He would later say the difficulties he encountered from these run-ins with the law would contribute to his decision to commit another, more serious financial crime.</p><p><b>Early life and early political career</b></p><p>Hansen was born in Tetonia, Idaho, on September 14, 1930. His early life was marked by a tumultuous turnover in educational, career, and military experiences. He managed a grain elevator beginning in 1950, and would return to this work briefly in 1954. He served in the U.S. Air Force between 1951 and 1954; his military experience would also include graduation from the Army Language school and time as an officer in the U.S. Naval Reserve between 1964 and 1970.</p><p>Graduating from Ricks College in 1956, Hansen completed graduate work at Idaho State University between 1956 and 1957 as well as 1962 to 1963. He also earned a degree from Grimms Business College in 1958.</p><p>Hansen balanced some of this educational work with a stint as a junior high school teacher, undertaking this profession between 1956 and 1958. He worked in the life insurance business from 1958 to 1965.</p><p>One of Hansen's children would later recall that his father entered politics for a simple reason: his community of Alameda didn't have sidewalks like the neighboring city of Pocatello. This motivation helped launch a successful campaign for the mayor of Alameda, with Hansen holding the job from 1961 to 1962. When Alameda was consolidated with Pocatello, he became a city commissioner between 1962 and 1965. He also served as the director of the Idaho Municipal League from 1961 to 1963.</p><p><b>Early congressional bids</b></p><p>After an unsuccessful bid for the Senate in 1962, Hansen turned his attention to the House of Representatives in the 1964 race. Although it was a strong year for the Democrats, who won the White House and made gains in Congress, Hansen's grassroots campaign was able to unseat incumbent Ralph Harding with 52 percent of the vote. </p><p>Hansen distinguished himself by his strong disdain for the federal government, including opposition to President Lyndon B. Johnson's civil rights and social welfare programs. He took a hawkish stance on the turmoil in Southeast Asia, saying that Johnson's "lackadaisical prosecution" of the Vietnam War was emboldening the Communists. When the spy ship USS <i>Pueblo </i>was captured by North Korea in January 1968, Hansen declared it an "act of war" and called for a swift response to recover the vessel and its crew, though he also said the situation should not be handled in a way that would lead to the United States being involved in two simultaneous conflicts in the region.</p><p>While he was re-elected in 1966, he was less successful when he again tried to capture a seat in the Senate two years later. Frank Church, the Democratic incumbent, comfortably kept the position with 60 percent of the vote.</p><p>With the Republicans retaking the White House in 1968, Hansen remained in the nation's capital from 1969 to 1971 after he was appointed the deputy administrator for the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service. He would also serve as vice president of the Department of Agriculture's Commodity Credit Corporation. </p><p>Returning to Pocatello, Hansen resumed his work in life insurance and opened a printing and copying company, the Pocatello Copycat, with his wife Connie. He again launched a Senate campaign in 1972, but failed to earn the Republican nomination. </p><p>In 1974, Hansen mounted another House campaign against the similarly named but unrelated incumbent Orval Hansen. Orval had filled George's seat after his unsuccessful Senate bid, and had distinguished himself as a popular moderate. Yet in an upset result, George retook the Republican nomination and went on to defeat the Democratic candidate, Max Hanson. </p><p><b>"Stupid but not evil"</b></p><p>Hansen took office under a cloud, having become embroiled in a scandal over his financial disclosures. He admitted that he had engaged in a "freewheeling" campaign and hadn't been especially careful in tracking how money was coming in or being spent. Charged with violating a 1971 law regulating campaign financing, he pleaded guilty on February 19, 1975 to two misdemeanor counts of filing late and incomplete reports, failing to disclose $16,150 in contributions.</p><p>The charges initially resulted in a sentence of one year in jail with all but two months suspended, which would make Hansen the first congressman to be put behind bars in 19 years. However, he denied that the omissions on his disclosures were intentional. He attributed them to bookkeeping deficiencies made in error by his staff, and apologized for the trouble that had resulted.</p><p>This explanation was enough to persuade Judge George L. Hart Jr., who on April 25, 1975, opted to reconsider the punishment. "I assumed when I sentenced him to jail he was evil," said Hart. "Now, I am not so sure. Stupid, surely." He waived the prison sentence, instead imposing a $40,000 fine on the congressman.</p><p>The judge's mercy would have a mixed effect. While his statement was a rephrasing of Hansen's lawyer, who argued that the congressman was "stupid, but he wasn't evil," it was a backhanded compliment that provided easy fodder for Hansen's critics. He would later say that some of his subsequent financial woes were attributed to efforts to rehabilitate his reputation as the "stupid but not evil" moniker stuck.</p><p>The conviction prompted calls for Hansen to resign from some Democrats and Republicans in the House, but the Idaho Republican State Central Committee offered a vote of confidence. The committee chairman accused the Justice Department and House Government Operations Committee of "selective reprisal," saying that Hansen was the only person charged out of some 7,000 complaints. He also alleged that Orval Hansen had leveraged the issue for political purposes during the primary season by referring the matter to the Justice Department while he served on the committee.</p><p><b>Second stint in Congress</b></p><p>Hansen went on to win re-election four times. He would distinguish himself by his opposition to most major federal agencies and programs, though his ire was concentrated most strongly against the IRS. He asserted that the agency was planning armed raids in Idaho, and in 1985 would accuse it of singling out taxpayers for audit based on their religious or political affiliations. </p><p>Part of this consternation likely stemmed from Hansen's own repeated run-ins with the IRS. He was reportedly late filing his taxes in every year between 1962 and 1975, although this tardiness never resulted in any legal action. In 1980, Hansen published a book entitled <i>To Harass Our People: The IRS and Government Abuse of Power</i> and would claim that a million copies had gone into print.</p><p>Hansen also accused the Immigration and Naturalization Service of being involved in a conspiracy to shuttle illegal immigrants across the border and then arrest the farmers who hired them. After a constituent refused to let inspectors from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration enter his electrical contracting business, Hansen launched a nationwide campaign to field complaints against the agency.</p><p>Admirers saw Hansen as someone willing to take on big government and fight for the common man, giving him the nickname "George the Dragon Slayer." Detractors suggested that Judge Hart's moniker was more appropriate, portraying Hansen as a buffoon who was more interested in grandstanding than passing meaningful legislation.</p><p>Hansen became one of the most vocal critics of the Panama Canal treaties. These agreements, signed by President Jimmy Carter and Panamanian leader Omar Torrijos Herrera at the end of 1977, provided that the American-controlled canal would become a neutral passageway open to all vessels, be jointly administered by the U.S. and Panama, and be transferred to Panamanian ownership in the year 2000.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjKmifEo-W0-V633gqgnOhFKAAGmrPysiLHuFBPfX2JTFQ0-b5Cayd0Yy8_YnpLKVGzMUQdsPjVoj1kND92H0M8vbPr38QbYZXoZd9vfbv7EqmrcC4wmjJI0NLZSQteRjpdzVDlM6uBHBn1sdxYuG3you4us1XjIiJlwKAXukPt1G71WamEOvJgvuZ9lA=s1440" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="997" data-original-width="1440" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjKmifEo-W0-V633gqgnOhFKAAGmrPysiLHuFBPfX2JTFQ0-b5Cayd0Yy8_YnpLKVGzMUQdsPjVoj1kND92H0M8vbPr38QbYZXoZd9vfbv7EqmrcC4wmjJI0NLZSQteRjpdzVDlM6uBHBn1sdxYuG3you4us1XjIiJlwKAXukPt1G71WamEOvJgvuZ9lA=s320" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">(<a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/obituaries/2014/08/15/former-idaho-gop-congressman-dies/SWLQHUkNSpxI4b3V4qWybL/story.html">Source</a>)</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><p>While Congress debated whether to ratify the treaties, Hansen launched a mail campaign to try to convince American citizens in the Panama Canal Zone to oppose the treaties. He also commissioned a stunt where friends in Idaho loaded up a flatbed truck with two-by-fours made to look like bars of gold and drove it to Washington, D.C. as a visual representation of the money he felt was being squandered through the agreements.</p><p>As Hansen calculated, the treaties would forfeit property worth $20 billion, incur $4 billion in transfer costs and $2 billion in contingency costs, and result in an annual expense of $200 million to taxpayers after Panama took control of the canal. A report from the House Committee on Foreign Affairs dedicated an appendix to these figures, asserting that Hansen's estimates were "enormously exaggerated."</p><p><b>The "big American cowboy" abroad</b></p><p>Hansen would spend a considerable amount of time traveling in 1978 and 1979, embarking on quixotic one-man diplomatic trips aimed at improving foreign relations. In January 1978, he traveled to Taiwan and assured the Chinese republic that they would receive the equipment they needed to pursue a nuclear program, despite Carter's opposition to such an effort. In July of that year, he visited President Anastasio Somoza in Nicaragua, praised the country as a "peaceful and pastoral private enterprise nation," and assured Somoza that he had American support; Somoza was overthrown by Sandinista rebels two weeks later.</p><p>Hansen's most notable mission came in November 1979, after the U.S. embassy in Tehran was taken over by student militants and dozens of American citizens were held hostage. Flying to Iran in an effort to "build some bridges and open some doors," Hansen was permitted to visit some of the captives on November 24 and reported that they were being held "in relatively comfortable circumstances." He was the first American allowed into the embassy since its fall.</p><p>Despite the virulent anti-American sentiment that had developed in Tehran, Hansen reported that he had received a surprisingly warm welcome from the militants. One, impressed by the congressman's height and bravado, dubbed him a "big American cowboy."</p><p>While many of Hansen's Republican colleagues in Congress said he was courageous for making the trip, few considered it a wise endeavor. Millicent Fenwick, a Republican from New Jersey, denounced it as "dangerous" and "irresponsible." One Democratic lawmaker described Hansen as "the last guy in the world to send on a diplomatic mission."</p><p>The trip also incensed the Carter administration, with White House officials saying it could generate confusion, inhibit official negotiations, and prolong the situation. However, at least some of irritation may have stemmed from the fact that Hansen had managed to gain access to the hostages when the presidential envoy had not been allowed such a visit. </p><p>Hansen was unrepentant about the mission, and even threatened to introduce an impeachment resolution against Carter over his handling of the crisis. He made another trip to Tehran a month later, but made little progress in resolving the situation. The hostages would be held for 444 days before their release.</p><p><b>Ethics violation</b></p><p>The foreign travel, made at his own expense, did little to improve Hansen's financial standing. His assets had also been dinged by legal battles and campaigns seeking to defend his reputation. He also voiced a complaint commonly uttered by congressmen: maintaining residences in D.C. and in their home district was too challenging on a representative's salary, which amounted to $57,500 in 1977.</p><p>In this year, Hansen asked the Federal Election Commission if he could solicit contributions from his supporters to pay down his personal debts. While the FEC said this would be legal, the House Ethics Committee informed him that it would violate the chamber's rules.</p><p>In response, Hansen divided his assets with his wife, who also worked as his office manager. Under this arrangement, Connie would be left with the debts and could ask for contributions. She promptly established the Connie Hansen Fund and pleaded for hundreds of thousands of dollars to pay these liabilities and "save my family from financial disaster."</p><p>The syndicated newspaper columnist Jack Anderson mocked the effort, nicknaming the congressman's wife Tin Can Connie. Even supporters of the Hansens offered only tepid support. While a 1979 article reported that Connie had raised over $50,000, the couple still owed some $300,000 to nine banks two years later.</p><p>This financial shell game ultimately ran afoul of the 1978 Ethics in Government Act, which had been set up after the Watergate scandal. This legislation sought to improve the transparency of official dealings by requiring major government officials to disclose their financial holdings, transactions, and liabilities. Hansen was indicted in 1983 on four charges of violating the law.</p><p>The charges stated that Hansen had failed to disclose a total of $333,978 in personal loans and other transactions. One of the largest unreported loans, for $135,000, had come from three men, including one accused of bank fraud. Other undisclosed loans were made to Connie by billionaire Nelson Bunker Hunt, and Hansen had failed to make note of $87,475 in profits his wife had made on silver investments.</p><p>Hansen angrily denounced the charges as "selective and bogus prosecution," again saying he was being targeted due to his "opposition to federal intrusion into all our lives." He claimed that he had simply filled out the form incorrectly and that the issue was being blown out of proportion.</p><p>The defense took a similar tack when the matter went to trial, focusing on the Hansens' separation of accounts and saying that the congressman's attorneys had advised him that he didn't have to report the transactions due to the arrangement. They also suggested that the $135,000 loan did not need to be reported because it did not go directly to Hansen but rather to an advocacy group he had formed, the Association of Concerned Taxpayers. Prosecutors countered that Hansen had essentially been using Connie's account as a front to conceal transactions.</p><p>In April 1984, Hansen was found guilty on all counts. He was the first congressman convicted under the 1978 ethics law and the first congressman since Thomas J. Lane, nearly three decades earlier, to be convicted on a felony charge. On June 15, he was sentenced to serve between five and 15 months in prison and pay a $40,000 fine.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh-VTO1FEjUiiNATw9ih-LA-5sjjv2-dd9Ic6dmHF3Kp6PJMld2rQ_jns1jNoeJgj6tFZ1OK3nUD-NlpbzXCsOwGlP7fyCepqzmJi6S9BSWvNpyVdn26983Bzi5uO-turYBqkYjW5G7pA1sqPei6c2OORgrMCtWft53dmpT5rk9ENzDuxR4B1wUpf_ZRw=s1286" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="730" data-original-width="1286" height="182" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh-VTO1FEjUiiNATw9ih-LA-5sjjv2-dd9Ic6dmHF3Kp6PJMld2rQ_jns1jNoeJgj6tFZ1OK3nUD-NlpbzXCsOwGlP7fyCepqzmJi6S9BSWvNpyVdn26983Bzi5uO-turYBqkYjW5G7pA1sqPei6c2OORgrMCtWft53dmpT5rk9ENzDuxR4B1wUpf_ZRw=s320" width="320" /></a></div><i><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Hansen with wife Connie after being sentenced in 1984 (<a href="https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1984/06/16/009707.html?pageNumber=8">Source</a>)</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div></i><p>The House of Representatives also addressed the issue on July 31, taking up the question of whether to reprimand Hansen. This was the mildest form of punishment available, falling short of a censure or expulsion. Those in favor of the action said Hansen's actions to conceal his transactions were intentional, and that a reprimand was necessary to demonstrate that the House would hold its members accountable for wrongdoing. Hansen's supporters backed his contention that he was being singled out, arguing that there were numerous examples of government officials making errors on their disclosure forms and needing to rectify them.</p><p>Speaking before the chamber, Hansen brought up several examples of current officials who faced controversy over their financial disclosures, including Democratic vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro, Attorney General William French Smith, and Attorney General-designate Edwin Meese III. At one point, Hansen quipped that he should have robbed a bank since it would have yielded more money and a smaller penalty than the ethics violation. He warned that financial disclosure violations were common enough that other members would "become the victims of a similar nightmare" if the voted to punish him. The final vote was 354-52 in favor of a reprimand.</p><p>Despite the conviction, Hansen had won the Republican nomination for his office. He confidently declared that he would win re-election despite the conviction, saying his constituents would "vote for me if I were chained in the Bastille." Yet on Election Day, Hansen was bested by Democratic challenger Richard Stallings, though it was by a margin of just 170 votes out of more than 200,000 cast.</p><p>Hansen appealed his conviction, saying that his offenses should have subjected him to a civil penalty rather than a criminal one. This argument gained more traction among his colleagues, with 122 House members lending their support. However, his conviction was unanimous upheld by a three-judge appellate panel on Aug. 30, 1985. The panel, which included future Supreme Court justices Antonin Scalia and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, noted how the financial disclosure forms explicitly said that violators could be subject to either a civil or criminal penalty.</p><p>After exhausting further appeals, Hansen began his sentence in June 1986. At one point, he launched a hunger strike in protest of prison conditions, while also claiming that he usually ate as little as possible because he believed his food was tainted with urine and nasal mucus. Connie sought the Republican nomination to challenge Stallings in the 1986 election, but came in second in a five-way contest; Stallings would ultimately retain Hansen's former seat until 1992.</p><p>Hansen was paroled after six months, and released shortly before Christmas.</p><p><b>Short-lived freedom</b></p><p>After leaving Congress, Hansen had turned his attention to political lobbying. He became the chairman of the New Continental Congress, a D.C. consulting firm assisting people with complaints against the federal government. After he completed his prison term, he returned to this work.</p><p>However, Hansen predicted that his new career would likely send him back behind bars. His parole terms included stipulations that he not travel outside of Virginia without permission, complete monthly financial reports, and not associate with other ex-felons. Hansen complained that these terms would prevent him from running the firm, since he traveled frequently and worked with people who had earned criminal convictions from tax protests. He said the financial reporting requirement would also be impossible, since he received money from people who didn't want their names turned over to the federal government.</p><p>Hansen resumed his tax protests and gave speeches around the country. These activities quickly resulted in a charge of violating his parole. On April 15, 1987, he was arrested at the Omaha airport while awaiting a flight back home. Agents brought him back to Virginia in shackles aboard a chartered flight.</p><p>The conditions of the arrest won Hansen sympathy from conservatives as well as many liberals, as it was seen as an excessive response to a nonviolent offense. Critics also charged that the chartered jet was a waste of money, since Hansen had already purchased a plane ticket and could have easily been detained at his destination.</p><p>Hansen served another six months in prison. At one point, he called a press conference where he dubbed himself a political prisoner, railed against prison bureaucracy, vowed to sue the Attorney General, and denounced prison conditions, suggesting that every judge and congressman should spend some time behind bars to see what it was like. He also used the prison's pay phone to coordinate a campaign demanding presidential pardon.</p><p><b>Check kiting scheme</b></p><p>Beginning in the late 1980s, Hansen began soliciting loans from individuals to support his political advocacy efforts. He was joined in the endeavor by John Scoresby, a business associate and former regional chairman of the Idaho Republican Party. The duo used a business named Ideal Consultants to oversee the transactions.</p><p>Individuals were typically promised a high return on investment and told their money would support organizations with names like the Congressional Accountability Project and Free America Revolution. A typical promise held that investors would be repaid within 30 days at an interest rate of 10 to 20 percent, and could earn a finder's fee of 5 to 10 percent for referring Hansen and Scoresby to other people willing to invest. The duo sometimes offered $1,000 to exchange checks.</p><p>It was all an elaborate check kiting scheme, where the passing of worthless checks between individuals allowed Hansen and Scoresby to build up false bank balances and establish lines of credit. A federal indictment would charge that it had involved more than 300 checks and drawn about $29 million from five Idaho banks. </p><p>On Oct. 31, 1990, Hansen filed for bankruptcy for Ideal Consultants as well as the Pocatello Copycat. By this point, the Ideal Consultants account at the Bank of Commerce in Idaho Falls was overdrawn by $2.1 million. Investors who had been duped by the scheme lost $18 million. On March 24, 1992, Hansen and Scoresby were charged with 49 counts of bank fraud.</p><p>Not surprisingly, Hansen again argued that the charges were part of a broad vendetta by federal officials. However, his justifications for the fraud were slim. He argued that he had not actually defrauded any of the investors because they had willingly given him money in support of his anti-government efforts. He also contended that he had been motivated by the financial struggles brought on by his previous troubles, and that he would have been able to repay the money if the operation hadn't been discovered and shut down.</p><p>Both Hansen and Scoresby were found guilty of 45 of the counts against them on December 12. Surprisingly, Hansen won considerable support among those he had swindled, bolstering his argument that he hadn't truly victimized anyone. About half of the people who had lost money in the scheme filed affidavits with the court urging leniency.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhcmSRKtbH9_l6m1_kRvDzJEa85ODjgHUxYai1sC5mvGSMLqsfwjNvTh-S5h8GHpTuvvozlRHzpORRYTGwkWwvTv0Wl54-FGwnQf8sggTIiJ1stt-QhJxdfatMm8Dis8XExUhbz-0hwxgH5Eap0Uu40rd7PT_wTe0MHiPhB-ATG5R-19bqJgWD0tAUiEA=s667" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="483" data-original-width="667" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhcmSRKtbH9_l6m1_kRvDzJEa85ODjgHUxYai1sC5mvGSMLqsfwjNvTh-S5h8GHpTuvvozlRHzpORRYTGwkWwvTv0Wl54-FGwnQf8sggTIiJ1stt-QhJxdfatMm8Dis8XExUhbz-0hwxgH5Eap0Uu40rd7PT_wTe0MHiPhB-ATG5R-19bqJgWD0tAUiEA=s320" width="320" /></a></div><i><div style="text-align: center;"><i>George Hansen in front of a federal courthouse in March 1993 (<a href="https://www.idahostatejournal.com/members/former-u-s-rep-hansen-dies/article_a51dbdf6-2442-11e4-9882-0019bb2963f4.html">Source</a>)</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div></i><p>While prosecutors sought a 16-year prison sentence for Hansen, the affidavits persuaded Judge Edward Lodge to impose a much lighter term. At sentencing on March 16, 1993, he ordered Hansen to spend four years behind bars and pay a $12,500 fine. Scoresby was sentenced to 21 months in prison and a $6,000 fine.</p><p>During the sentencing, Lodge marveled at how many people still supported Hansen even after they were duped out of considerable sums of money.</p><p>"I've never seen people who are owed hundreds of thousands of dollars, who don't know how much they are owed, who are willing to eat those losses," he declared. "I've never seen that kind of blind allegiance. The victims are offended that the court would take them as victims."</p><p><b>Later life</b></p><p>Hansen appealed the conviction, arguing that the banks had knowingly participated in his transactions and thus were not deceived. The argument was rejected by a federal court in 1994.</p><p>While serving this latest prison sentence, Hansen received some good news. He had been continuously fighting his 1984 ethics conviction, and an obscure Supreme Court ruling in 1995 delivered a belated victory on this front. In Hubbard v. U.S., the court ruled that the 1978 ethics law applied only to members of the executive branch. This vacated Hansen's conviction, restored his federal pension, and resulted in the return of the $40,000 fine he had paid.</p><p>After 40 months, Hansen was paroled. He made some headlines in 1997, renewing his criticism of the IRS and calling for its abolition in favor of states collecting the income tax and passing it on to the federal government. He maintained that the agency had engaged in retaliatory behavior against him, including launching an audit after he fielded complaints from his constituents about their federal reimbursements following the Teton Dam disaster in 1976.</p><p>Hansen also headed the Utah-based US. Citizens Human Rights Commission, which sought an investigation into the death of federal prisoner Kenneth Trentadue in 1995. Trentadue's death was officially ruled a suicide, but there were allegations that he had been mistaken for a suspect in the Oklahoma City bombing and beaten during his interrogation, with the assault either causing his death or instigating his suicide.</p><p>Hansen was still struggling financially at this point. He discounted the idea that he would return to politics, in part because of Connie's opposition and in part because he considered politics to be "for the rich." </p><p>Shortly after his conviction, Hansen was ordered to repay Ann and James Meyers the $299,350 he had taken as part of the check kiting scheme. A default judgement was ordered against him, but Hansen would claim that he did not remember being served in the civil suit and was unaware of the judgement until 2007. He also said he did not have the money to pay this settlement.</p><p>The issue persisted until 2009, when the Idaho Supreme Court ruled that he was still obligated to repay the couple. By this point, the interest collecting on the unpaid debt over 16 years had ballooned the sum to $723,927.</p><p>Following cardiac problems, Hansen died in Pocatello on Aug. 14, 2014. His obituary sought the last word in establishing his legacy, declaring him a "dedicated champion in fighting for the good people of Idaho and taxpayers all across the country who were subject to abusive federal agencies" whose efforts resulted in him "being on the receiving end of having to defend his good name against the retribution of federal agencies in which he waged the good fight for his constituents."</p><p><b>Sources</b></p><p>Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, "George V. Hansen 1930-2014" at Legacy.com, "Representative Hansen Pleads Guilty to Violation of Election Campaign Act" in the <i>New York Times </i>on Feb. 20 1975, "Judge Saves Hansen From Jail, Terms Representative 'Stupid'" in the <i>New York Times </i>on Apr. 26 1975, "Rep. Hansen Gets Vote of Confidence From Idaho GOP" in the <i>New York Times </i>on Apr. 28 1975, "Hansen's Tehran Trip Fits His Style" in the <i>Washington Post </i>on Nov. 24 1979, "Unorthodox Idaho Congressman" in the <i>New York Times </i>on Nov. 27 1979, "Rep. Hansen Came Here to Battle and Does - Defending Himself" in the <i>Washington Post </i>on Jan. 4 1983, "George Hansen is Found Guilty in Ethics Trial" in the <i>Washington Post </i>on Apr. 3 1984, "Hansen Gets Prison Term for Ethics Act Violation" in the <i>New York Times </i>on Jun. 16 1984, "Hansen Punished by House" in the <i>Washington Post </i>on Aug. 1 1984, "IRS Uses Religion-Politics to Single Out Audit Candidates, Hansen Says" on UPI on Jan. 29 1985, "Ex-Rep. Hansen's Conviction of Ethics Breaches Upheld" in the <i>Washington Post </i>on Aug. 31 1985, "Boston Tea Party Reenacted to Protest IRS" on UPI on Oct. 2 1985, "Ex-Rep. Hansen to Be Paroled" in the <i>South Florida Sun Sentinel </i>on Dec. 20 1986, "Jailed Former Congressman Continues Hunger Strike Over Treatment" in the Associated Press on Apr. 22 1987, "Hanson Parole Revoked" on UPI on May 12 1987, "Hansen Unchained" in the <i>Washington Post </i>on Dec. 13 1987, "Ex-Idaho Congressman Files for Chapter 11" in <i>Deseret News </i>on Nov. 26 1990, "Congressman Who Left in '85 Accused of Fraud" in the <i>Buffalo News </i>on Mar. 25 1992, "Former Congressman is Found Guilty" in the <i>New York Times </i>on Dec. 13 1992, "Hansen to Serve Four Years in Prison for Check-Kiting" in the <i>Deseret News </i>on Mar. 17 1993, "IRS Hasn't Forsaken Ugly Tactics, Former Idaho Congressman Says" in the <i>Deseret News </i>on Nov. 30 1997, "Free and Fired Up, George Hansen Back in a Scrap, Leading Group Probing Inmate's Death" in the <i>Spokesman-Review </i>on Dec. 7 1997, "Former Congressman George Hansen Loses Idaho Supreme Court Appeal" in the <i>Spokesman-Review </i>on Nov. 30 2009, "An Idaho Political Story Extraordinaire" in the <i>Spokesman-Review </i>on Dec. 1 2009, "Former U.S. Rep Hansen Dies" in the <i>Idaho State Journal </i>on Aug. 15 2014, "'George the Dragon Slayer' Dies at 83" in the <i>Lewiston Tribune </i>on Aug. 16 2014, "Idaho Congressman Sentenced to Federal Prison, Dies at 83" in the <i>Washington Post </i>on Aug. 17 2014, "George Hansen, Idaho Congressman and Convicted Swindler, Dies at 83" in the <i>New York Times </i>on Aug. 20 2014, <i>Congressional Record Vol. 114 Part 1</i><u>,</u> <i>Panama Canal Implementing Legislation, Joint Report of the Task Force to Investigate Certain Allegations Concerning the Holding of American Hostages by Iran in 1980, United States v. George v. Hansen and John F. Scoresby</i></p>Dirk Langeveldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10347292004358347133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8953541230084203389.post-44217048502271279782021-11-11T10:26:00.000-05:002021-11-11T10:26:06.885-05:00William Blount: The First Test of the Senate's Impeachment Powers<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--gS0FvRpfeI/YY0hYYjgIHI/AAAAAAAADgk/LQFiUZvwffUGYqSSb0woZVAADnQN1QJVgCLcBGAsYHQ/s371/WilliamBlount.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="371" data-original-width="275" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--gS0FvRpfeI/YY0hYYjgIHI/AAAAAAAADgk/LQFiUZvwffUGYqSSb0woZVAADnQN1QJVgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/WilliamBlount.jpeg" width="237" /></a></div><p style="text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/image/WilliamBlount.htm">Source</a></i></p><p><span style="font-family: "EB Garamond", serif; font-size: 18px;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: "EB Garamond", serif; font-size: 18px;">William Blount's early biography suggests a man destined for a renowned role in the early history of the United States. Born into privilege, he served in the Revolutionary War, was one of 39 men to sign the U.S. Constitution, and became one of Tennessee's first two Senators.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: "EB Garamond", serif; font-size: 18px;">At the same time, Blount was dogged with serious financial troubles that caused him to make a unwise decision during his time in office. The result was the destruction of his career in the federal government, the creation of the sergeant-at-arms position in the Senate, and the chamber's first test of the nascent nation's impeachment processes.</span></p><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "EB Garamond", serif; font-size: 18px;">Early life</span></h2><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: EB Garamond, serif;"><span style="font-size: 18px;">Blount was born near Windsor, North Carolina, on March 26, 1749. He was part of a wealthy colonial family of merchants and planters with extensive property holdings along the Pamlico River. This status enabled him to pursue preparatory studies through private tutors and become active in the family's mercantile business.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: EB Garamond, serif;"><span style="font-size: 18px;">Anticipating that the colonies would expand beyond the Appalachian Mountains, Blount began purchasing land in the region. He would ultimately acquire more than a million acres of western properties.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: EB Garamond, serif;"><span style="font-size: 18px;">In 1771, a populist movement of settlers in the western part of North Carolina began agitating for better economic parity with eastern residents. Blount joined a militia to counter a group of 2,000 of these "Regulators." While the group was largely unarmed and the confrontation was bloodless, the movement's leaders were subsequently executed (although many of their proposed reforms were later adopted).</span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: EB Garamond, serif;"><span style="font-size: 18px;">During the Revolutionary War, Blount became a purchasing agent. He soon became a paymaster for the Continental troops, serving in this capacity until 1780 and seeing active service at the Battle of Camden in South Carolina on August 16, 1780.</span></span></p><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: EB Garamond, serif;"><span style="font-size: 18px;">Role in early U.S. government</span></span></h2><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: EB Garamond, serif;"><span style="font-size: 18px;">From 1780 to 1784, Blount was a member of the North Carolina state house of commons. He also served as a member of the Continental Congress in 1782 and 1783. He was briefly out of service in 1785, although he became a special agent for North Carolina at the Hopewell Treaty. Returning to the Continental Congress in 1786 and 1787, he became a delegate to the Federal Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787 and was one of the signatories of the U.S. Constitution. </span></span><span style="font-family: "EB Garamond", serif; font-size: 18px;">Blount returned to North Carolina to serve in the state senate between 1788 and 1790. </span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "EB Garamond", serif; font-size: 18px;">President George Washington then appointed Blount governor of the Territory South of the Ohio River. The territory comprised lands west of North Carolina, including all of present day Tennessee. Blount held this role through 1796, with the associated title of Superintendent of Indian Affairs. He oversaw the Treaty of Holston, signed in July 1791, which resolved a dispute over the</span><span style="font-family: "EB Garamond", serif; font-size: 18px;"> boundary Cherokee lands (although militant members of tribe continued to launch attacks on territory).</span></p><p style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--PD3Im4-2w0/YY0pPj9fWyI/AAAAAAAADgs/rS8Ac96FjScCgpY-fqvtUdqgNy-hLfL5wCLcBGAsYHQ/s600/holston.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="396" data-original-width="600" height="211" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--PD3Im4-2w0/YY0pPj9fWyI/AAAAAAAADgs/rS8Ac96FjScCgpY-fqvtUdqgNy-hLfL5wCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/holston.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: "EB Garamond", serif; font-size: 18px;"><i>A depiction of the Treaty of Holston (<a href="https://www.visitknoxville.com/blog/post/the-treaty-that-gave-birth-to-a-city/">Source</a>)</i></span><p></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "EB Garamond", serif; font-size: 18px;">There were rumors that Blount misappropriated funds while in his official position, but a formal investigation turned up no evidence supporting the allegations. In 1796, he chaired the convention which framed the first state constitution of Tennessee. The process essentially circumvented the usual routine of requesting statehood from Congress, which had opted not to take up the issue due to the belief that the state would oppose the Federalist candidate in the upcoming election. </span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "EB Garamond", serif; font-size: 18px;">Tennessee was admitted as a state in June 1796. Blount was elected to one of the two new Senate seats, beginning his term on August 2.</span></p><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "EB Garamond", serif; font-size: 18px;">The "Blount Conspiracy"</span></h2><div><span style="font-family: "EB Garamond", serif; font-size: 18px;">Blount's term in the Senate began at about the same time that he was facing serious financial difficulties due to his land speculation. He was far from the only who who had thought the lands would be valuable, but instead it proved to be a real estate bubble that prompted the Panic of 1796-1797 when it collapsed. While a 1795 treaty between the United States and Spain had guaranteed Americans free navigation of the Mississippi River, and Great Britain had agreed to the same condition after the Revolution, demand for western lands plummeted due to concerns that France would offer no such guarantee. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: "EB Garamond", serif; font-size: 18px;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: "EB Garamond", serif; font-size: 18px;">Creditors began to bring suits against Blount. Only his protected status as a U.S. senator protected him from arrest.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: "EB Garamond", serif; font-size: 18px;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: "EB Garamond", serif; font-size: 18px;">Meanwhile, Knoxville tavern keeper John Chisholm had developed a questionable scheme to keep southeastern territories in friendlier hands. </span><span style="font-family: "EB Garamond", serif; font-size: 18px;">He hoped to convince Britain to provide Creek and Cherokee Indians with weapons to establish a force that, when united with white frontiersmen, would be able to launch attacks on Florida. In return, Britain would award him the post of superintendent of Indian affairs and keep Pensacola as an open port. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: "EB Garamond", serif; font-size: 18px;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: "EB Garamond", serif; font-size: 18px;">The plan was presented to both the British ambassador to the United States and to the British government. While both rejected it, Blount became involved in the plot and expanded its scope to include an attack on New Orleans, which Blount vowed to personally lead. By transferring the city and Florida to Britain, free navigation of the Mississippi would be guaranteed and the value of western lands would likely rise.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: "EB Garamond", serif; font-size: 18px;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: "EB Garamond", serif; font-size: 18px;">On April 1, 1797, Blount made the ill-advised decision to send a letter, which </span><span style="font-family: "EB Garamond", serif; font-size: 18px;">"thinly disguised his desire to arouse the Creek and Cherokee Indians," to Indian interpreter James Carey. The communication included an instruction to read the letter three times before burning it. Instead, the letter wound up in </span><span style="font-family: "EB Garamond", serif; font-size: 18px;">the hands of David Henley, an Indian agent and rival of Blount's.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: "EB Garamond", serif; font-size: 18px;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rE-KvFCZD3Y/YY0zD4IiT1I/AAAAAAAADg0/CNcZXpYDQ3ouqaHKeQzvRoYVk6KE6udhgCLcBGAsYHQ/s284/henley.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="284" data-original-width="199" height="284" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rE-KvFCZD3Y/YY0zD4IiT1I/AAAAAAAADg0/CNcZXpYDQ3ouqaHKeQzvRoYVk6KE6udhgCLcBGAsYHQ/s0/henley.jpeg" width="199" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: "EB Garamond", serif; font-size: 18px;"><i>David Henley </i>(<a href="https://archive.knoxnews.com/news/local/descendants-cherish-stories-of-col-henley-ep-406765379-358202071.html/">Source</a>)</span></div><div><span style="font-family: "EB Garamond", serif; font-size: 18px;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: "EB Garamond", serif; font-size: 18px;">Henley shared the letter with President John Adams, who recognized that the proposed scheme would violate the U.S. treaty with Spain and could easily lead to war with both that nation and France. </span><span style="font-family: "EB Garamond", serif; font-size: 18px;">On July 3, Adams sent the letter to Congress along with a message informing lawmakers that Attorney General Charles Lee had given the opinion that Blount had committed a crime and was liable to impeachment. As such, Blount's action would be the first test of the impeachment powers granted to Congress in the Constitution.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: EB Garamond, serif;"><span style="font-size: 18px;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: EB Garamond, serif;"><span style="font-size: 18px;">Each chamber convened special committees to examine the "Blount Conspiracy." On July 6, the Senate committee voted in favor of expelling Blount, saying his conduct was "entirely inconsistent with his public trust." Blount, who had been absent from Congress during this time, reappeared soon after but refused to answer questions on the matter, instead retaining counsel.</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: EB Garamond, serif;"><span style="font-size: 18px;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: EB Garamond, serif;"><span style="font-size: 18px;">One day after the Senate committee's decision, the House of Representatives voted 41-30 along party lines that a senator was an impeachable figure. They informed the Senate that they planned to draft articles of impeachment against Blount, and asked that he be suspended from his seat in the interim but present to answer the charges.</span></span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: EB Garamond, serif;"><span style="font-size: 18px;">The Senate opted for a harsher action. On July 8, after two of Blount's colleagues testified that the letter was in his handwriting and Blount's defense counsel made his presentation, the Senate voted 25-1 to expel Blount. Six senators, including Blount, didn't vote on the matter, and the only vote against expulsion was due to technical reasons.</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: EB Garamond, serif;"><span style="font-size: 18px;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: EB Garamond, serif;"><span style="font-size: 18px;">Blount sought to return home to Tennessee after posting a $20,000 bond, but instead diverted to North Carolina to tend to his wife after she was injured in a carriage accident. He was nevertheless ordered on July 10 to appear before Congress to answer to the House's impeachment charges, a demand Blount ignored. The Tennessee legislature named Joseph Inslee Anderson, a federal judge, to serve the remainder of Blount's term.</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: EB Garamond, serif;"><span style="font-size: 18px;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: EB Garamond, serif;"><span style="font-size: 18px;">The issue dragged into the new year. On January 14, 1798, the House voted five impeachment articles against Blount. With the embattled ex-senator still refusing to answer the charges, the Senate voted on February 5 to create the position of sergeant-at-arms for the express purpose of compelling Blount's return. The newly established official was still unsuccessful after arriving in Tennessee, in part because they realized that no one in Knoxville was willing to join the posse to bring Blount back to Washington.</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: EB Garamond, serif;"><span style="font-size: 18px;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: EB Garamond, serif;"><span style="font-size: 18px;">In January 1799, Blount was tried in absentia. The debate largely focused on whether the Senate had the authority to prosecute a senator who had already been expelled. Members narrowly defeated a resolution asserting that Blount was an impeachable officer, leaving it unclear whether senators could not be impeached or if Blount specifically couldn't be impeached because he was no longer in office.</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: EB Garamond, serif;"><span style="font-size: 18px;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: EB Garamond, serif;"><span style="font-size: 18px;">On January 14, the Senate voted 14-11 that it lacked jurisdiction and the case against Blount was dismissed.</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: EB Garamond, serif;"><span style="font-size: 18px;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: EB Garamond, serif;"><span style="font-size: 18px;"><b>Later life</b></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: EB Garamond, serif;"><span style="font-size: 18px;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: EB Garamond, serif;"><span style="font-size: 18px;">The scandal did little to dent Blount's reputation in Tennessee. In fact, it made him more popular since the state's residents regarded him as fighting for the state's economic interests in the face of a disinterested federal government. During the Senate trial, he was elected to the the Tennessee state senate and chosen as its speaker after fellow state senator James White resigned in order for Blount to step into the role.</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: EB Garamond, serif;"><span style="font-size: 18px;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: EB Garamond, serif;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zmbLjxaO10o/YY01uWte0RI/AAAAAAAADg8/fLR1msAKbkk60oa8CMD_JkGFSfznnnneACLcBGAsYHQ/s1024/bmansion.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="681" data-original-width="1024" height="213" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zmbLjxaO10o/YY01uWte0RI/AAAAAAAADg8/fLR1msAKbkk60oa8CMD_JkGFSfznnnneACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/bmansion.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: 18px;"><i>The Blount Mansion in Knoxville </i>(<a href="https://knoxvillehistoryproject.org/blount-mansion-2/">Source</a>)</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: EB Garamond, serif;"><span style="font-size: 18px;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: EB Garamond, serif;"><span style="font-size: 18px;">Blount managed to resolve his financial troubles by transferring his assets (including the handsome Blount Mansion, a 200-acre farm, 27 slaves, and all of his land investments) to his half-brother. The transfer enabled him to declare himself bankrupt with no personal assets, thus escaping his creditors. While this ruined Blount's credit, his half-brother was able to retain most of the holdings for Blount's children to inherit.</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: EB Garamond, serif;"><span style="font-size: 18px;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: EB Garamond, serif;"><span style="font-size: 18px;">Blount died in Knoxville on March 21, 1800.</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: EB Garamond, serif;"><span style="font-size: 18px;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: EB Garamond, serif;"><span style="font-size: 18px;">The Blount family remained politically active. Blount's son, William Grainger Blount, served as a Tennessee congressman from 1815 to 1819, while his brother Thomas Blount intermittently served as a North Carolina representative. </span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: EB Garamond, serif;"><span style="font-size: 18px;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: EB Garamond, serif;"><span style="font-size: 18px;">Curiously, another member of the Blount family would also take an active role in military operations that sought to accomplish a similar goal to the "Blount Conspiracy." Willie Blount, one of Blount's half-brothers, served as governor of 1809 to 1816. During the War of 1812, he was called on to </span></span><span style="font-family: "EB Garamond", serif; font-size: 18px;">organize an expedition against West Florida and muster a garrison under Andrew Jackson to defend New Orleans.</span></div><p><br /></p><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Sources: </b>Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, Tennessee Bar Association, William Blount Mansion, NCPEdia, "Expulsion Case of William Blount of Tennessee" at Senate.gov, <i>Soldier-Statesmen of the Constitution </i>by Robert K. Wright Jr. and Morris J. MacGregor Jr., <i>The Creek War </i>by Richard Blackmon</div>Dirk Langeveldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10347292004358347133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8953541230084203389.post-71895111330849990962020-11-05T14:34:00.002-05:002020-11-05T14:35:25.791-05:00Thomas J. Lane: Jailhouse Incumbent Overcomes Tax Evasion Conviction<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-b42pkJ-UWp4/X6RTCb-ydXI/AAAAAAAADS8/bJpaCQQKR_gwhbrlGCx9O6nrnSeCml-kQCLcBGAsYHQ/s564/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-11-05%2Bat%2B2.30.50%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="564" data-original-width="298" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-b42pkJ-UWp4/X6RTCb-ydXI/AAAAAAAADS8/bJpaCQQKR_gwhbrlGCx9O6nrnSeCml-kQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-11-05%2Bat%2B2.30.50%2BPM.png" /></a></div><p style="text-align: center;">(<a href="https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1956/05/01/84690716.html?pageNumber=23 ">Source</a>)</p><p>Thomas Joseph Lane spent more than two decades in the House of Representatives, but failed to make much of a mark on the history of the chamber. Little information remains about Lane's work, and he wasn't one to generate headlines - with one glaring exception. In 1956, <i>CQ Almanac </i>would refer to Lane as only the second known person to be elected to Congress after serving a prison sentence.</p><p>Lane was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts, on July 6, 1898. Following his graduation from high school, he worked as a retail clerk until he was accepted at Suffolk Law School in Boston in 1921. After earning his law degree from this school in 1925, he opened a private practice and later served in the U.S. Army.</p><p>Lane's political career began in 1927, when he was elected as a Democrat to the Massachusetts house of representatives. He served in this chamber for a decade, then became a member of the state senate in 1939. He left state politics at the end of 1941 after winning a special election called due to the death of Representative Lawrence J. Connery. </p><p>Lane would win the next nine general elections to the House as well. Representing an economically distressed textile manufacturing region, Lane was known as a labor supporter and New Deal backer who worked to secure federal economic assistance for his district.</p><p>On March 5, 1956, Lane was indicted on charges that he had evaded his income taxes between 1949 and 1951. The indictment charged that the congressman had seriously underreported his income in returns filed jointly with his wife, who was not charged. In 1949, the couple's joint income was $57,497 but Lane only reported $14,311, resulting in an income tax of $2,673 instead of $21,206. He reported income of $20,991.03 in 1950 instead of the actual figure of $43,198, resulting in a tax of $4,708 instead of $14,193. The couple earned $50,470 in 1951 but Lane said they had only taken in $30,956.43, giving them a tax bill of $9,515 instead of $20,039. All told, he had skipped out on $38,542 in taxes.</p><p>After indictment, Judge Charles E. Wyanski Jr. warned the press that he didn't want a "repetition of what happened in United States versus Delaney." It was a reference to the case of Denis J. Delaney, a former Massachusetts collector of internal revenue who happened to be a cousin of Lane's. Delany's first trial on charges of bribery and falsifying tax liens in 1951 was scrapped due to unfavorable publicity before trial, though he later pleaded guilty at a second trial.</p><p>Lane tried unsuccessfully to change his plea to nolo contendere before pleading guilty on April 30. In a tearful plea for leniency, he declared that "deep down in my heart I know there has never been a willful evading of the tax law." He was sentenced to four months in prison and a $10,000 fine.</p><p>He was still behind bars on July 20 when he filed his nomination papers to run for re-election to the House. After being released on September 4, he received twice as many votes as his nearest challenger, state senator Andrew P. Quigley, in the Democratic primary. He defeated his GOP challenger, Robert T. Breed, by a similar margin in the general election.</p><p>After being defeated in the 1962 election, Lane returned to private practice. He served as a member of the Governor's Council for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts from 1965 to 1970, was an active member of the American Legion, and a vocal advocate for veterans' rights and benefits.</p><p>Lane died on June 14, 1994, in Lawrence.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Sources</b></p><p>Biographical Directory of U.S. Congress, Suffolk University Early Law School Student Profiles, "Lane is Indicted on Tax Evasions" in the <i>New York Times </i>on March 6 1956, "Legislator Gets Jail in Tax Case" in the <i>New York Times </i>on May 1 1956, "85th Congress Potpourri" in the <i>CQ Almanac 1956</i>, <i>The Almanac of Political Corruption, Scandals, and Dirty Politics </i>by Kim Long</p>Dirk Langeveldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10347292004358347133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8953541230084203389.post-80128110357749422192020-08-11T14:19:00.000-04:002020-08-11T14:19:13.286-04:00Charles L. Robinson: The First U.S. Governor Impeached<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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(<a href="https://www.kshs.org/kansapedia/charles-robinson/11739">Source</a>)</div>
<br />
In the years leading up to the Civil War, the Kansas Territory quickly earned a reputation as a violent and dangerous place where pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions frequently came to blows. While Charles Lawrence Robinson was first attracted to Kansas by its agricultural opportunities, he was also an avowed abolitionist committed to seeing the territory enter the Union as a free state. He was also no stranger to violence, having suffered it and meted it out during a brief residency in California.<br />
<br />
Robinson had been active in the Squatter's Association, which advocated for the rights of newcomers to the California Territory who had been drawn there by the discovery of gold in 1849. The influx of fortune seekers led to conflicts with earlier settlers who held claims to land in the area, who in turn enlisted local government officials to aid them. After several months of tensions, including the destruction of squatters' homes and the jailing of squatter leader James McClatchy, two days of riots erupted in Sacramento in August 1850.<br />
<br />
Mayor Hardin Bigelow arranged an armed posse after fearing that a squatters' march intended to free McClatchy from a prison ship. When the groups clashed, three squatters and a city assessor were killed; Bigelow was seriously wounded, and later had to have his arm amputated. On the second day of riots, Sheriff Joseph McKinney and several others were killed.<br />
<br />
Accounts on Robinson's actions during this violence differ, though it's generally agreed that he was shot in the chest and narrowly avoided a fatal wound. One story holds that he subsequently managed to beat his assailant to death with an iron bar. Another version suggests that he was able to return fire and fatally wound the man who shot him.<br />
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Despite this willingness to partake in violence, Robinson was regarded as a more moderating force in Kansas who helped defuse situations that might otherwise have erupted into bloodshed. He would later get him elected governor of the state, though an ongoing feud with a more notorious anti-slavery figure and a questionable war bonds arrangement resulted in an impeachment hearing against him and other state officials.<br />
<br />
<b>Early life</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
Charles Lawrence Robinson was born on July 21, 1818, in Hardwick, Massachusetts. He found his career path while attending Amherst College, where vision troubles interfered with his studies. He decided to walk on foot to Keene, New Hampshire, to visit a celebrated physician named Dr. Twichell for help. Robinson was so impressed with Twichell's work that he decided to leave Amherst to pursue a medical career.<br />
<br />
After studying as a student of Twichell's for awhile, Robinson returned to Amherst to work for another doctor. He earned a medical degree from Berkshire Medical School in 1843 and began practicing in Belchertown. He later moved to Springfield, where he opened a hospital, and then to Fitchburg.<br />
<br />
Robinson joined the 1849 gold rush to California, though this decision was motivated at least in part by a breakdown in his health. Believing a change in climate would be beneficial, he headed west. Passing through Kansas along the way, he was struck by the fertile prairie soil. The observation would stay with him, helping to motivate a more permanent relocation within a few years.<br />
<br />
Although he tried his hand at panning gold, Robinson gave up the effort after a couple of weeks. He instead opened a boarding house and restaurant in Sacramento, which proved successful until it was destroyed by a flood. Robinson continued to practice medicine, and also introduced and edited a newspaper called the <i>Settler's and Miner's Tribune</i>. He was vocal in his criticism in how local officials and land speculators treated the new arrivals to California, and also expressed his disdain for the proposal to split California into two states - one slave, one free.<br />
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Following his involvement in the squatter's riot, Robinson was arrested and charged with murder, assault, and conspiracy. While recuperating on a prison ship, he issued a manifesto blaming local speculators for the deaths caused by the riots. After 10 weeks behind bars, Robinson was tried and acquitted. His reputation elevated by his advocacy for Californian settlers, and Robinson was elected to a single term in the California house of representatives in 1850.<br />
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During his time in California, Robinson became a strong advocate of John C. Fremont and supported him as a pick for U.S. Senator - a position then named by the legislature. Fremont later returned the favor when Robinson was governor of Kansas, kicking off his 1856 presidential campaign with an open letter to Robinson published in the <i>Free State </i>newspaper in Kansas. "As you stood by me firmly and generously, when we were defeated by the Nullifiers in California, I have every disposition to stand by you in the same way in your battle with them in Kansas," Fremont declared.<br />
<br />
<b>Settlement in Kansas</b><br />
<br />
Robinson decided to return to Massachusetts in 1851. He experienced some adventure on the way, when his ship wrecked on the Mexican coast about 80 miles from San Francisco. Robinson helped guard the cargo of gold dust until the crew and passengers were rescued a couple of weeks later.<br />
<br />
Showing some reluctance to return to the medical field, Robinson became the editor of the <i>Fitchburg News</i>. However, he soon became concerned that the Kansas-Nebraska Act could lead to Kansas being admitted as a slave state. In 1854, he joined the New England Emigrant Aid Company as a financial agent and accompanied it as it established its first colony in the territory. While the organization ostensibly aimed to capitalize on the financial opportunities available in Kansas, it also made no secret of the fact that it sought to bring Kansas into the Union as a free state.<br />
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By the time he arrived in Kansas, Robinson's passion for the medical field had cooled completely. Though his friends still referred to him as "Doctor," he focused his efforts on farming and serving as an agent for the New England Emigrant Aid Company. He later worked as a real estate promoter.<br />
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Robinson, along with other members of the New England Emigrant Aid Company, took an active role in establishing the free settlement of Lawrence and bolstering its defenses. He was among those expressing opposition to the Kansas Territorial Legislature, which was named after elections on March 30, 1855. Pro-slavery forces led by former U.S. Senator David R. Atchison crossed into Kansas from Missouri to take part in the territory's elections and pack the legislature with pro-slavery candidates. The fraud was obvious enough that in some places the vote tally exceeded the entire voting populace, but the legislature was still recognized by the federal government.<br />
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Free staters denounced the body as the "Bogus Legislature" and sought to establish their own governing bodies. Robinson became a founder and leader of the Free State Party, and later in 1855 served as a delegate to the Topeka Constitutional Convention, which created a state constitution prohibiting slavery and named Robinson governor. This constitution, along with the convention's petition to be granted statehood, was rejected by Congress.<br />
<br />
The year came to a tumultuous end with the Wakarusa War in December. Following the murder of free state settler Charles Dow in Douglas County due to a land dispute, the proslavery sheriff ordered the arrest Jacob Branson, of the land owner who had recovered Dow's body, but not the proslavery man who had killed him. Outraged free staters formed a posse to rescue Branson from prison and bring him to Lawrence, prompting the sheriff to request Governor Wilson Shannon to bring out a militia. The result was an enormous group of pro-slavery men, swelled by volunteers from Missouri, who stood ready to raze Lawrence.<br />
<br />
Following several days of tensions, the conflict was peacefully resolved. Robinson and <a href="http://downfalldictionary.blogspot.com/2009/08/james-h-lane-soldier-of-misfortune.html">James Lane</a> signed the peace treaty for the free staters, and each man had kind words for the other. Robinson praised Lane for "the thorough discipline of our forces and the complete and extensive preparations for defense," while Lane in turn describes Robinson as a "clear-headed, cool and trustworthy commander." This friendly state of affairs between the two would prove temporary.<br />
<br />
On May 10, 1856, Robinson was indicted for treason and usurpation, the charges stemming from the fact that he was the head of a government counter to the pro-slavery one that had been recognized by the federal government. Later in the month, he was arrested, along with other free state advocates, while attempting to travel east to seek aid from anti-slavery governors and other sympathizers. Robinson's wife continued in his stead, and the couple's house in Kansas was burned to the ground.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>A depiction of Charles Robinson's arrest. </i>(<a href="https://civilwaronthewesternborder.org/encyclopedia/robinson-charles">Source</a>)</div>
<br />
Robinson's incarceration wasn't too burdensome. One story suggested that he was held by a cordial judge who, when a pair of men arrived trying to stir up a lynch mob, offered to turn an equally armed Robinson into the street, at which point the duo fled. By chance, his arrest also ensured that he would be incarcerated during some of the most notorious acts of violence during the "Bleeding Kansas" time period, namely the Pottawatomie Massacre led by John Brown and the sack of Lawrence.<br />
<br />
In September, Robinson was acquitted after a jury concluded that since Kansas was not a state, he could not have actually usurped power. Though his mission had been delayed by several months, Robinson nevertheless traveled to New York City to pursue the business of the New England Emigrant Aid Company. He resigned his claim to the Kansas governorship in October due to his absence.<br />
<br />
After returning to Kansas, Robinson became active in the establishment of the Republican Party in the territory. He also took part in efforts to create a port at the settlement of Quindaro, although this initiative was ultimately unsuccessful.<br />
<br />
Free staters had generally boycotted the territorial legislature elections, considering them corrupt and illegitimate, but in October 1857 they mustered their forces and elected the first ever free state majority. They returned to their usual abstinence when a constitutional convention, which had been recessed until after the election, met at Lecompton and decided that the only question that would be sent to voters would be whether the constitution would be accepted with or without slavery. Since free staters considered that a vote for "without" would still allow Kansas residents to retain existing slaves, they refused to participate. The "with" option won handily, 6,226 to 569, in a vote on December 21.<br />
<br />
Free staters called their own constitutional convention in Leavenworth in March 1858, though their work demonstrated how those opposed to the extension of slavery weren't always in favor of equal rights for black citizens. Many delegates wanted to limit voting rights to white men only, and the final Leavenworth constitution called for the exclusion of free blacks from Kansas.<br />
<br />
The ratification of the Lecompton Constitution also prompted a rancorous debate over the document's legitimacy in Washington. President James Buchanan urged Congress to approve the Lecompton Constitution, which would admit Kansas as a slave state. A majority of the Senate concurred, but the House preferred to resubmit the constitution for a popular vote. A compromise between the two chambers agreed that if the Lecompton Constitution was approved in a fair up-or-down vote, Kansas would be a slave state. On August 2, the constitution was overwhelmingly defeated in an 11,812 to 1,926 result.<br />
<br />
Free staters had ratified the Leavenworth constitution in May, but serious efforts to pursue it ended after the Lecompton Constitution was defeated. Yet another convention, held in Wyandotte in July 1859, prohibited slavery and granted citizenship rights, but not voting rights, to blacks. Robinson backed some more radical elements, including women's suffrage, that failed to make the final document. On October 4, 1859, Kansas citizens approved the Wyandotte Constitution in a 10,421 to 5,530 vote.<br />
<br />
<b>Kansas governor and conflict with Lane</b><br />
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In the gubernatorial election held in December 1860, Robinson was named the Republican candidate and faced off against Samuel Medary, the incumbent Democratic territorial governor. Despite efforts by Democrats to frame Robinson and the Republicans as radicals in the mold of John Brown, who had led the Pottawatomie Massacre before heading east and raiding Harper's Ferry in October 1859, Robinson won the race with 7,908 votes to Medary's 5,395.<br />
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Kansas was formally admitted to the Union as a free state on January 29, 1861. By this time, six Southern states had already seceded in response to Abraham Lincoln's election as President. When Robinson took office on February 9, Texas had joined the list of seceders. Two months after he began his duties, the attack on Fort Sumter prompted the departure of four more states and kicked off the Civil War.<br />
<br />
Robinson oversaw efforts to establish the new state government and judicial system, as well as a relocation of the state capital to Topeka, but the conflict quickly became his primary focus. Although Missouri remained in the Union fold, tensions between slave state and the newly admitted free Kansas remained; Robinson had to dedicate considerable attention to the frequent raids and counter-raids across the state line. Although Kansas was not included when Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers to help put down the rebellion, Robinson organized a state militia to aid the cause. When a second call for volunteers allotted a quota of 5,006 to Kansas, the state sent more than twice that number.<br />
<br />
Meanwhile, the relationship between Robinson and Lane had deteriorated considerably. Despite the praise the men had for each other after the Wakarusa War, they had fundamentally different backgrounds and temperaments. Lane, a former Democratic congressman, was hot-tempered, vulgar, and militaristic; since he had supported pro-slavery legislation in the past, he was also seen as something of an opportunist. Robinson was generally regarded as more levelheaded and ambitious.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>James Lane, who became a fierce rival of Robinson. </i>(<a href="https://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/people/i_r/lane.htm">Source</a>)</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
One of the earlier conflicts between Robinson and Lane occurred on October 5, 1857, when Lane called for a military movement against pro-slavery settlers and the destruction of the legislature. While this proposal was rejected, he did manage to create a military board at a meeting of the legislature on January 4, 1858, and have himself appointed to lead it, whereupon he continued to advocate for violence against pro-slavery camps. When Robinson was called before the board, he effectively undercut it by saying the entity had no authority to summon him.<br />
<br />
Lane, who was active in mustering Kansas troops, lobbed a variety of accusations at Robinson during the war. He went so far as to accuse the governor of treason, and of willfully depriving him of necessary artillery. Late in 1861, Lane and his allies in the legislature tried to oust Robinson on a technicality, claiming that his term ended in January 1862, not 1863. They staged an election that named George A. Crawford as Robinson's successor, but the result was declared illegitimate by the state supreme court.<br />
<br />
Lane would finally land a disabling blow against Robinson with a fairly obscure issue: whether state bond sales had been carried out correctly.<br />
<br />
<b>Impeachment</b><br />
<br />
As part of their effort to fund and sustain a militia, as well as get the state institutions up and running, the Kansas legislature authorized the issuance of $150,000 in state bonds. Under previously established guidelines, the bonds were to be sold at no less than 70 cents on the dollar.<br />
<br />
John W. Robinson, Robinson's unrelated secretary of state, and George S. Hillyer, the state auditor, didn't abide by this stipulation when they set up an agreement with bond agent Robert Stevens. The two men promised to effectively deliver bonds at 60 cents on the dollar, since Stevens would purchase $50,000 at 40 cents on the dollar and $37,000 at 70 cents on the dollar. Governor Robinson claimed that while he thought it was good state policy to sell the bonds at a lower rate if they were unable to get a better one, he recognized the problem with doing so and declined to sign a paper authorizing the transaction. However, he had given his secretary of state and state auditor approval to make the bond arrangements, and they ultimately finalized the agreement and attached his name without his approval.<br />
<br />
Although it wasn't ideal, the arrangement wasn't necessarily corrupt. None of the officials involved benefitted personally from selling the bonds at a lower return, and there was also the risk that refusing to sell to Stevens would result in no bond sale and thus no proceeds at all. Still, selling the bonds below the stipulated amount was a violation of state legislation, and therefore a violation of the law.<br />
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Lane's allies in the legislature pounced on the opportunity to take down Robinson, and the house of representatives authorized an investigation at the end of January 1862. Lane was one of the people deposed, and alleged that the money from the bond sales was being sought "for use against my friends and myself in Kansas, and that it would not go into the State Treasury." On February 15, the state house of representatives approved five impeachment charges against Robinson, as well as eight charges against John W. Robinson and seven against Hillyer. Robinson was the first U.S. governor to be impeached.<br />
<br />
After a lengthy debate over how to proceed, the trial went forward in June. John W. Robinson's impeachment trial was the most comprehensive, and resulted in his removal from office following conviction on a single count of the "high misdemeanor" of selling bonds below the rate set by the legislature. The state senate immediately began the proceedings against Hillyer, with the agreement that the evidence introduced in John W. Robinson's trial (with the exception of Hillyer's own testimony) would be applicable to the new trial. Hillyer was also convicted of the same charge.<br />
<br />
Governor Robinson's charge was perfunctory, starting and concluding on June 16. The testimony suggested that the governor was not directly involved in the bond sale, since he was in Kansas while John W. Robinson and Hillyer sought to make the transaction in Washington, D.C. General J.C. Stone, quartermaster general, testified that he had told Robinson several times that he thought the bonds could be disposed of for 100 cents on the dollar, but also realized that the governor had no control over the bonds. John W. Robinson and Hillyer also took the stand, saying there had been no real arrangement with Robinson on how the bonds would be disposed of.<br />
<br />
Wilson Shannon, arguing for the defense, proclaimed that the prosecution had advanced no evidence showing that the governor was complicit in the bond sales. The state treasurer had the duty to issue them, while the governor and auditor could only sign them. The mere signing of the bonds, he noted, had not been upheld as a high misdemeanor in Hillyer's trial.<br />
<br />
Davies Wilson, leading the prosecution, praised Robinson's character and lamented that he was facing removal from office, but said it was nevertheless the duty of the state senate to carry out their duty. "Precious may be our tried friends and trusted leaders, yet more precious should be purity and integrity," he declared. "And when, in these venal days, it is given us the privilege of proving our allegiance to virtue, and honor and truth, even at so great a price, let us be bold to set an illustrious example, and declare that here at least there are none so exalted, none so protected from process of law, none so powerful as to do wrong, yet fear no penalty."<br />
<br />
Robinson was acquitted on all five counts. There were only three votes to convict scattered across two charges, and on three articles the vote to clear him was unanimous.<br />
<br />
Although the result was a rather decisive exoneration, the impeachment proved crippling to Robinson's political career. At the Republican state convention on September 17, he lost the gubernatorial nomination to Thomas Carney, who subsequently succeeded him in office. Robinson left office on January 12, 1863, having completed a single term.<br />
<br />
<b>Later life</b><br />
<br />
Robinson followed a variety of pursuit after his time as governor. In addition to maintaining his farm, he was a regent at the University of Kansas for several years as well as director of the Leavenworth, Lawrence & Galveston Railroad Company. He also served as the president of the Kansas Historical Society from 1879 to 1880 and superintendent of the Haskell Institute at Lawrence from 1887 to 1889.<br />
<br />
Robinson didn't abandon politics entirely. Starting in 1873, he served eight years as an independent in the Kansas state senate. He also ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. House of Representatives in 1886 and governor of Kansas in 1890. Becoming estranged from the Republican Party, he left it in 1886 and worked with both Democrats and Populists, helping back fusion candidate of Lorenzo D. Lewelling as governor of Kansas in 1892.<br />
<br />
Contemporary accounts have credited Robinson with being a moderating force that helped to keep the antebellum violence in Kansas from spiraling out of control. He wrote about these prewar tensions in 1891 in a book entitled <i>The Kansas Conflict</i>.<br />
<br />
Robinson died in Lawrence on August 17, 1894.<br />
<br />
Sources: Kansas Historical Society, Lecompton Historical Society, National Governors Association, Territorial Kansas Online, The Kansas City Public Library, Dickinson College's "House Divided" Search Engine, <i>The United States Biographical Dictionary: Kansas Volume</i>, <i>The Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans</i>, <i>The California Gold Rush and the Coming Civil War </i>by Leonard L. Richards, <i>The Pursuit of Public Power: Political Culture in Ohio 1787-1861</i> edited by Jeffrey P. Brown and Andrew R.L. Clayton, <i>Kansas's War: The Civil War in Documents </i>edited by Pearl T. Ponce, <i>Man of Douglas, Man of Lincoln: The Political Odyssey of James Henry Lane </i>by Ian Michael Spurgeon, <i>The Life of Charles Robinson: The First Governor of Kansas</i> by Frank Wilson Blackmar, <i>Proceedings in the Cases of the Impeachment of Charles Robinson, Governor; John W. Robinson, Secretary of State; George S. Hillyer, Auditor of State, of Kansas</i>Dirk Langeveldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10347292004358347133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8953541230084203389.post-12905674417235404122019-11-26T16:19:00.001-05:002019-11-26T16:20:02.464-05:00William A. Clark: A "Copper King" fails to buy a Senate seat<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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(<a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwiEw7zO4vvlAhUKm-AKHZK6BH8Qjhx6BAgBEAI&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2011%2F06%2F05%2Frealestate%2Fhuguette-clarks-worthless-girlhood-home.html&psig=AOvVaw2xboOsTJvyqI6MWvZCVxKK&ust=1574441694022812">Source</a>)</div>
<br />
As the mining ventures in the West gained steam, the businesses of three Butte men grew powerful enough that they were popularly dubbed Montana's "Copper Kings." One, F. Augustus Heinze, had been born into wealth and managed to establish the multi-million dollar United Copper Company. The other two - Marcus Daly and William A. Clark - shared a similar background: hardscrabble beginnings followed by success in the mining industry that allowed them to establish a foundation for their empires.<br />
<br />
The two men also despised each other. It's unclear what sparked the feud between Daly and Clark, though several theories have been advanced. The most likely story seems to be that Clark interfered with the business of the Anaconda Company, Daly's business, by buying up the water rights Daly needed to operate a copper smelter. It was also suggested that Clark had offended Daly by making a racist remark about his Turkish-American business partner, James Ben Ali Haggin.<br />
<br />
Regardless of what started the fight, the two titans would find themselves pitted against each other on a number of state political issues. One pitched battle occurred after Montana gained statehood in 1889. As the state government was organized, Daly sought to have the capital located in Anaconda, a community he founded; Clark was a vociferous advocate of Helena for the state capital. Clark would later estimate that more than $1 million had been poured into the capital fight, and that his spending had accounted for about $100,000.<br />
<br />
The unchecked spending in the matter spurred the state legislature to try to reign in campaign finances. A newly minted law held that a candidate couldn't give more than $1,000 to any committee in one county, or pay more than $1,000 out of their pocket for any lawful campaign purposes.<br />
<br />
About a decade later, Clark would be accused of blatantly disregarding this law in an attempt to win a seat in the U.S. Senate.<br />
<br />
<b>Early life</b><br />
<b><br /></b>Clark was born near Connellsville, Pennsylvania, on January 8, 1839. He attended the common schools, as well as the Laurel Hill Academy, and demonstrated his entrepreneurial qualities at a young age. Toting farm produce from Connellsville to the community of New Haven in the west, he bargained with customers in an effort to secure the highest prices.<br />
<br />
In 1856, Clark moved with his parents to Van Buren County, Iowa, after his father sold the struggling family farm. He studied law at Iowa Wesleyan University at Mount Pleasant, but never practiced. He also taught school, moving to Missouri to do so between 1859 and 1860. Some accounts suggest that he briefly joined the Confederate military during the Civil War, though these claims appear dubious.<br />
<br />
Clark first got into the mining business in 1862, when he drove a team to Central City, Colorado, and stayed to work in the quartz mines near this town. A year later, he purchased and drove another team with three companions and wound up in Bannack, Montana, where he found work in the gold placer mines.<br />
<br />
In one of his early successful enterprises, Clark found that he could realize more success in supplying the mining operations rather than working in them. He started by traveling to Salt Lake City, returning to Montana loaded up with groceries and supplies such as tobacco that he could sell at a profit. In 1869, on a trip east to establish additional supply lines, he stopped off in Pennslyvania and ended up marrying childhood friend Kate Stauffer.<br />
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<b>An empire grows</b><br />
<br />
By 1872, most of the easily accessible gold in the Butte region has been mined. What was left of the precious material was locked up in quartz ore. Clark responded by purchasing a foreclosed mill, with which he was able to reap significant profits processing the quartz. He then purchased four mining claims at a deep discount. These actions formed the nucleus of what would become a vast fortune.<br />
<br />
Clark followed numerous mercantile pursuits in Blackfoot and Helena. His name would ultimately be associated with 28 companies, none of which were publicly traded. A glowing biographical sketch declared that this arrangement left his businesses "entirely untrammeled by boards of directors, stockholders with their numerous interests and constant liability to produce embarrassing situations, and of all stock market conditions." He purchased copper, coal, and silver mines in Arizona, Colorado, Montana, and Utah. As his mining interests grew, he was said to be the largest individual owner of copper mines and smelters in the world.<br />
<br />
As he became more invested in this business, Clark studied at the Columbia School of Mines. One of his more profitable mines was the United Verde copper deposit in Jerome, Arizona. He acquired 70 percent of the stock after the Phelps Dodge Corporation concluded the claim was too remote to yield much revenue. Just a few years later, Clark had reaped $60 million from it.<br />
<br />
The empire forged by Clark went well beyond mineral wealth, though. He secured a mail contract between Missoula and Walla Walla, Washington. He opened a newspaper and bank in Butte, worked with two partners in wholesale and retail merchandising, bought up gold dust from panners to sell to banks on the East Coast, and acted as the purchasing agent for several Helena merchants by extending loans with 2 percent interest. Clark's holdings would eventually spread nationwide, including a blasting powder plant in Pennsylvania, a wire plant in New Jersey, and a beet sugar plantation near Los Angeles.<br />
<br />
<b>A contentious Senate race</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
Clark's first became involved in politics in 1884, when he served as president of a state constitutional convention. He supported the Democratic Party's desire for lower tariffs, and in 1888 the party chose him as their nominee for Montana's territorial delegate seat in Congress.<br />
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The feud between Clark and Daly was already underway at this point, with both men using newspapers they owned to lash each other in editorial broadsides. Daly was credited with sabotaging Clark's bid by having his own employees oppose the candidate, even if they agreed with his positions. The secret ballot was not yet in place in Montana, so it was a simple matter for the shift bosses at the Anaconda Company to inspect the ballots and make sure the workers had complied with Daly's wishes. In the final tally, Clark earned 17,360 votes to the 22,486 that went to his Daly-backed challenger, Republican candidate Thomas Henry Carter.<br />
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<i>Marcus Daly</i> (<a href="https://www.bonnermilltownhistory.org/marcus-daly">Source</a>)</div>
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Clark didn't have to wait long for a larger prize to be available. While Congress had rejected Montana's attempt at statehood in 1884, it accepted it five years later after another constitutional convention that Clark again presided over. The Montana legislature at the time was firmly divided between Democrats and Republicans. The split was so bad that the house of representatives effectively broke into two separate chambers, with the parties meeting and acting separately. The state senate failed to pass any of the laws submitted by either half of the house, effectively preventing the state legislature from accomplishing any business in its first session.<br />
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This deadlock didn't bode well for the legislative responsibility of appointing two U.S. senators. Each party named its two picks and sent them to Congress in 1890 for the Senate to sort out; the partisan divide was just as pronounced in the nation's capital, and the Senate kept the Republican nominees while sending the Democratic ones (Clark included) back home.<br />
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Both Daly and Clark ran for the Senate in 1893, but neither was able to get the necessary majority support in the legislature. As a result, Montana simply didn't name a senator that year.<br />
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Again running for the Senate in 1899, Clark was finally appointed to a seat with his six-year term set to begin in March of that year. Fifty-four legislators voted for him, while 39 voted against. However, accusations of bribery quickly emerged. One of the most dramatic examples came when state senator Fred Whiteside brought $30,000 in cash into the legislature, announcing that the sum had been advanced to him and three others to win their support for Clark. Whiteside declared, "I know that the course I have pursued will not be popular, but so long as I live, I propose to fight the men who have placed the withering curse of bribery upon this state."<br />
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<i>Fred Whiteside</i> (<a href="http://flatheadliving.com/2017/01/26/whistleblower/">Source</a>)</div>
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Clark launched a vicious offensive against Whiteside, saying the accusation was part of an attempt by Daly and his cohorts to undermine his appointment to the Senate. He and his allies than challenged Whiteside's own close election to the legislature, managing to invalidate it by having any ballots where an X was marked after his name instead of before it thrown out.<br />
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Before departing, Whiteside delivered a speech which included a sarcastic toast to crime. The Senate matter, he said, reminded him of "a horde of hungry, skinny, long-tailed rats around a big cheese." He invited the legislators who had switched their votes to support Clark to stand up and explain why they had done so. However, he suggested it would be "much more clear and to the point if they would just get up and tell us the price and sit down."<br />
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<b>"I never bought a man..."</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
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When Clark arrived in Washington and presented his credentials, he was seated in the Senate without delay. However, his opponents filed a petition on the same day accusing him of winning the election though outright bribery. Clark, they said, had also far exceeded the $2,000 cap on campaign spending set by the 1895 state law in Montana.<br />
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The matter was referred to the Committee on Privileges and Elections, which held hearings on the issue between January and April of 1900. Ninety-six witnesses would be heard, including Clark, Daly, Whiteside, and Montana state legislators who had voted in favor of Clark's appointment to the Senate.<br />
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The investigation uncovered a scheme, overseen by Clark's son, to funnel bribes of between $240 and $100,000 to support Clark's election bid. A committee had been set up with the understanding that Clark would provide them with unlimited sums of money to be used to sway legislators to his side. In some cases, the bribes had been subtle measures, such as paying mortgages and debts or purchasing land from a legislator at a vastly inflated price. Other bribes had been more straightforward, including instances where a recipient was simply handed an envelope full of cash. The larger bribes were usually paid in $1,000 bills.<br />
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It was estimated that Clark has spent about $431,000 to nail down 47 votes in the legislature, including 11 crucial Republican ones. Clark himself admitted to only paying $139,000 toward his campaign, though of course this vastly exceeded the state cap. He reportedly quipped, in private, "I never bought a man who wasn't for sale." He didn't help his case before the Senate committee when he admitted that he had destroyed all records of his campaign finances, raising doubts as to the honesty of his Senate run.<br />
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The testimony of Whiteside and three other legislators who directly accused Clark of attempted bribery proved damning. The committee ultimately determined that their testimony could only be false if they had entered into a lengthy "conspiracy of the basest character, to be followed up by perjury of the worst sort," with the sole purpose of depriving Clark of his seat in the Senate.<br />
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On April 10, the committee unanimously concluded that Clark was not entitled to sit in the Senate. It declared his election null and void due to "briberies, attempted briberies, and corrupt practices by his agents," as well as violations of Montana state law. The committee noted how Congress had previously refused to seat elected members in cases of bribery even if the beneficiary was unaware of these efforts. It cited a similar case from 1873, when the Senate had reviewed the elections of Samuel C. Pomeroy and Alexander Caldwell in Kansas. In the Pomeroy case, the Senate had concluded that a candidate should not be seated if they had clearly participated in any one bribe or attempted bribe, even if it didn't change the result of the election.<br />
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Two committee members agreed with the conclusion, but sought to blunt the seriousness of the matter. They noted that Daly had also violated Montana's state law by channeling unlimited amounts of his own cash into the race to oppose Clark. Daly had even spent about $40,000 in lawyer's fees and other expenses to assist in the prosecution of the case before the Senate. The committee report acknowledged Daly's machinations, but said there was no evidence to support Clark's charge that Daly had concocted a conspiracy against him.<br />
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On May 15, on the eve of a vote before the full Senate, Clark rose to deliver a speech listing his grievances. He criticized the committee procedures, charging that the Senate had not granted him the presumption of innocence and had withheld certain evidence. He also said the committee had not proved any bribery sufficient to alter the results of the legislature's appointment and denounced Daly, saying his rival ruled the town of Anaconda like a despot and wasn't above trying to control politics on a larger stage.<br />
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But Clark said he was aware that he likely didn't have the support to keep his seat and thus resigned on the spot. In a letter to the governor of Montana, he said he was convinced his supporters did not result to corrupt means to secure his election. Nevertheless, he was "unwilling to occupy a seat in the Senate of the United States under credentials which its Committee has declared rest for their authority upon the action of a legislature which was not free and voluntary in its choice of a senator."<br />
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As it happened, both the governor and lieutenant governor of Montana were not in the state at the time of Clark's resignation. In a bizarre illustration of the state's divided loyalties, Lieutenant Governor Archibald E. Spriggs traveled 800 miles to get back within state lines and name Clark to fill the vacancy created by his own resignation. Governor Robert B. Smith, a Daly supporter, returned to Montana three days later. Outraged by Spriggs' action, he telegraphed the Senate to tell them that he would be naming Martin Maginnis, a former territorial delegate, to the Senate.<br />
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The Senate was presented with the credentials for both men. Exhausted, they tabled both of them and left one of Montana's seats unfilled. The sordid affair would be just one more piece of evidence reformers would use to argue that U.S. senators should be chosen by popular vote instead of legislators; this change would finally come about with the ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment in 1913.<br />
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<b>Senate and sex scandals</b><br />
<b><br /></b>Clark could easily fall back on his burgeoning business empire. By 1900, his fortune was estimated at about $50 million and he was considered one of the richest men in the world.<br />
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The Montana legislature convened again in January 1901, and again were tasked with choosing a senator. Clark had financially supported the campaigns of many of the legislators to help improve his goodwill in the body. He had won the support of the miners' union for promising to support an eight-hour day as well as legislation allowing miners to sue the company for damages caused by a coworker's negligence and to shop freely instead of being obligated to purchase goods at overpriced company stores. Perhaps more importantly, a major roadblock to his political ambition had been removed: Daly had died in November of the previous year.<br />
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The legislature again named Clark to the Senate, and this time he was seated without issue. His six-year term was unremarkable. He favor the construction of a canal through Nicaragua instead of Panama. He also supported a policy allowing mining companies to cut timber on federal lands without reimbursing the government; Clark and others used this policy to enrich themselves through logging as well as mining.<br />
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The famous humorist Mark Twain was none too impressed with Clark. In a 1907 essay, he declared, "He is as rotten a human being as can be found...he is a shame to the American nation, and no one has helped to send him to the Senate who did not know that his proper place was the penitentiary, with a ball and chain on his legs." He added, "By his example he has so excused and so sweetened corruption that in Montana it no longer has an offensive smell."<br />
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Clark's romantic life also gained attention during his Senate term. He had maintained a distant relationship with his wife and children; since 1878, they had been living in Europe and Clark had traveled to visit them every winter. Katherine had died in 1893. Clark later started a relationship with a young actress named Anna Eugenia La Chapelle; he had sent her from Montana to France when she was 16 years old to study music. Anna became pregnant in 1901 and again in 1903.<br />
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<i>Anna Eugenia La Chapelle </i>(<a href="http://www.emptymansionsbook.com/anna-mother">Source</a>)</div>
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The <i>Anaconda Standard</i>, a paper that Daly had owned, gleefully exposed this relationship with an article headlined "They're Married and Have a Baby" on July 12, 1904. Clark claimed that he and Anna had secretly been married on May 25, 1901. It was a dubious claim, since it conveniently put Clark in France at the same time as Anna and more than nine months before the birth of her daughter, Louise Amelia Andree Clark. No newspapers in Europe had mentioned a wedding, despite extensive coverage of Clark's trip; his itinerary also failed to mention such an event. The "secret" wedding was widely regarded as a flimsy excuse to try to sidestep any scandal.<br />
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Throughout 1904, Clark would be buffeted with charges that he was fond of seducing young women. Hattie Rose Laube, a noted campaign speaker, claimed that Clark had promised to marry her while the two traveled in Europe. There were questions over Clark's "sponsorship" of Kathlyn Williams, a Butte woman 40 years his junior whom he had sent to New York City to study opera; Clark had also supported her decision to switch to acting, where she became a well-known star. A woman named Mary McNellis sued him for $150,000, claiming that Clark had seduced and impregnated her and falsely promised her marriage; a judge later ruled against her, though the matter also included a questionable transaction where McNellis's lawyer sold his interest in a Canadian mine to Clark.<br />
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After serving one term, Clark retired from the Senate.<br />
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<b>Later years</b><br />
<b><br /></b>Clark's business ventures had continued apace while he was in the government. One of the more prominent accomplishments was the 1,100-mile San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake Rail Line. He had financed the construction of this line, although its construction was largely overseen by younger brother J. Ross Clark. The railroad, completed in 1905 and now part of the Southern Pacific Railroad, is credited as the only railroad to be built with funding from a single person rather than a corporation.<br />
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One unintended consequence of this railroad was the creation of Las Vegas. Clark purchased and subdivided a ranch in the Nevada desert to create a community where the trains could be serviced and his employees could live. The small settlement eventually grew into the modern day gambling mecca, while Clark County was named in the tycoon's honor.<br />
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Meanwhile, Clark has been working to establish an opulent mansion on Fifth Avenue in New York City. The home itself would not be completed until 1911, following 14 years of construction and planning. The rambling 121-room residence included four art galleries as well as an underground railroad line to bring in coal for heating. As part of the construction, Clark has purchased a quarry in New Hampshire to supply stone and a bronze foundry to cast its fittings.<br />
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<i>Clark's mansion on Fifth Avenue in New York City </i>(<a href="https://www.mcny.org/story/william-clark-mansion">Source</a>)</div>
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Clark would live the rest of his life in the mansion. Despite his diminutive political career, he had made numerous charitable donations supporting organizations such as the YMCA and First Presbyterian Church. He helped establish a Girl Scout camp in New York and numerous organizations in Butte, including an orphanage, homeless shelter, and a 68-acre amusement park called Columbia Gardens. Clark also established an electric trolley line to this site, which children were permitted to ride for free on Thursdays.<br />
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On March 2, 1925, Clark died of pneumonia. His children received assets worth about $200 million, all of which has been sold off by 1935. La Chapelle received $2.5 million. Clark's vast art collection was donated to the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, D.C., after the original recipient, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, balked at the requirement that exclusive galleries be maintained in perpetuity for the works. The paintings were transferred to the National Gallery of Art after the Corcoran dissolved in 2014.<br />
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The immense New York City mansion briefly remained as a monument to Clark's wealth while struggling to find someone willing to buy it. Finally, in 1927, it was purchased and quickly demolished to make way for luxury apartments. His comparably modest 34-room residence in Butte survives today as a bed and breakfast called the Copper King Mansion.<br />
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Some of Clark's children also earned recognition. William Andrews Clark Jr. was a notable philanthropist who founded the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 1919. A daughter, Huguette Clark, was a reclusive heiress who preferred to live the last 20 years of her life under assumed names in hospital rooms despite owning a palatial 42-room apartment on Fifth Avenue. She also owned mansions in California, Connecticut, and New York which she kept in good repair but never visited.<br />
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Huguette died in 2011 at the age of 104, leaving behind an estate worth $300 million. Her will quickly became the subject of a prolonged court battle. Despite the stipulation that her relatives wouldn't receive a cent, her heirs were eventually granted $34.5 million. One of the main results of the probate process was the establishment of the Bellosguardo Foundation, which is located within Hugette's former estate in California and aims to be an arts and cultural destination.<br />
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<b>Sources</b><br />
<br />
Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, The National Mining Hall of Fame and Museum, Museum of the City of New York, Online Nevada Encyclopedia, The William Andrews Clark Memorial Library at UCLA, The Copper King Mansion Bed & Breakfast, "The Right and Title of William A. Clark to a Seat as Senator from the State of Montana" report from The Committee on Elections and Privileges, "The Election Case of William A. Clark of Montana" at Senate.gov, "William Andrews Clark" in the <i>Las Vegas Review Journal </i>on Feb. 7 1999, "Daughter of Connellsville's Controversial Billionaire Dies" in the <i>Tribune-Review </i>on May 28 2011, "Huguette Clark's $300 Million Copper Fortune Is Divided Up" on CNBC on Sep. 24 2013, "A Familiar Scandal: Teenage Girls, A U.S. Senate Hopeful and a Century-Old Montana Story" in the <i>Billings Gazette</i> on Nov. 16 2017, <i>McClure's Magazine Vol. 28</i>, <i>The Battle for Butte: Mining and Politics on the Northern Frontier 1864-1906</i> by Michael P. Malone, <i>Fire and Brimstone: The North Butte Mining Disaster of 1917 </i>by Michael Punke, <i>Copper for America: The United States Copper Industry from Colonial Times to the 1990s </i>by Charles K. Hyde, <i>The Cyclopaedia of American Biography Vol. VIII</i>,Dirk Langeveldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10347292004358347133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8953541230084203389.post-7606027790333121172019-08-19T15:56:00.000-04:002019-08-19T15:57:47.142-04:00William Adams Richardson<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div style="text-align: center;">
(<a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=Uf8TBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA752&dq=american+presidents+by+year+richardson&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjRqpqc2o_kAhXnT98KHfxlB38Q6AEwAHoECAQQAg#v=onepage&q=william%20richardson&f=false">Source</a>)</div>
<br />
Throughout the two terms Ulysses S. Grant spent as President of the United States, his administration was beset by various scandals. Several officials were accused of wrongdoing, with lax oversight contributing to the general air of corruption and wrongdoing.<br />
<br />
Although it attracted less attention than some of the other Grant Administration scandals, the Sanborn Incident would ultimately end the Cabinet service of William Adams Richardson, the Secretary of the Treasury. While Richardson had enjoyed a sound reputation before this matter wasn't accused of directly benefiting the questionable actions in this affair, he was strongly condemned for failing to stop the scandal in its tracks.<br />
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<b>Early life</b><br />
<br />
Richardson was born on November 2, 1821, in Tyngsborough, Massachusetts. He graduated from Harvard University in 1843, and three years later he was admitted to the bar. He began practicing law from a firm he established in Lowell; he would move it to Boston in 1860.<br />
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Early in his career, Richardson dabbled in banking and politics. He briefly served as the president of a Wamesit bank, and held the role of director at other banks in the area. He was elected to the city council of Lowell in 1849, re-elected in 1853, and made president of the council a year later. Initially a Whig, he later joined the Republican Party.<br />
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Richardson also held a number of judicial roles, serving as a justice of the peace for Middlesex County from 1847 to 1854. He became a judge for the county's probate court from 1856 to 1858, and its probate and insolvency court from 1858 to 1872.<br />
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Richardson also found time to compile and publish the state statutes for Massachusetts, completing this project in 1855 and revising it annually through 1873. He would launch a similar undertaking for the legislation of the U.S. Congress, issuing supplements on these laws from 1874 until his death.<br />
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<b>Treasury Department</b><br />
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In 1869, Grant named Richardson as Assistant Secretary of Treasury. The appointment was made at the request of Treasury Secretary George S. Boutwell, a former Massachusetts congressman. Richardson had been offered a judicial role on the Massachusetts Superior Court, but turned it down in order to join Grant's administration. Richardson also briefly served as the acting Attorney General in 1870.<br />
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When Senator Henry Wilson of Massachusetts became Vice President on March 3, 1873, Boutwell resigned his post to fill the vacancy in the Senate. Richardson moved up to become Secretary of the Treasury, though he continued Boutwell's policies aimed at reducing the public debt and building up a federal reserve.<br />
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One of the most significant transactions Richardson handled while at the Treasury was the Geneva Award, which in 1872 transferred $15.5 million from British coffers to the United States. Several Confederate raiding ships, most notably the CSS <i>Alabama</i>, had been constructed in British shipyards during the Civil War and gone on to wreak havoc on Union shipping during the conflict. The "<i>Alabama </i>Claims" sought to collect damages for the British role in the matter, and the settlement was finally agreed upon after an international commission met in Switzerland.<br />
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The award caused some nervousness in the financial sector, since the transport of such an extraordinary amount of money over the Atlantic Ocean carried a good deal of risk. Richardson instead managed the transaction through a process of receiving and canceling bonds to move the money in a safe manner.<br />
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Richardson also played a key role in the federal response to the Panic of 1873. This recession occurred when the European stock market crashed, prompting a selloff of American investments. Railroad bonds were a particularly popular item in these transactions, and as a result the market was flooded with bonds. The railroad companies weren't able to find lenders willing to extend them loans, and many went bankrupt. In the United States, about one in four railroads (89 out of 364) failed.<br />
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<i>An illustration of the Panic of 1873</i>. (<a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/02/15/an-important-lesson-about-banking-from-the-panic-o.aspx">Source</a>)</div>
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The full force of the Panic hit the U.S. on September 18, 1873, when Jay Cooke & Company in New York City collapsed. The bank had overextended itself, with heavy investments in railroads sealing its fate. Two days later, the New York Stock Exchange suspended trading for the first time in its history after economic conditions failed to improve.<br />
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A day later, Richardson and Grant traveled to New York to meet with several prominent businessmen. The federal government had promised to buy $10 million in bonds to try to restore confidence in the financial system, and quickly increased this sum to $13 million. The businessmen said it wasn't enough; money was in tight supply, thanks to several commercial banks calling in their loans. To avoid plunging the entire nation into ruin, they argued, the government would need to increase currency in any way possible. Richardson was pressured to release the Treasury's entire reserve of $44 million in order to ease the money market.<br /><br />Richardson resisted these calls, saying it was unclear if he had legal authority over the disposition of the reserve. He asked Congress to make a judgment, but legislators dithered on the issue. In the last two months of 1873, receipts fell below expenditures and Richardson was forced to act. Although he didn't release the entire reserve, he issued $26 million in greenbacks to help meet the budget.'<br /><br />While the move was of questionable legality, Congress didn't intervene to challenge it. The cyclical expansion and contraction of the economy, with its accordant panics, would persist for several decades until the creation of the Federal Reserve in 1913.<br /><br />Richardson was generally praised for his action. The injection of cash into the economy was seen as helping to ease the crisis, while the decision not to empty the reserve was seen as a prudent way to keep the government from getting too heavily involved in the financial sector's woes. Secretary of State Hamilton Fish wrote him, "I assure you and he reached on Sunday last. I hear from every one, except those interested in speculative stocks or bonds, one universal approval of the 'heroic action of the President and Secretary of the Treasury.'"<br /><br />Nevertheless, the economy would remain depressed for another four years. The bankruptcy of Jay Cooke & Company caused a nationwide run on banks, and more than 100 financial institutions failed. This caused a ripple effect of business crashes; about 18,000 closed their doors in the two years following the start of the Panic, with the unemployment rate reaching 14 percent. A collapse in farm prices hurt the agricultural sector as well, while skyrocketing interest rates made it harder for Americans to get a loan or escape debt.<br /><br /><b>The Sanborn Incident</b><br /><br />One year before the Panic, Congress has passed legislation ending the practice of allowing private individuals to pursue the collection of delinquent taxes. However, Representative Benjamin F. Butler, a Republican from Massachusetts, managed to add a rider allowing the Secretary of the Treasury to employ not more than three men to assist the Bureau of Internal Revenue with its duties.<br /><br />Four people had secured contracts under this rider, but they only managed to collect about $5,000 over a two-year period. Another private collector, John D. Sanborn, would be much more successful. Sanborn had been working as a special agent with the Treasury Department since 1869; a Massachusetts resident, he was personally acquainted with both Boutwell and Butler. He had also been an agent in Butler's cotton speculation around the time of the Civil War, and the congressman strongly supported his appointment.<br /><br />Richardson was the Acting Secretary of Treasury when he approved Sanborn's contract on August 13, 1872, with a mandate to collect illegally withheld excise taxes and other revenue from 39 whiskey distillers and entities. Whiskey had a steep excise tax, but it was often evaded. In his work with the Treasury Department, Sanborn had been credited with helping to secure indictments against several tax dodgers, including a small whiskey ring operating in New York City, in the spring of 1872.<br /><br />Sanborn started his work by pursuing the delinquent taxes recorded at the Boston office of the Bureau of Internal Revenue. On October 25, he asked that his contract be expanded so he could go after 760 people who were delinquent on their estate or income taxes. This request was approved five days later, and in early 1873 this mandate was further enlarged with another 2,000 names. On July 7, he was approved to collect delinquent taxes from 592 railroad companies. As stipulated in his contract, he was able to keep half of whatever revenue he collected.<br /><br />By entrusting Sanborn with tax collection on such a large number of people and entities, the Treasury Department had essentially flipped the intended relationship between private tax collectors and internal revenue authorities on its head. Instead of assisting the Bureau of Internal Revenue with its work, agents frequently found themselves helping with Sanborn's duties. This began to attract some negative attention among the agents, who feared that the scope of Sanborn's work had grown too large. They also noted that his work was essentially unnecessary, since they would have been able to collect the full value of the delinquent taxes without Sanborn's intervention; his involvement merely ensured that the amount going to the government would be halved while Sanborn would be able to enrich himself. A formal complaint was sent to the Treasury Department, but it was ignored.<br /><br />Sanborn ultimately collected about $427,000 - a minor sum compared to the $102 million in total internal revenue in 1874, but a vastly greater amount than private collectors had typically been able to collect. Not all of the money had been collected in the most above-board way. He was often abetted by corrupt Treasury officials who encouraged those with tax liabilities not to pay up, giving Sanborn an opening to collect and take his fee. Sanborn also reportedly went after some entities that weren't actually delinquent at all.<br /><br />The questionable practice eventually resulted in Sanborn's indictment for revenue fraud and the scrapping of his contract. The House Committee on Ways and Means opened an inquiry into the matter between February and May of 1874. The investigation was eagerly supported by Boston financiers and others opposed to Richardson's policies. The Treasury was nearly bankrupt at the time, and had allowed Sanborn's conduct to proceed unchecked; the sordid affair had the look of a conspiracy to defraud the government and enrich a select few. The incident offered the prospect that Richardson would be ousted and replaced with someone more in light with the financial sector's views.<br /><br />The committee investigation included testimony from Sanborn himself. Since he was entitled to half of what he collected, he said he had received $213,500 for his work; however, he agreed that the citizens he collected from would have likely paid on their own, or that revenue agents would have collected the money as part of their regular duties. Sanborn claimed that more than $150,000 of his share went to Richardson, with much of the rest going to various campaign funds.<br /><br />Richardson also appeared before the committee, but proved less than helpful. He said he couldn't recall signing Sanborn's contract, and admitted that he often signed documents without actually reading them.<br /><br />The committee issued its report on May 4, concluding that the Treasury Department had utterly failed to supervise Sanborn's activities. Boutwell had followed the law in requiring that Sanborn set forth a written oath for each claim he proposed to recover, including the specific violation and the person or entity he wished to collect money from; he just hadn't enforced this rule. Richardson had been even more lax, demonstrating "an entire want of knowledge" on the laws regarding private collectors and their contracts. "His only connection, so far as he could remember, with these transactions, was in affixing his signature to the various papers presented to him as a mere matter of office routine, without knowing their contents," the committee declared.<br /><br /> Sanborn, meanwhile, had used his contract to go after a wide range of targets and bilk the country of revenue. The committee concluded that Sanborn's last contract was "substantially the entire list of railroads within the United States." He had simply gotten the 592 names from a register of railroad companies, and only 150 were actually delinquent on their taxes. Moreover, "a very large percentage, if not all" of the money Sanborn raked in would have been collected by the Bureau of Internal Revenue in their usual duties; as a result, the Treasury had gotten only half of what it should have received, with Sanborn pocketing the other half.<br /><br /> The committee was highly critical of Richardson as well as the Treasury Department's assistant secretary and solicitor. The three officials had essentially passed the buck among themselves. The assistant treasury also admitted that he signed documents without reviewing them, and said these had been prepared by the solicitor. The solicitor testified that he was simply a law officer acting on the directions of his superiors, which naturally would include Richardson and the assistant secretary. All three officials, the committee said, "deserve severe condemnation for the manner in which they have permitted the law to be administered."<br /><br />The committee advised that any contracts made with Sanborn and the other private collectors should be revoked, and that no further claims should be made on them. It also declared the outsourcing of delinquent revenue collection "fundamentally wrong" and advocated that it should be stopped immediately.<br /><br />The report stopped short of advising punishment for any of the Treasury officials, saying there was nothing "impeaching the integrity" of either Boutwell or Richardson. Sanborn himself would ultimately be acquitted, since he had been under contract to collect delinquent taxes and hadn't actually broken any laws in the course of this work.<br /><br />Nevertheless, the assistant treasury secretary would resign and the incident brought swift calls for Richardson to be removed from the Treasury. Representative James Burney Beck, a Kentucky Democrat, declared the collection contracts to be "reeking and buoyant with corruption." Wilson wrote to Grant saying, "Since I have been in Washington the past few days, I have heard the strongest condemnation of [Richardson's] unfitness."<br /><br />Grant was reluctant to dismiss Richardson, going so far as to appeal to individual House committee members in an attempt to keep them from issuing a report condemning the Treasury Secretary. Though he finally asked Richardson to step down, he also made sure that Richardson would have a soft landing. On June 1, just three days before Richardson's resignation, Grant nominated him for a vacant seat on the U.S. Court of Claims, a body settling claims against the United States. He was quickly confirmed by the Senate.<br /><br /><b>Later life</b><br /><br />Benjamin H. Bristow, a Kentucky lawyer, succeeded Richardson as Treasury Secretary. Grant appointed him with some reluctance, since his opposition to inflationary policy and other monetary views were virtually opposite to Richardson's. However, he considered that the choice would help shore up Republican chances in the upcoming election.<br /><br />It was not to be. Angered by the depressed economy and scandals in the Grant administration, Democrats more than doubled their presence in the House of Representatives in the 1874 midterm elections and regained a majority in the chamber for the first time since 1856; they would hold control of the House for another six years. The party also gained several seats in the Senate, although the Republican Party retained control.<br /><br />Richardson would hold a seat on the U.S. Court of Claims for the rest of his life. In January of 1885, President Chester A. Arthur promoted him to the court's chief justice position to replace Charles D. Drake. He also busied himself with other work, including a plan for the enlarged jurisdiction of the Massachusetts probate courts which the state legislature subsequently passed. Between 1879 and 1894, he taught law at Georgetown University.<br /><br />Richardson died in Washington, D.C. on October 19, 1896.<br /><br /><b>Sources</b><br /><br />U.S. Department of the Treasury, The Miller Center at the University of Virginia, Federal Judicial Center, "The Panic of 1873" on American Experience at pbs.org, "Discovery and Collection of Monies Withheld From the Government" report by the House Ways and Means Committee on May 4 1874, "Historical Perspective: The Unhappy History of Private Tax Collection" at the Tax History Project on Sep. 20 2004, "New York and the Panic of 1873" in the New York Times on Oct. 14 2008, The Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, The New England Historical and Genealogical Register Vol. 53, The New Encyclopedia of American Scandal edited by George C. Kohn, Biographical Directory of United States Secretaries of the Treasury 1789-1995 edited by Bernard S. Katz and C. Daniel Vencill, Monetary Policy in the United States: An Intellectual and Institutional History by Richard H. Timberlake, A Sketch of the Life and Public Services of William Adams Richardson by Frank Warren Hackett, The Reconstruction Years by Walter Coffey, Grant by Ronald ChernowDirk Langeveldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10347292004358347133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8953541230084203389.post-8596828003667088222019-06-21T12:13:00.002-04:002019-06-21T12:13:31.821-04:00Mike Lowry: Sexual Harassment Claims End Political Career of "Governor Mayhem"While the #MeToo movement has recently spotlighted the issue of sexual harassment and encouraged victims to report it, a concerted effort to combat the problem began several decades earlier. Legislation in the 1960s prohibited employers from discriminating based on sex in their hires, and other laws helped codify sexual harassment and provide remedies for victims.<br />
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In the early 1990s, a memorable series of public service announcements marked an early effort to empower women to fight back against harassers. The videos show women enduring innuendos and lewd remarks from their boorish employers, but ultimately calling out the behavior as sexual harassment, adding, "And I <i>don't </i>have to take it!"<br />
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These PSAs were airing at approximately the same time that Governor Mike Lowry of Washington was under fire for sexual harassment claims. Several women accused him of unwanted touching and inappropriate remarks, although some did not want to come forward publicly.<br />
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While an investigation concluded that it was impossible to confirm the claims or exonerate Lowry, the accusations were enough to torpedo the governor's already ailing political career.<br />
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<b>Early life</b><br />
<b><br /></b>Lowry was born in St. John, Washington on March 8, 1939 and moved to Endicott as a child. He grew up in a family of "New Deal Democrats" who admired President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his relief efforts during the Great Depression.<br />
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In 1961, while attending Washington State University, Lowry signed up to join the Navy. He was rejected due to high blood pressure, and graduated from the university the next year.<br />
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<i>Mike Lowry's senior year high school portrait </i>(<a href="https://www.historylink.org/File/8600">Source</a>)</div>
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Lowry held a variety of jobs in the ensuing years, including brief stints working for a financial information company and a Seattle building contractor. He also spent three years working as a salesman for the textbook publisher Allyn & Bacon.<br />
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During the late 60s, Lowry volunteered on a number of political campaigns including Robert F. Kennedy's presidential bid and Karl Hermann's run for state insurance commissioner. He also worked on the gubernatorial campaign of state senator Martin Durkan Sr. While Durkan failed to win the office, he was impressed enough with Lowry's work to offer him a job on the senate's ways and means committee. Lowry worked as a chief financial analyst and staff director for this committee between 1969 and 1973.<br />
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Lowry also managed Durkan's 1972 bid for the governor's office, when he lost the Democratic primary. After leaving the state senate job, he served as the governmental affairs director for the Puget Sound Group Health Cooperative from 1974 to 1975. That year, he was elected to the Metropolitan King County Council, two years after an unsuccessful campaign for this agency. He was also elected president of the Washington State Association of Counties in 1978.<br />
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<b>Congress</b><br />
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In 1978, Lowry won the Democratic nomination for Washington's 7th Congressional District and challenged Representative John E. Cunningham III in the general election. While the district leaned Democratic, Cunningham had captured it in a 1977 special election after the resignation of Brock Adams, a Democrat who resigned to become Secretary of Transportation.<br />
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The gay community of Seattle was starting to become a more powerful voting bloc, and Lowry's campaign wasn't averse to courting supporters at the city's gay bars. When the ballots were counted, Lowry had comfortably defeated Cunningham by about 7,500 votes out of nearly 127,000 cast.<br />
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<i>Lowry's congressional portrait </i>(<a href="https://www.congress.gov/member/michael-lowry/L000486">Source</a>)</div>
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Lowry would serve in the House of Representatives for the next decade, championing universal health care, the Woman Infants and Children program, and a variety of other liberal causes. Following up on a campaign promise, he introduced a bill to pay reparations to more than 110,000 Japanese-Americans and Aleuts who were imprisoned in federal camps during World War II. While this effort failed, it was credited with helping to launch the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians. It also paved the way for a 1988 bill offering the former inmates $20,000 apiece and a formal apology declaring their imprisonment a "grave injustice."<br />
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The proposal rankled some who misunderstood the intent of the bill. Lowry was known for frequently holding community meetings in his district, as many as 50 a year, and at one such town hall he was confronted by angry World War II veterans. Staying more than two hours beyond the scheduled end time of the event, Lowry explained that his proposed bill would support Japanese-American citizens who had been rounded up as potential security risks and native Alaskans who had been evacuated in advance of a military effort in the Aleutians, not Japanese soldiers who had fought against the United States.<br />
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His visits to the district included also included an annual shrimp feed, which served as a Democratic fundraiser. It soon became a must-attend function for anyone hoping to seek office on the party's ticket.<br />
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Lowry's time in office roughly corresponded with Ronald Reagan's years in the White House, and he was a sharp critic of the President. He accused the White House of making budget cuts that he said would primarily harm the poor, criticized the administration's aid to Nicaraguan Contras, and opposed policies such as abortion restrictions and arms buildup.<br />
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In 1987, Lowry spearheaded a lawsuit joined by more than 100 congressmen against the Reagan Administration. The <i>Lowry v. Reagan </i>suit sought to compel the President to file a report under the War Powers Resolution after Reagan directed American ships to provide protective escorts to reflagged Kuwaiti oil tankers during the war between Iran and Iraq. The case was later dismissed in federal court.<br />
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Lowry championed environmental initiatives for his home state, including the Washington Wilderness Act in 1984. He also supported legislation to establish the Cougar Lakes Wilderness, create a wildlife refuge at Grays Harbor, and designate the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary to forestall any attempt at offshore oil drilling near Washington. He opposed a proposal for a naval base at Everett, acknowledging that the development would be good for the region's economy but harmful to Puget Sound. Lowry was also part of a cooperative effort by the Washington and Oregon delegations that successfully contested the Department of Energy's efforts to restart the nuclear station at Hanford.<br />
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Since international trade was highly beneficial to Washington State, Lowry was supportive of measures that would assist it. He was credited with helping to save direct loans to buyers of international products, which were offered by the Export-Import Bank. These loans were especially helpful to Boeing, one of Washington's major employers, since the aircraft manufacturer was the bank's largest customer. However, the support also earned Lowry criticism among liberals who derided the loans as a form of corporate welfare.<br />
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At the same time, Lowry earned a reputation of having a strong commitment to his values, unlike other elected officials who were willing to sell them out for political expediency. He was one of just 16 Democrats opposed to the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986, which allocated funding to fight narcotics trafficking and increased federal penalties for drug crimes. The legislation passed shortly before the year's congressional elections, in which the Democrats maintained their majority in the House and recaptured the Senate. Even some of the bill's supporters acknowledged that the legislation was not a viable solution to the problem of drug trafficking, but felt it was a good way to demonstrate that they were tough on crime. Lowry, by contrast, denounced it as "legislation by political panic."<br />
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Lowry was described as a "demonstrative politician," who engaged in various stunts to highlight certain issues. At one point, he hiked the Greenwater River to show how a proposed wilderness bill would exclude salmon spawning grounds. In another incident, he and a few other congressmen camped out on a D.C. subway grate to raise awareness of homelessness in the nation's capital.<br />
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On two occasions, Lowry sought to leave the House to move over to the Senate. His first opportunity came in 1983, in a special election called to finish the term of Democratic Senator Henry M. Jackson, who had died on September 1. Lowry lost to Republican candidate Dan Evans, a former Washington governor.<br />
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Evans quickly became frustrated with the job. In a scathing article published in the <i>New York Times Magazine </i>on April 17, 1988, he said the Senate "had lost its focus and was in danger of losing its soul." He announced that he could not "face another six years of frustrating gridlock," and so would not seek re-election.<br />
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Lowry again sought the seat. Unlike the special election, Lowry had to give up a more secure bid at holding his House seat in favor of a statewide contest. While he was leading in the polls in the days leading up to the election, a last-minute negative ad campaign against Republican opponent and former senator Slade Gorton backfired. Facing criticism and accusations of mudslinging, Lowry lost the race by about 40,000 votes out of 1.85 million cast.<br />
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<b>Governor of Washington</b><br />
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After leaving Congress, Lowry took a job as professor of government at Seattle University's Institute of Public Service. In a show of bipartisanship, he joined with Evans in the summer of 1989 to help found the Washington Wildlife and Recreation Coalition. The men served as co-chairs of the organization, which has a goal of preserving wilderness and farmland in Washington as well as founding new local and state parks.<br />
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<i>Mike Lowry, at right, with Dan Evans (center) and Elliott Marks, co-founders of the Washington Wildlife and Recreation Coalition </i>(<a href="https://wildliferecreation.org/washington-loses-great-champion-conservation-recreation-passing-gov-mike-lowry/">Source</a>)</div>
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Lowry re-entered the political scene in 1992, when he joined the gubernatorial race to succeed retiring incumbent Booth Gardner, a Democrat who had served two terms. Lowry easily won the Democratic primary, defeating state house speaker Joe King in a 337,783 to 9,648 landslide. Having learned his lesson from his Senate defeat, he refused to campaign negatively and instituted a self-imposed $1,500 maximum on campaign contributions. In the general contest, he earned 1.18 million votes and bested Republican opponent and state attorney general Ken Eikenberry by about 100,000 ballots.<br />
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As governor, Lowry quickly committed himself to a slew of reform efforts. These included expanding aid to low-income families, protections for migrant workers, and a universal health care bill. He frequently issued press releases to avow his support for liberal causes such as gay rights, environmental initiatives, and abortion rights. On June 27, 1993, he became the first governor to address Seattle's annual gay pride parade. There, he called on the legislature to protect the LGBT community from discrimination in housing and employment, declaring that "if one persons's civil rights are being abused, then everyone's civil rights are endangered."<br />
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The onslaught of policy earned Lowry the nickname "Governor Mayhem" as critics, including some from his own party, charged that he was moving too quickly, angering too many constituents, and depleting too much of his political capital to effectively make change. Yet he also earned grudging respect from foes for his energy and unflinching devotion to his ideals. "When Mike Lowry says something, you always know exactly where he stands," said Clyde Ballard, a Republican who would serve as speaker of the house during Lowry's term in office.<br />
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One of Lowry's most controversial moves was an effort to close a $1.8 billion state budget gap by raising taxes. He supported a state income tax, despite an economic recession and the failure of previous administrations to put one in place. Lowry also favored a gas tax to fund a light rail system aimed at alleviating traffic in the Puget Sound region, and sought to extend the sales tax to professional services.<br />
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The taxes provided Republicans with an easy platform to contest the governor at the next statewide election. In 1994, the GOP made the strongest gains in the state legislature in nearly 50 years. The following year, they began working to undo the governor's work, including a rollback of the tax increase that passed over his veto. The legislature also repealed the central tenet of the health care bill, the individual health insurance mandate, which effectively neutered the reform. Lowry's accomplishments soon became limited to what he could stop by veto, which included Republican efforts to bar death row inmates from eligibility for organ transplants or other medical assistance.<br />
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In 1995, Lowry named Annette Sandberg to head the Washington State Patrol. Just 33 years old, she was the first woman in the country to lead a state police force. It was a controversial pick; Sandberg vowed to reform the agency by breaking up the "good old boys" network, promising that some officers would be demoted or reassigned. Her term resulted in a number of accomplishments, including the introduction of a K9 program, efforts to combat racial profiling, and a commitment to increasing the racial diversity of the force. Nevertheless, she was blamed for a drop in morale among the agency's patrolmen. Sandberg resigned in 2000; Lowry would later stick by his choice, saying he thought she had done a good job.<br />
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Lowry's rocky time in the governor's office was further complicated by his strained relationship with the Democratic Party and its traditional supporters. Many Democrats in the state house had gravitated to the right in order to weather the Republican surge, and some declared their outright refusal to support parts of Lowry's agenda. State unions were outraged when he backed reforms making it easier to fire under-performing public employees, and when he supported contracting out some state services to private companies.<br />
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(<a href="https://timeline.wsu.edu/timeline/the-washington-state-governor-is-a-cougar/">Source</a>)</div>
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A review of Lowry's time in office by the <i>Spokesman-Review</i> acknowledged that Lowry's tax increases were made in tandem with efforts to cut government spending. The growth of the state employee payroll slowed dramatically under his watch, while the growth of state spending fell by more than half between the start and end of his four-year term. He made cuts to travel expenses and workers compensation insurance rates for state employees. Lowry even extended the austerity to his own expenses, slashing his salary by $31,000 and covering several of his own expenses, including groceries, the telephone service at the governor's mansion, and $100 a month of his vehicle's gas and maintenance costs.<br />
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The newspaper's analysis also credited Lowry with supporting business tax breaks and overseas trade that helped spur the creation of 174,600 new jobs in the state, scrapping the waiting list for state-subsidized child care, and extending health insurance to 140,000 adults and 195,000 low-income children. He had also backed a successful effort to build a new stadium for the Seattle Mariners in 1995 after fears that the decrepit state of their field would cause the baseball team to leave the city. In a 2002 retrospective, Lowry said he was proud that he had helped maintain social services and environmental commitments in the midst of budget difficulties, while also working to build up a surplus of about $500,000 by the end of his term.<br />
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Despite these successes, Lowry remained a fairly unpopular figure as the 1996 election approached. He had a contentious relationship with the press, accusing them of being "unwitting subsidiaries of the right wing of the Republican Party" after several stories on his tax proposals, and had stopped granting one-on-one interviews with the media. A poll by the <i>Spokesman-Review </i>and TV station KHQ-TV found that only one in four voters in Washington approved of his performance, with just 14 percent say they'd vote for him again.<br />
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By this time, however, Lowry was facing a new challenge: several women, including his former deputy press secretary, had accused him of sexual harassment.<br />
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<b>Sexual harassment accusations</b><br />
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On March 29, 1994, Washington State Patrol employee Becky Miner complained that Lowry had inappropriately pressed his body against hers while she took his fingerprints for security clearance to the White House. Christine Gregoire, the state's attorney general, reviewed the matter and concluded that Miner's claim could not be proven or refuted. She recommended sexual harassment training for the governor, which he completed in September.<br />
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Two months later, Miner's complaint became public after it was leaked to the press. Lowry's deputy press secretary, Susanne Albright, was reportedly so upset by the accusation that she went on medical leave. It soon emerged that Albright, who would opt to resign her position, had her own claims against the governor.<br />
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Albright said she had been subjected to routine harassment, touching, and groping during her time in Lowry's employ. She also said the governor made frequent lewd or offensive comments, such as asking if she had brought along a bikini during a business trip and answering one of her phone calls by questioning whether she was the Susanne "with the beautiful long legs."<br />
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Two former Lowry aides would also say they were sexually harassed during Lowry's time in congress, though they would remain anonymous. One said that Lowry kissed her on the mouth on one occasion "in a matter that she felt was clearly sexual;" a friend corroborated this account and said Lowry had kissed her as well. The aide said Lowry had also engaged in touching she found offensive, including an unsolicited neck rub, a hug that touched her breast, and rubbing her knees and legs.<br />
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The other aide made similar allegations, saying Lowry's behavior had included lingering hugs, kisses on the mouth, a neck rub, and rubbing her leg while she was driving. In response, she asked that her office be relocated to a more open location and that she not be assigned to chauffeur Lowry.<br />
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The women's attorney, Judith Lonquist, said a Lowry supporter told her during the gubernatorial campaign that the women might bring up their accusations. Lonquist said she had initially supported Lowry's candidacy, but opted not to vote for him after hearing from the former aides.<br />
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On January 17, 1995, Lowry's lawyer wrote to chief deputy attorney general Kathleen Mix saying it was unlikely that Albright would file a lawsuit. The letter also said that Albright had "consistently declined to make a complaint under our office policy." Nevertheless, Lowry ordered an independent investigation into the matter. Two days later, Seattle attorney Mary Alice Theiler was appointed to head the inquiry.<br />
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While the investigation was initially conducted in private, Lowry disclosed it after the <i>Seattle Post-Intelligencer </i>made a public records request regarding the matter. Albright said she had not intended for her allegations to become public, but stressed that she had left her job because of "a clear, and I repeat, very clear, and persistent pattern of unacceptable behavior toward me." Lowry denied that he had ever done anything intentionally offensive to Albright, and that she had never voiced any concerns to him.<br />
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On February 16, 1995, Lowry sat down for a televised interview in which he apologized to any women he may have offended. "I have learned that some people are uncomfortable. I feel bad about that," said Lowry. "I don't want anybody to feel uncomfortable with me. Whoever that might be, anybody I have ever made feel uncomfortable, I apologize to."<br />
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He was joined by his wife, Mary, would prove to be a staunch supporter; he vehemently denied that he had ever been unfaithful to her in any way. Lowry also denied suggestions that the alleged conduct may have stemmed from a drinking problem, though he conceded that this had once been a concern and he had cut back on his alcohol consumption about a decade earlier.<br />
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Theiler's investigation concluded on March 23, when she released a 51-page report detailing her findings. Lowry said he often hugged, kissed, or patted his employees in what were intended to be friendly gestures, and that he was unaware that they had sometimes caused offense. Theiler also noted that Albright's story changed over the course of different interviews, and that she may have had a grievance against Lowry for other reasons. Some employees in the governor's office recalled that when she discovered she was not getting an expected promotion, Albright threatened, "If I don't get this job, he doesn't know what he's getting into." Theiler concluded that there wasn't sufficient evidence to support Albright's accusations.<br />
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The women who had accused Lowry were quick to voice their displeasure with Theiler's findings. Albright said the investigator had downplayed some incidents, taken others out of context, and ignored the allegations of other women since the investigation had only been called to look into Albright's claims. The two congressional aides also said they were disappointed with Theiler's report, believing that she had largely ignored them.<br />
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In response, Theiler stressed that her report had not exonerated the governor. She had concluded that Lowry "touched [Albright] in ways she found offensive," and that he "clearly engaged in conduct that offended one valuable employee and likely others." Theiler also suggested that Lowry's temper may have prevented Albright from confronting him about his behavior.<br />
<br />
The investigation led to some scrutiny of Lowry's character in press reports, where associates suggested that the governor's affable public persona concealed a more volatile private one. One social service advocate recalled that when they met with Lowry in 1993 and suggested that his health care reform excluded migrant workers, the governor became livid and berated them for bringing up the criticism, saying he had long advocated for migrant workers on other occasions. Anne Fennessy, his former press secretary, said Lowry was quick to anger but also had a good sense of humor and recovered quickly.<br />
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Walt Crowley, one of the governor's advisers, said he was passionate about his beliefs, and sometimes stubborn or impatient. Other associates said Lowry was most likely to express anger if his advisers tried to manage him or steer him away from his principles. However, this also led to criticism that he was too cloistered, ignoring input from his aides or hiring loyalists who wouldn't challenge him. "Mike's inner circle is Mike," one former aide declared.<br />
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The press also found that Lowry's drinking had caused some concerns in the past, and that he was more likely to lose his temper when he was not sober. Lowry's potential alcoholism was reportedly worrying enough to his 1992 campaign staff that they held a meeting to discuss it.<br />
<br />
Lowry maintained that the actions that had prompted the sexual harassment allegations were meant to be friendly. "I want people to feel comfortable with me," he said. "I don't want people to think that I think I'm a big shot." Tricia Wilson, Lowry's executive assistant, said she had never been offended by the governor's actions but could understand how it would make other women feel uncomfortable. "It didn't bother me and a lot of people just took it as the way he was," she said. "But maybe the younger generation is more sensitive."<br />
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Albright's case was the only one which would be formally resolved. In an agreement signed on July 14, 1995, Lowry agreed to pay her $97,500 from his own personal funds in exchange for Albright's promise not to file a lawsuit. Albright said she was satisfied with the settlement, suggesting that the sum indicated that Lowry's behavior constituted "more than a pat on the back."<br />
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The fallout from the scandal made Lowry's re-election prospects even more daunting. Several women's groups publicly declared that they would not endorse him if he ran again. Two top female aides, Fennessy and chief legal counsel Jenny Durkan, resigned while Theiler's investigation was underway, although both insisted that their departures were unrelated to the sexual harassment charges. Fennessy said she had been thinking of leaving her position for some time due to the stress of a job "that never ends."<br />
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Nevertheless, the turmoil gave Republicans an easy opportunity to score political points. "If the governor cannot maintain a stable office and put ethical questions behind him, he should consider resigning rather than spending the next year and a half as a lame duck," advised Eikenberry, who had become the GOP state chairman after his defeat in the 1992 election.<br />
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On February 22, 1996, Lowry announced that he would not seek re-election, in part so he could help care for his elderly mother and father-in-law. While he initially denied that the sexual harassment accusations played a role in the decision, he later admitted that they had been a "major factor;" he said he didn't want his family to see the issue brought up again during the race.<br />
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Lowry's term ended in January 1997. The Democrats held the governor's office by a comfortable margin, with party candidate Gary Locke taking 58 percent of the vote in the general election.<br />
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<b>Later life</b><br />
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<i>Lowry is introduced during Governor Chris Gregoire's State of the State speech on January 15, 2013</i>. (<a href="https://www.chinookobserver.com/obituaries/former-washington-gov-mike-lowry-also-a-congressman-dies/article_c49fe258-055d-56ac-98c3-0d685aa6cc9b.html">Source</a>)</div>
<b><br /></b>
Lowry made one more political bid after his time as governor, running for state lands commissioner in 2000. The commission oversees approximately five million acres of state-owned lands. Lowry lost to GOP candidate Doug Sutherland by about 100,000 votes out of roughly 2.32 million cast.<br />
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The bulk of Lowry's post-political career was spent volunteering. He worked with Washington Agricultural Families Assistance to help build homes for migrant farm workers, as well as Enterprise Washington to support job creation in the economically depressed parts of the state. He was also active in organizations dedicated to ending homelessness.<br />
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Lowry retired to a small ranch near Kettle Falls. In 2003, he brokered a deal to convert a former sugar beet factory to an ethanol plant.<br />
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He died on May 1, 2017 in Olympia following complications from a stroke.<br />
<br />
<b>Sources: </b>Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, "Michael Edward 'Mike' Lowry" on HistoryLink.org, "Governor Mayhem?" in the <i>Seattle Times </i>on Apr. 25 1993, "Lowry Accused of Sexual Harassment" in the <i>Seattle Post-Intelligencer </i>on Feb. 4 1995, "Lowry Apologizes For Behavior" in the <i>Kitsap Sun </i>on Feb. 17 1995, "Spokeswoman Lowry's Third Aide to Quit" in the <i>Kitsap Sun</i> on Feb. 18 1995, "Mike Lowry's Other Side" in the <i>Seattle Times </i>on Feb. 26 1995, "Friendly Touch or Grope? It's Hard to Know For Sure, Lowry Investigator Concludes" in the <i>Seattle Times </i>on Mar. 24 1995, "Ex-Lowry Aides Say Incidents Ignored" in the <i>Spokesman-Review </i>on Mar. 28 1995, "Lowry Agrees to Pay Ex-Aide $97,500" in the <i>Seattle Times </i>on Jul. 14 1995, "Lowry Declares He's Out of Running" in the <i>Spokesman-Review </i>on Feb. 23 1996, "The Liberal Legacy of Mike Lowry" in the <i>Spokesman-Review </i>on Jan. 15 1997, "Controversial State Patrol Chief Resigns" in the <i>Daily Herald </i>on Nov. 20 2000, "Former Washington Gov. Mike Lowry, Table-Pounding Liberal, Dies at 78" in the <i>Seattle Times </i>on May 1 2017, "Mike Lowry, Proudly Progressive Ex-Governor, Dies Early on May Day" on SeattlePI.com<i> </i>on May 1 2017, "Mike Lowry, Ex-Congressman and Washington State Governor, Dies at 78" in the <i>New York Times </i>on May 3 2017, "Former Washington Gov. Mike Lowry Remembered As Proud Liberal, Quietly Generous" in the <i>Seattle Times </i>on May 30 2017, <i>The First Civil Right: How Liberals Built Prison America</i> by Naomi Murakawa, <i>The Intersection of Law and War Vol. 126</i>, <i>Gay Seattle: Stories of Exile and Belonging </i>by Gary AtkinsDirk Langeveldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10347292004358347133noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8953541230084203389.post-57535957834968780182019-02-04T15:58:00.000-05:002019-02-04T15:58:36.577-05:00Byron (Low Tax) Looper: Killing The Competition<div style="text-align: center;">
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(<a href="https://www.oxygen.com/dying-to-belong/crime-time/tennessee-politician-guns-down-opponent-election">Source</a>)<br />
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Uncontested races for the state legislature were a common sight in Tennessee in the 1998 election. In nine of the 18 races for the state senate, candidates were running unopposed. Fifty-six people running for the state house had the luxury of being the only name up for consideration in their district, meaning more than half of the 99 seats in the chamber would go to people who had not been challenged in their election.<br />
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Tommy Burks, the longtime state senator for Tennessee's 15th District, was widely considered a lock for his seat even though he had an opponent. Burks had been in the legislature for nearly three decades. The Democratic candidate had built up a reputation as an honest, hardworking, "salt of the earth" kind of fellow. <br />
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His challenger, by contrast, had done little to endear himself to voters. Although Byron Looper had managed to get elected tax assessor for Putnam County two years earlier, his tenure in the office had been marked by chaos, litigation, paranoia, and incompetence. Looper had also been indicted on several counts of official misconduct, and was scheduled to go to trial a month after Election Day. Although he appeared on the Republican ticket simply by signing up for the race, the local GOP apparatus (which had opted not to field a candidate against Burks) had no desire to endorse him.<br />
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As such, Burks had spent little if any time campaigning to keep his seat. He didn't take out any political advertisements, and no debates with Looper were scheduled. Burks' friends weren't even sure if he had met his rival. Burks instead spent his time working on his 1,000-acre hog and tobacco farm near the town of Monterey.<br />
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On the morning of October 19, 1998, Burks began preparing the farm for a visit from local schoolchildren later in the day. It was an annual ritual, with youngsters getting a chance to enjoy a hayride and take home a pumpkin from Burks' pumpkin patch.<br />
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A farmhand working on a trailer would recall that the attack on Burks had happened quickly. A black car drove up to the side of Burks' pickup truck, at which point the farmhand heard a loud "pop" sound. The car then sped off, leaving the farm.<br />
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When the farmhand went over to the truck, he found Burks sitting in the driver's seat, dead. The 54-year-old state senator had been shot just above his left eye and killed instantly.<br />
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Police investigating the murder soon ruled out a number of possible motives. The farmhand and Burks' wife were quickly discounted as potential suspects. There was no indication that anything in Burks' private life, or any of his sometimes controversial political stances, had prompted someone to kill him out of revenge or anger.<br />
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A few days later, police asked for the public's help in locating Burks' opponent in the state senate race. The implication was clear: Looper had the most to gain from Burks' demise, and may have taken matters into his own hands to ensure that his race would be an uncontested one.<br />
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<b>Early life</b><br />
<br />
Byron Anthony Looper was born in Cookeville, Tennessee, on September 15, 1964. He spent only a brief amount of time in the area. The family moved to Georgia when he was still a child after his father, a school superintendent, took a job there. Looper's parents divorced soon after.<br />
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Looper began attending West Point in 1983, but had to withdraw from the service academy after he fell from a horse and injured his knee. He was honorably discharged and finished his studies at the University of Georgia.<br />
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Soon after returning to Georgia, Looper became politically active. He joined the Young Democrats and was elected president of the group but, in an early sign of Looper's abrasive personality, he was later urged to resign. He made his first electoral attempt in 1988, running unsuccessfully for the state legislature at the age of 23. He then worked as a legislative aide for three years.<br />
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Looper's resume becomes somewhat muddled at this point. He reportedly enrolled in the Stetson School of Business and Economics at Mercer University. He spent some time in Puerto Rico, and one former member of the Georgia house of representatives recalled that Looper called him up in the early morning hours one day, saying he intended to sue a law school on the island because it refused to teach one of his classes in English. He settled the matter for a small sum. Looper would also claim that he worked for a Bear Stearns affiliate on Puerto Rico and as an assistant to the president of a university, although the latter institution proved nonexistent.<br />
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While Looper's political activities were more limited during these years, he still managed to work on the 1988 presidential campaign of Al Gore, then a senator from Tennessee. Four years later, he also worked on the successful campaign of Bill Clinton where Gore was the vice presidential pick. Looper's associates would later say that he was disappointed that he hadn't been rewarded for his work with a job in the administration.<br />
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<b>Putnam County assessor</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
In the early 1990s, Looper reappeared in Cookeville, switched to the Republican Party, and immediately threw himself into local politics. In the 1994 election, he challenged incumbent state representative Jere Hargrove for his seat. Looper's campaigns would be characterized by blunt attacks and negativity; he frequently vowed to break up what he saw as a "good ole boy" clique of politicians, and publicly accused his opponents of crime and corruption.<br />
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At the same time, Looper made some efforts to try to ingratiate himself with these politicians. Hargrove claimed that despite Looper's "undignified" campaign, he later contacted the state representative asking for his help securing a job in the Farmers Home Administration or some federal agency in Puerto Rico.<br />
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Two years later, Looper set his sights on the assessor's office for Putnam County. At first, it seemed like another quixotic effort. The incumbent assessor, Bill Rippetoe, had been in office for 14 years. But Rippetoe was facing criticism for recent property reappraisals, and Looper's campaign efforts added raised further recriminations. Although the campaign did not include any public appearances or debates, Looper loudly accused Rippetoe of cutting deals for friends and vowed that he would lower taxes in the county. On Election Day, he earned about 800 more votes than his opponent to secure a narrow victory.<br />
<br />
The voters soon discovered that not only was Looper unable to keep his campaign promises, he was also unable to effectively manage the office to which he had been elected. Despite his promise to lower taxes, he had little ability to affect voters' bills since he had no control over the tax rate. One former campaign worker recalled that Looper rarely showed up for work, and that he jetted off to Puerto Rico for a three-week jaunt shortly after taking office.<br />
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Others recalled that Looper was a biased, unlikable person in his official role. They said he talked down to Democrats, promised favors to Republicans, and treated the people of eastern Tennessee with a general condescension, acting like he had been sent there to save them from themselves. Employees in the assessor's office fared little better; Looper was prone to insulting them or terminating their employment if he suspected that they were disloyal to him. At one point, Looper became involved in a fistfight between a county taxpayer and one of the workers in the assessor's office.<br />
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Early in his term, Looper announced that he had uncovered $100 million in property that wasn't on the tax rolls. The county commission responded that this kind of backlog was not unusual and that the assessor should focus on doing his job instead of finding controversies.<br />
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Such grandiose announcements were not unusual for Looper. He had drawn up a list of hundreds of media outlets across Tennessee, and constantly fired off press releases to highlight the work of his office. These communications frequently railed against the alleged "good ole boy" network in the county and bragged that he was the "most educated" assessor in the state.<br />
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Looper also began to show signs of rampant paranoia. His employees recalled that he had a video camera installed to record visitors, and hired a security consultant to scour the premises for hidden microphones or listening devices. He also set up a barrier at the back of his office because he was worried that political enemies were recording his conversations. Forty employees were reportedly fired after Looper accused them of spying on him.<br />
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In his official capacity, Looper filed several lawsuits against other county agencies. He charged the Putnam County election commission with voting machine irregularities, a curious attack given his own electoral victory. He also sued to demand access to the phone records of the sheriff's office. Not surprisingly, Looper found himself targeted by litigation as well, including former employees suing for wrongful termination and an attorney who accused the assessor of libel.<br />
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Looper was also named in a paternity suit by a former girlfriend, who accused him of raping her and illegally transferring ownership of her home to his name by faking the deed. Looper responded with a statement deriding the woman, saying she "left me with heart palpitations, a small box of memorabilia, and a red G-string." When she threatened him with a $1.2 million lawsuit, however, Looper admitted that he was the father of her child.<br />
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In March 1998, an indictment charged Looper with 14 criminal charges including theft of services, official oppression for theft, official misconduct, misuse of county property, and misuse of county employees. Among other things, Looper was accused of arbitrarily reassessing the property of a person who refused to contribute to his campaign, soliciting campaign donations from developers in exchange for lower tax assessments, using county funds and workers for his incessant faxing of press releases, failing to assess some land parcels, and removing one taxpayer's property from the rolls in an attempt to make them ineligible for public office.<br />
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A trial was scheduled for December. Henry Fincher, a local attorney, immediately began an effort to remove Looper from office, charging him with neglecting his duties while pursuing a personal political agenda.<br />
<br />
<b>Murder of Tommy Burks</b><br />
<b><br /></b>Tommy Burks had been in the Tennessee state senate for 28 years when he came up for re-election in 1998. He had long balanced his farming duties with his elected ones, waking up before sunrise to tend to his animals and crops before driving about 100 miles along Interstate 40 to the state capitol in Nashville. At the end of the day, he made the same trip home.<br />
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Fellow legislators remembered that Burks never missed a day in the senate, even when he had to navigate through treacherous snowstorms. The weather only prevented him from returning home on one occasion. After Burks' death, a stretch of I-40 would be renamed in his honor.<br />
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(<a href="https://www.nashvillescene.com/news/cover-story/article/21017794/the-death-of-a-senator-tommy-burks-and-byron-low-tax-looper">Source</a>)</div>
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Although he was a Democrat, Burks had adopted a number of conservative positions which frequently put him at odds with his own party. He was opposed to gambling and the state lottery, and in 1991 sponsored a bill to criminalize abortion in cases where the mother's life was not in danger. He also sponsored a widely derided bill to dismiss Tennessee teachers who taught evolution as fact. Burks' less controversial stances included support for anti-drug programs, public television, and crime victims' rights.<br />
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Burks had also sponsored a bill which would publicly shame first-time offenders convicted of driving under the influence, requiring them to pick up roadside trash while wearing orange vests emblazoned with the message "I am a drunk driver." This may have rankled Looper, who had been convicted of DUI in Georgia in 1986 and 1987 and unsuccessfully tried to have the charges expunged from his record.<br />
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There was little reason to view Looper's challenge to the popular state senator as anything other than a farce. He had even taken the bizarre step of legally changing his middle name to (Low Tax), parentheses included, and proudly included this moniker on all of his advertising materials. Though he had filed to run against Burks, he had simultaneously joined the race to challenge Representative Bart Gordon, a Democrat, for his House of Representatives seat; Looper abandoned this race after finishing third in the Republican primary. He declared public service to be "the most noble of all pursuits" and voiced his opposition for "big government, high taxes, fast spending, and mollycoddling criminals."<br />
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Following Burks' murder, public attention quickly turned to Looper. As the case gained national attention, residents in eastern Tennessee questioned why he seemed to have gone into hiding. It was also considered highly suspicious that Looper hadn't bothered to call Burks' widow, Charlotte, to offer his condolences. The state senator's death had not only left Burks' three daughters without a father, it had also occurred on the birthday of his middle child.<br />
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State law spelled out a clear motive for the crime. If a candidate for office died within 40 days of the election, their name could not appear on the ballot. Since Burks had been killed within this window, his name would be removed and Looper's would be the only one legally eligible in the state senate race for the 15th District.<br />
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Soon after Burks' murder, local Democrats encouraged Charlotte to mount a write-in campaign to succeed her husband and ensure that Looper wouldn't win by default. Although Republicans needed to flip just two Democratic seats to take control of the state legislature, they backed Charlotte's candidacy and disavowed Looper. Brad Todd, executive director of the Tennessee Republican Party, declared, "We did not recruit Mr. Looper to run for state senate or any other office. We have not assisted his campaign in any material way, nor will we."<br />
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On October 24, after a four-day absence, Looper returned to his home. He was promptly arrested, charged with first-degree murder, and held on a $1.5 million bond.<br />
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<i>Byron Looper's mugshot following his arrest </i>(<a href="https://www.crossville-chronicle.com/news/local_news/looper-served-his-sentence/article_4db25b9c-8c34-575e-883a-b0610bffbbb7.html">Source</a>)</div>
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The arrest did not disqualify Looper from the race since he had only been charged with a felony, not convicted. To further complicate matters, he was still the Putnam County tax assessor. From his jail cell, he fired his deputy tax assessor, leaving the office with no one in charge. Two more ouster petitions were filed against him, and the state finally stepped in to remove him in January 1999 after he attempted to keep doing his job while incarcerated.<br />
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The strange circumstances of the election generated strong turnout on Election Day. When the ballots were counted, Charlotte had won in an overwhelming landslide: 30,252 votes, or about 93 percent of the ballots cast in the district. It was said to be the first successful write-in campaign in Tennessee.<br />
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<i>Charlotte Burks speaking at a legislative breakfast in 2012. </i>(<a href="https://www.crossville-chronicle.com/news/glade_sun/county-moving-to-th-congressional-district/article_d05df487-c8f5-53b1-9c9b-866cd4e1fef6.html">Source</a>)</div>
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Looper still managed to collect 1,531 votes, although some of these were no doubt early votes that had been filed before his arrest. However, some of Looper's supporters questioned the motives of investigators, noting that Looper had publicly attacked them in the past. The police were also releasing little information on how they had tied Looper to Burks' murder; this evidence would be presented two years later, when Looper went to trial.<br />
<br />
<b>Trial</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
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In the lead-up to the trial, Looper changed attorneys eight times. Although the murder charge was eligible for the death penalty, the Burks family declined to pursue it; they felt a life sentence would offer more closure than the ongoing appeals a death penalty case would generate.<br />
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The trial got underway on August 14, 2000. In the opening statement, District Attorney Bill Gibson declared, "Byron Looper is obsessed with the burning desire for power and public office. He is also a man who knew he didn't have a chance of beating Tommy Burks." The state argued that the murder had been motivated by Looper's desire to gain Burks' position and power, and that Looper was the only one with a motive for the killing. Prosecutor Tony Craighead deemed it an attempt to "win this election with a Smith & Wesson."</div>
</div>
<br />
One witness recalled that Looper had mentioned the possibility of eliminating his opponent in order to win his election. William Lindsay Adams Jr. said he contacted Looper after spotting an advertisement for the position of his campaign manager. Adams said that Looper asserted that the campaign could be run at minimal expense, especially if his opponent wasn't in the race or if something happened to Burks before Election Day. He opted not to take the job.<br />
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But one of the state's most crucial witnesses was Joe Bond, a Marine recruiter and high school friend of Looper's. Bond testified that several months before Burks was murdered, Looper called him to say he was running for office. He also said that he planned to kill his opponent so he could be the only person on the ballot.<br />
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Bond said that he passed the remark off as a joke, but became more concerned after Looper began asking him about firearms, including recommendations for guns with reliable accuracy that could be easily concealed. A few months before the murder, Looper visited Bond at his home in Hot Springs, Arkansas, saying it was imperative that he acquire a weapon since the election was fast approaching. Bond said he would do so, even though he had no intention of getting his friend a gun. Looper persisted, repeatedly calling Bond and even sending a $150 money order to cover the cost of the firearm.<br />
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On the evening of the murder, Bond testified, Looper had shown up at his home and confessed to killing his opponent. "I did it man, I did it," Bond recalled Looper saying. "I killed that dude." When Bond asked who he was referring to, Looper responded, "That guy I was running against. I busted a cap in that dude's head." Looper told Bond that he had purchased a gun in a private sale, and thrown it out the window of his car after driving for about 10 or 15 minutes.<br />
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In March 1999, a man working with a construction company along I-40 had discovered a 9-millimeter Smith & Wesson handgun and turned it in to police. A firearms expert later gave his opinion that this was the weapon used in Burks' murder.<br />
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<i>Byron Looper during his trial </i>(<a href="https://www.timesfreepress.com/news/local/story/2013/jun/28/tbi-eyes-looper-death-in-prison/111945/">Source</a>)</div>
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Other testimony focused on the car that had been spotted on Burks' farm. Wesley Rex, the farmhand who had seen the car drive up alongside Burks' truck, recalled that it was a black car with circles on the back. He had also identified Looper as the driver after seeing one of his political advertisements on TV on the evening of the murder. A worker at a local fast food restaurant said Looper had shown up at the drive-thru in a dark car on the morning of the murder, nervous and in a rush, and had become extremely upset about a mistake with his order.<br />
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Investigators had managed to track down the vehicle Looper had briefly owned around the time of the murder. Two days before Burks was shot, he had purchased a used 1987 Audi sedan from a private seller in Lilburn, Georgia. The vehicle make matched Rex's description, since the Audi symbol featured interlocking circles. A mechanic in Tucker, Georgia, a community about five miles from Lilburn, said a customer who signed his name as "Anthony Looper" had brought the car in for repairs, estimating that it was sometime between October 11 and 20, 1998, and asked to leave it at the shop for a few weeks. Looper later called to say that he no longer wanted the vehicle, and it was resold.<br />
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The Audi's tires raised one point of contention. Once the car was discovered, an analysis of its tires found that they did not match the tracks left at the Burks farm. A test of the tires on the Chevrolet Beretta that Looper had been driving when he returned to Tennessee also failed to yield a match. But the man who sold the Audi to Looper still had the receipt for its tires; once these were mounted on the Audi, they left tracks that matched those at the crime scene. Prosecutors posited that Looper had simply changed the tires after killing Burks; Bond said Looper had told him he planned to do so.<br />
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A good portion of the defense strategy focused on an attempt to discredit the story put forward by Bond. Looper's attorneys, former Georgia state legislator McCracken Poston and former California legislator Ron Cordova, tried unsuccessfully to impeach Bond as a witness. They instead accused him of seeking revenge against Looper since the defendant had made advances against his girlfriend (later wife) when they were teenagers. One witness said Bond didn't have a reputation for truthfulness. The defense also called Bond's mother-in-law to the stand to suggest that Bond didn't have a good enough relationship with Looper to host him in the fall of 1998, since he had asked Looper to leave his residence during a visit in the summer after learning that his wife was uncomfortable with the defendant.<br />
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Several years later, Cordova would suggest that Looper may have helped set up Burks' murder, but didn't carry out the crime. He said he did not think that Looper was capable of killing Burks on his own, but may have recruited Bond to do so; however, he stressed that it was only a theory and he didn't have any evidence to back it up. The defense never presented an alternate suspect at the trial, and the prosecution pointed out that Rex had seen only one person in the car fleeing the scene.<br />
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Both Cordova and Poston believed that there was reasonable doubt that Looper had killed Burks. They had Looper's mother present an alibi, testifying that her son had been staying with her at the time of the murder; however, she had last seen him on the evening before the murder and had not seen Looper during the morning.<br />
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Poston later said that Looper had helped to sabotage his own case by withholding information from his attorneys. But Cordova and Poston felt that Looper did not have a legitimate motive for killing Burks, since they believed he would have known he would be caught and that Charlotte would likely be recruited to run in her husband's place. "The evidence is going to show that Byron Looper knows how to win an election," Poston said in his opening statement. "The evidence also is going to show that he knows how to lose one and move on. Mr. Looper's weapon has always been words, and that's never changed."<br />
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The defense positions failed to impress the jury. After deliberating for just over two hours, they returned a guilty verdict. On August 23, 2000, Looper was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.<br />
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<b>Aftermath</b><br />
<b><br /></b>Looper was held in the Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary until this prison closed in 2009. He was then transferred to the nearby Morgan County Correctional Complex. He never went to trial on the official misconduct charges, which the state opted not to pursue since Looper had already been condemned to a life behind bars.<br />
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Throughout his sentence, Looper maintained his innocence and occasionally tried to appeal his guilty verdict. His cell was strewn with legal papers, and he targeted a variety of entities with civil suits. He sued a TV station, saying they had misrepresented their intentions when interviewing him and aired a program that portrayed him in a negative light, as well as the Tennessee Department of Corrections, which he said had failed to adequately treat him and other prisoners for health problems.<br />
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On June 26, 2013, Looper reportedly struck a pregnant prison counselor on both sides of her head, knocking off her glasses. The incident occurred during a discussion between the counselor and a prison unit manager about a request Looper had made; he apparently became upset after learning that he would be transferred from solitary confinement into the general population, since he was worried that he was a high-profile prisoner and would be hurt by other inmates.<br />
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Prison authorities said that Looper was restrained with "the least amount of force necessary." Two hours later, he was found dead in his cell.<br />
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An autopsy determined that cardiac issues were the primary cause of Looper's death, as he had experienced high blood pressure and the hardening of his arteries. This health issue was compounded by toxic levels of antidepressants he had been taking.<br />
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Looper's family and attorneys were suspicious of this conclusion. Poston declared the circumstances of Looper's death to be "extremely suspicious," saying he had seen Looper's body and thought it looked like he had been severely beaten while hogtied. There were abrasions and contusions around his head, arms, and legs, some of which were consistent with injuries that would be caused by shackles and handcuffs. Another prisoner had written to his girlfriend on the day of Looper's death and mentioned that guards had beaten "some chubby white guy" to death while he was restrained.<br />
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Poston also alleged that authorities from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation contacted Charlotte to let her know about Looper's death, while Looper's mother did not find out until she saw a news report on her son's demise. He said Looper's mother was initially told that her son would be charged with assault after touching a counselor on her arm, but that prison authorities later changed their story to say Looper had slapped the counselor. Poston said a nurse had treated Looper for a head wound about an hour before he was found dead.<br />
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The Tennessee Department of Correction responded to the allegations by simply referring to the conclusions of the autopsy. Looper's family commissioned a second autopsy, which determined that Looper's heart was not abnormally large at the time of his death. Poston and Looper's family never issued a follow-up on any other findings.<br />
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Charlotte, meanwhile, had proved popular in her own right. She continued to serve in the state senate until opting not to run for re-election in 2014.<br />
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<b>Sources</b><br />
<br />
Tennessee Secretary of State, "In Tennessee, A Lawmaker Dies and His Rival Vanishes" in the <i>Washington Post </i>on Oct. 23 1998, "Tennessee Senator's Killing and Opponent's Arrest Upend Small Town" in the <i>New York Times </i>on Oct. 24 1998, "Tennessee Lawmaker Killed; Election Opponent Arrested" in the <i>Los Angeles Times </i>on Oct. 24 1998, "Candidate Jailed in Foe's Slaying" in the <i>Washington Post </i>on Oct. 24 1998, "Suspect Relentlessly Ran For Office" in the Associated Press on Oct. 24 1998, "Suspect in Death of State Senator Obsessed by Foes" in the <i>Chicago Tribune </i>on Oct. 27 1998, "Ex-Tenn. Politician Begins Murder Trial" on CBS News on Aug. 15 2000, "Politician Goes On Trial For Opponent's Murder" in the <i>Journal Times </i>on Aug. 15 2000, "Guilty Verdict in Campaign Murder Trial" on ABC News on Aug. 23 2000, "Looper Found Guilty in Murder of Sen. Tommy Burks" in the <i>Rome News-Tribune </i>on Aug. 23 2000, "Convicted Murderer 'Low Tax' Looper Sues Prison Medical Manager Over Health Care" in the <i>Nashville Post </i>on Jan. 9 2002, "Prison Incident Report Shows Assault Before Byron Looper Found Dead" in the <i>Times Free Press </i>on Jun. 28 2013, "Byron Looper's Attorney Crying Foul in Death of Politician Turned Killer" in the <i>Knoxville News Sentinel </i>on Sep. 13 2013, "Byron Looper's Family Seeks Independent Autopsy After 'Heart Event' Death Report" in the <i>Times Free Press </i>on Jun. 29 2013, "The Death of Senator Tommy Burks and Byron (Low Tax) Looper" in the <i>Nashville Scene </i>on Aug. 16 2018, "Byron Looper" episode of <i>Dying to Belong</i> on Oxygen on Sep. 16 2018, "Way Back When: Looking Back in History" by Bob McMillan in the <i>Herald Citizen</i> compiled on ajlambert.com, <i>State of Tennessee v. Byron Looper</i>, <i>State Jones v. Looper</i>Dirk Langeveldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10347292004358347133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8953541230084203389.post-13163564962213874802018-12-18T11:41:00.000-05:002018-12-18T11:42:28.666-05:00James Curley: Twice Convicted "Mayor of the Poor"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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(<a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/04/17/trove-curley-photos-come-home/s5yv7u62aRySdcHqurjkQP/story.html">Source</a>)</div>
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In many political scandals, a representative accused of misconduct has been in office for decades, cultivating enough popularity that they can weather the blow to their image. James Michael Curley, by contrast, had his first stint in jail when his political career had barely started. Instead of ruining his future in the field, however, Curley's first scandal helped boost his popularity.<br />
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On December 2, 1902, Curley sat down to take a civil service exam. A member of the Massachusetts state house of representatives, Curley was not taking the exam on his own behalf; instead, he was impersonating a constituent who was trying to become a mail carrier. On February 25, 1903, he was arrested and charged with fraud. Along with an associate named Thomas Curley (no relation) he was convicted on April 3.<br />
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Curley was sentenced to serve 60 days in jail, and began his sentence on November 7, 1904, after a series of unsuccessful appeals. In response, hundreds of citizens demonstrated in the streets of Boston to show their support for him. The civil service examination system had been criticized as setting unnecessarily high educational requirements for jobs, a major concern for the Irish population in the city that considered the system to be unfairly weighted against them.<br />
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While still in jail, Curley won the Democratic primary by a margin of roughly 1,200 votes of more than 3,200 ballots cast. He won the subsequent general election as well, and would serve on the board of aldermen until 1910. "He Did It For a Friend" became a campaign rallying cry which handily disarmed any criticism about Curley's criminal record.<br />
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A towering figure in Boston politics, Curley was well-loved by a populace that saw him as their personal friend and advocate. However, he also had more than one run-in with the law and lived long enough to see his influence and appeal slowly wane away.<br />
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<b>Early life</b><br />
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James Michael Curley was born in Boston on November 20, 1874 and attended the city's public schools. His father, who had immigrated to the United States in 1865 at the age of 15, died after lifting a heavy curbstone when Curley was just 10 years old. The incident helped stoke what would be Curley's enduring hatred for Boston's political power players, since the boss for his own ward did little to help the family after their breadwinner passed away.<br />
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Curley's mother helped the family stay afloat by working as a cleaning woman. Curley, already contributing to the family income by working as a newsboy, started jobs at a marketplace and drugstore as well. He then became a delivery driver, continuing his education by attending night classes twice a week.<br />
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Curley also worked as a salesman with the bakers' and confectioners' supply firm Logan, Johnston & Co., and held jobs in real estate and the insurance business. He entered politics in 1898, unsuccessfully running for Boston's city council, before winning a seat the next year.<br />
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Following his successful jailhouse campaign in 1904, Curley served on the board of aldermen until 1910 before returning to the city council. In the midst of these campaigns, he married his first wife, Mary E. Herlihy, in 1906.<br />
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In 1910, Curley entered his district's congressional race. In the Democratic primary, he competed against incumbent Representative Joseph O'Connell as well as a former congressman, William McNary. Curley made humility a staple of his campaign. When he found that his opponents had bought up all of the billboards in the district, he simply adorned them with streamers reading, "Elect a Humble Man: James Michael Curley." Although he came under fire for his personal honesty, especially given his criminal record, Curley vowed not to run a negative campaign against his opponents.<br />
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The strategy worked. After winning the primary, Curley was chosen in the general election for a House of Representatives term starting in March 1911.<br />
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<b>Curley vs. Honey Fitz</b><br />
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While his election to Congress was a major milestone, Curley's primary objective was to become mayor of Boston. In November 1913, while still in the House, he announced that he would run for this position.<br />
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The incumbent mayor, John F. Fitzgerald (grandfather of President John F. Kennedy), had privately promised Curley that he would not seek re-election. But when he was pressured by the city's Democratic bosses to run for another term, Fitzgerald gave in. Rather than abandon his campaign, Curley decided that he would challenge Fitzgerald in the Democratic primary. He spurned the support of the party bosses, even vowing to end bossism if he was elected.<br />
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<i>John F. Fitzgerald, aka "Honey Fitz," at left with son-in-law Joe Kennedy Sr. and grandson John F. Kennedy </i>(<a href="https://www.massmoments.org/moment-details/bostons-honey-fitz-fitzgerald-elected-to-congress.html">Source</a>)</div>
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Curley found a source of leverage in Fitzgerald's extramarital activities. The discovery that "Honey Fitz" had been canoodling with Elizabeth Ryan, an entertainer and cigarette girl nicknamed Toodles, at the Ferncroft Inn helped torpedo the mayor's chances of an electoral victory. Curley stoked the sensational coverage by delivering lectures with titles such as "Great Lovers in History: From Cleopatra to Toodles." On December 18, Fitzgerald withdrew his name from consideration.<br />
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The mayor's withdrawal did not solidify support behind Curley. He was annoyed when the Boston city council, dominated by Democrats, endorsed the man chosen to run in Fitzgerald's place (city councilor Thomas Kenny) instead of him. He became more confrontational during the campaign. When hecklers disrupted one appearance, he denounced them as "second story workers, milk bottle robbers, and doormat thieves." Jeered at another appearance, he asked the audience if anyone wanted to come onstage to "make anything of it." He had reportedly already laid one heckler flat with a punch before issuing this declaration.<br />
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Curley was also not above unscrupulous tactics during his campaign. Among other tactics, he mailed out notices to areas considered to be Kenny strongholds giving them incorrect information on where to find their polling place. Curley is credited with coining the phrase "Vote early and vote often."<br />
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In the final vote, Curley earned 43,262 votes to Kenny's 37,522. He had resigned from the House, effective February 4, to take on his new duties.<br />
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<b>"Mayor of the poor"</b><br />
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Curley would sporadically serve as mayor, or throw his name into consideration for the position, for the next four decades. But under the city's reform charter, he found himself wielding immense power during his first term. He ousted hundreds of officeholders appointed by Fitzgerald, and personally met with any citizen who came in asking for a job or favor.<br />
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Targeted by political bosses and the business community, which quickly realized that Curley would favor Boston's poorer citizens over them, Curley lost the 1917 election to Andrew Peters, a figure in President Woodrow Wilson's administration. The state legislature, alarmed by the extent of Curley's mayoral power, responded in 1918 by barring Boston mayors from running for re-election; while they would be able to compete in future elections, they could only serve one term at a time. The legislation would stand for 20 years.<br />
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Following his defeat, Curley ran unsuccessfully for the House of Representatives in 1918 before becoming president of the Hibernia Savings Bank in Boston. But he soon turned his attention back to the mayor's office. The race again proved bitter; Curley ran a brutally negative campaign against his opponent, a Catholic lawyer named John R. Murphy. He sent canvassers posing as Baptist supporters of Murphy into Catholic districts to help raise suspicion of the candidate, or had them spread a rumor that Murphy intended to divorce his wife to marry a 16-year-old girl. On December 13, 1921, he was elected by a narrow margin of approximately 2,500 votes out of about 146,000 cast. His second term lasted from 1922 to 1926.<br />
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During his term, Curley won acclaim as a "man of the people" or "mayor of the poor" for his efforts to provide Boston's impoverished residents with jobs or other benefits. During the early 20th century, Boston was a city in decline. Shipping at the harbor was not as robust as it once was, the downtown was in a depressed state, and industries were departing.<br />
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One of the first actions Curley took in office was to order long handled mops for the cleaning women of City Hall so they wouldn't have to scrub the floors on their hands and knees. He sought to connect those looking to work with jobs that would benefit the city, including raking leaves, shoveling snow, reseeding the grass at cemeteries, and cataloging books at the library. During his second term, he oversaw a number of public improvements including the construction of schools, the L Street Bathhouse complex in South Boston, 12 new parks, health care relief stations, and hospital improvements.<br />
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Curley also sought to make residential properties in Boston more affordable by keeping their assessments low while raising assessments on downtown properties. Naturally, the tactic of taxing wealthier neighborhoods to help poorer ones put the mayor at odds with the business community. The disdain was mutual; one story, perhaps exaggerated or apocryphal, holds that Curley berated the president of the First National Bank after he refused to loan money to the city, even threatening to open the city's water mains to flood the bank's basement and vaults if they did not comply.<br />
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Later analyses suggested that this strategy may have helped accelerate the degradation of Boston's downtown. Looking to escape Curley's onerous tax assessments, businesses fled to the suburbs and left empty storefronts in their wake. This urban blight would not be remedied until the 1960s.<br />
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Despite his image as an advocate for the city's downtrodden residents, there were also indicators that Curley found unscrupulous ways to build his own wealth. Despite earning a salary of only $10,000 a year during his first term as mayor, he managed to have an ostentatious neo-Georgian mansion built for himself on Jamaicaway. He moved into the residence, which prominently featured shamrocks carved into the shutters, in 1915.<br />
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<i>Curley's Jamaicaway mansion </i>(<a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2013/12/21/curley-mansion-should-open-for-public-viewing/FLdZtNB6L418GaAG46GMmI/story.html">Source</a>)</div>
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During one mayoral stint, Curley was charged with stealing from the city through a scheme involving bond sales and a friend he had appointed as city treasurer. After the case dragged on through 34 continuances, he was finally ordered to pay $42,629 back into Boston's coffers in $500 weekly installments, with interest.<br />
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Remarkably, this instance of malfeasance also failed to shake the faith of Curley's most ardent supporters. Some years later, he made a radio address appealing for assistance with the repayment, saying he was having trouble making ends meet. In effect, he was asking Bostonians to contribute their own cash to help him repay public funds he had stolen. His adoring followers answered in droves, visiting the Jamaicaway mansion to drop off what cash they could spare.<br />
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<b>The Roosevelt years</b><br />
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In 1924, in the midst of his second term in office, Curley entered the Massachusetts gubernatorial race. But his popularity in Boston did not extend to the rest of the state as a whole. He was soundly trounced by Republican candidate Alvan Fuller, earning 282,000 votes to Fuller's 641,000.<br />
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This campaign would result in another physical confrontation involving Curley two years later. Curley had helped a publisher named Frederick Enwright to launch a tabloid newspaper in 1921, and Enwright had returned the favor by having the paper endorse Curley in the 1924 election - the only one of Boston's six dailies to do so. But the relationship soured as each man accused the other of owing money, and the newspaper's coverage of Curley quickly turned negative.<br />
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On October 4, 1926, Curley spotted Enwright having lunch in the financial district and surprised him with an uppercut. While Curley would later claim that he had acted in self-defense, Enwright said he had been sucker punched. His <i>Boston Telegraph</i> soon ran an editorial cartoon portraying Curley as an inmate and a drunkard who had learned to hit from behind as a street fighter. Curley promptly filed a libel suit, and the jury ruled in his favor.<br />
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Prohibited from running for re-election under the 1918 state law, Curley had to wait until 1929 for his next chance at the office. He was again voted in, tallying up 117,084 ballots against Republican challenger Frederick Mansfield's 96,626. The election was held just one week after Black Tuesday, the catastrophic stock market crash that marked the start of the Great Depression.<br />
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Curley's latest four-year term began in January 1930. His abrasive personality resulted in a clash with Governor Joseph Ely over how relief programs would be administered. Boston would be allocated 12,500 jobs under the Public Works Administration, a little more than half of what the city was actually entitled to.<br />
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In the lead-up to the 1932 presidential election, Curley opted to support Franklin D. Roosevelt over Al Smith for the Democratic nomination. This marked a strong departure from his constituency, since Smith, a former New York governor and the Democratic candidate in 1928, was the preferred choice of most of the city's sizable Catholic population. At the party convention, Curley somehow managed to attend as a delegate representing Puerto Rico and threw his support behind FDR.<br />
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<i>Curley and FDR </i>(<a href="https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/search/commonwealth:5x21v844d">Source</a>)</div>
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Following FDR's nomination and subsequent victory in the general election, Curley expected that he would be rewarded with a plum political position. In particular, he was hoping to be named ambassador to Italy. Instead, the newly elected President offered him the less appealing role of ambassador to Poland. A disappointed Curley rejected the offer with a quote from Shakespeare's <i>Henry VIII</i>, pointedly charging that FDR "left me naked to mine enemies."<br />
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The tiff with FDR was short-lived. With enthusiasm for Democratic candidates running high, Curley was able to decisively win the 1934 gubernatorial election. About 736,000 Massachusetts residents voted for him, while 627,000 opted for Republican candidate Caspar Griswold Bacon and 94,000 went for third party candidate Frank Goodwin.<br />
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As governor of Massachusetts, Curley oversaw FDR's New Deal programs and bolstered them with his own state relief programs. He focused on infrastructure, spending large sums to improve roads and bridges. However, a later analysis suggested that he may have unnecessarily delayed New Deal programs in the state by squabbling with federal authorities over who would control the funding.<br />
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In the late 1930s, Curley's influence began to falter for a time. In 1936, while still governor, he ran for a Senate seat but lost to Republican candidate Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. He was also defeated in his attempts to return to the Boston mayoral office in 1937 and 1941, and in 1938 won the Democratic nomination for governor but lost the general election. However, he was successful in the 1942 race for the House of Representatives and won re-election two years later.<br />
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<b>Fraud conviction</b><br />
<br />
In the 1945 election, Curley was returned to the Boston mayor's office on a landslide count of 111,824 votes. It was more than both of his opponents combined.<br />
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This victory was all the more remarkable because Curley was under federal indictment at the time. His trial had even been postponed to allow him to run for office.<br />
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Curley had participated in Engineers Group Inc., a fraudulent organization that misrepresented its resources in order to win war contracts for clients. Curley's role in the scheme had been fairly minimal; he had simply let the organization use his name on their letterhead, and he would argue that he had been the "victim of a professional confidence man whose professions of honesty deceived me and others." But he had still collected $60,000 in government funds by attaching his name to the group. The scheme was uncovered during then-Senator Harry S. Truman's investigation into the U.S. national defense program.<br />
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In February 1946, just a month into his fourth term as mayor, Curley was convicted of 10 counts of mail fraud. Also convicted were Donald Wakefield Smith, a former member of the National Relations Board, and James G. Fuller, who had acted as the vice president of Engineers Group Inc.<br />
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Curley continued to serve as mayor as his case went through the appeals process. He finally ran out of options when the Supreme Court opted not to consider his arguments. In June 1947, he was sentenced to serve six to 18 months behind bars. In poor health, Curley disregarded his doctor's orders and traveled to the nation's capital to personally request that the sentence be suspended; a federal judge refused, and Curley began serving his sentence in federal prison in Danbury, Connecticut.<br />
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While a criminal conviction is typically enough to get a politician to resign their office, Curley refused to step down. City Clerk John B. Hynes served as acting mayor during Curley's imprisonment; at Curley's direction, he collected the mayor's salary but donated it to charity. It is unclear just how much influence he continued to have from his out-of-state jail cell.<br />
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Similar to the public outcry in support of Curley after his previous fraud conviction, his latest plight inspired mass demonstrations among his supporters. Bostonians protested in the streets, and more than 172,000 people (about a quarter of the city's population) signed a petition demanding clemency "because of his health and other extenuating circumstances."<br />
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The entire Massachusetts congressional delegation also indicated their support for a pardon, with one notable exception: John Fitzgerald Kennedy, who had succeeded Curley as a congressman and would go on to be elected President in 1960. The action was widely scene as a rebuke to Curley for how he had treated Kennedy's grandfather. However, other accounts suggested that Kennedy was skeptical about Curley's claims of illness, or did not want to give the mayor special treatment when he had turned down appeals by the families of other prisoners.<br />
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The day before Thanksgiving, President Harry Truman commuted Curley's sentence. The mayor had served five months of his sentence, just shy of its minimum term. The action was ostensibly due to Curley's poor health, including fears that he would die in prison if he wasn't released. However, it is more likely that Truman acted under pressure from Curley's constituents and the Massachusetts delegation. After all, Curley was able to quickly return to work after his release.<br />
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Despite receiving a warm welcome upon his return to Boston, Curley also doomed his future in the office with an off-the-cuff remark. Soon after resuming his mayoral duties, he quipped that he had accomplished more in one day than Hynes had done in five months. Offended by the remark, Hynes decided to challenge Curley in the 1949 election.<br />
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<i>John B. Hynes </i>(<a href="https://irishboston.blogspot.com/2014/09/john-b-hynes-boston-mayor-in-1950s.html">Source</a>)</div>
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The restriction on running for re-election had been lifted, so Curley was trying to hold on to the mayor's office for the first time since 1917. He denounced Hynes as a candidate who would favor Boston's businesses over its people. Hynes fired back that Curley was out of touch.<br />
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By this point, Curley's influence had also waned considerably; an increasing number of voters knew him more for his fraud conviction than for his earlier advocacy for the poor. Despite garnering just over 126,000 votes, he lost to Hynes by about 11,000 votes.<br />
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<b>Later life</b><br />
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Soon after this defeat, a dual tragedy struck the Curley household. On February 11, 1950, his 41-year-old daughter Mary suddenly died of a cerebral hemorrhage while talking to her 34-year-old brother Leo on the phone. Later in the same day, Leo collapsed and died of the same ailment after learning of his sister's death.<br />
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Curley was no stranger to this kind of loss. His first wife had died on June 10, 1930, and in 1937 he re-married to a woman named Gertrude Marion Dennis. Curley had nine children altogether, but would outlive seven of them. Five died before the age of 40, including twin sons who died shortly after their birth in 1921.<br />
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On April 14, 1950, Truman issued Curley a pardon for both his 1903 fraud conviction and his more recent conviction. It was essentially a favor, a way of offering Curley a clear slate; the charges hadn't included any lasting sanctions, since he could still vote and hold office under Massachusetts law.<br />
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Curley launched two more mayoral bids in 1951 and 1955, both unsuccessful. In 1957, he was appointed to the State Labor Relations Commission. His memoir, <i>I'd Do It Again!</i>, was published in the same year; he'd earlier published another autobiographical work, <i>The Purple Shamrock</i>, with journalist Joseph Dinneen. In 1958, the movie <i>The Last Hurrah</i> was released, based on a book written about Curley by Edwin O'Connor. Spencer Tracy played the lead.<br />
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Curley died in Boston on November 12, 1958. Following his death, he lay in state at the State House Hall of Flags; he was only the fourth person in Massachusetts history to do so.<br />
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<b>Sources: </b>The Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, "Curley Gets Prison for Mail Fraud" in the Deseret News on Feb. 18 1946, "Truman to Free Curley Tonight" in the Lawrence Journal-World on Nov. 26 1947, "Truman Pardons Ex-Mayor Curley" in the Medera Tribune on Apr. 14 1950, "The Last of The Bosses" in American Heritage in June 1959, "Boston's Powerful Rogue" in the Christian Science Monitor on Dec. 29 1992, "How to Govern From Jail" on Slate on Dec. 2 2004, "The Mayor of the Poor" in CommonWealth on Sep. 22 2013, "The First Mayor of the New Boston" in CommonWealth on Sep. 25 2013, The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys: An American Saga by Doris Kearns Goodwin, James Michael Curley: A Short Biography with Personal Reminiscences by William Bulger, John William McCormack: A Political Biography by Garrison Nelson, Rogues and Redeemers: When Politics Was King in Irish Boston by Gerard O'NeillDirk Langeveldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10347292004358347133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8953541230084203389.post-36867640782500266772018-08-28T22:46:00.000-04:002018-08-28T22:46:11.387-04:00"The Artful Dodger," A New Book by the Author of The Downfall DictionaryWhen I started this blog back in 2008, I had no idea just how bizarre some of the stories I uncovered would be. In the 10 years I've written entries for this site, I've catalogued such strange tales as the <a href="http://downfalldictionary.blogspot.com/2009/03/robert-potter-kind-of-nutty.html">congressman who castrated two men</a> and the senator <a href="http://downfalldictionary.blogspot.com/2016/08/henry-s-foote-two-time-traitor.html">accused of betraying both the Union and the Confederacy</a> during the Civil War.<br />
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One interesting historical narrative I encountered was only tangentially related to the figure I covered for one post. In researching <a href="http://downfalldictionary.blogspot.com/2009/01/thomas-w-miller-poor-custodial-work.html">Thomas Miller</a>, the Alien Property Custodian who was convicted of taking kickbacks, I learned that he had seized property from a World War I draft dodger as well as German nationals.<br />
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The newspaper stories related to Grover Cleveland Bergdoll were so enticing that I couldn't believe his history had fallen by the wayside. Here was a man who had trained with the Wright Brothers and earned fame as a pilot, only to become infamous when he evaded the draft, tricked his guards into releasing him from prison by claiming to have buried a gold cache, and made a high-profile escape to Europe.<br />
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After many years of research and writing, I've published a history on Bergdoll's life. <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Artful-Dodger-20-Year-Cleveland-Bergdoll/dp/1973925893/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1533612939&sr=8-2&keywords=dirk+langeveld">The Artful Dodger: The 20-Year Pursuit of World War I Draft Dodger Grover Cleveland Bergdoll</a></i>, can be purchased as a print edition for $25 or for Kindle for $9.99.<br />
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Any readers of this blog are sure to be fascinated by this story. I hope you can pick up a copy and leave a review!<br />
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Dirk Langeveldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10347292004358347133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8953541230084203389.post-58474125491620751842017-11-28T16:56:00.003-05:002017-11-28T17:05:33.532-05:00Bob Davis: Rubber Checks and Leotards<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Two years after she caused a stir by publicizing a sexy private photo, Marty Davis—wife of Michigan congressman Bob Davis—was in the news again. This time, she was supporting a controversial measure to give members of Congress a 15.6 percent pay raise.<br />
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At the start of the congressional session in January 1987, members were receiving a cost of living salary increase from $75,100 a year to $77,400. It was not an insubstantial amount of money; according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, this salary would have the same buying power as $171,796 in present day - on par with the current base salary of $174,000 in today's Congress. <br />
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Under a proposal by President Ronald Reagan, however, the congressional salary would automatically increase to $89,500 per year unless the raise was voted down by both the House of Representatives and the Senate. This annual salary would have the same buying power as nearly $200,000 a year today. <br />
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Not surprisingly, many citizens were outraged by the proposal. Countless people would have considered the congressional salary to be more than adequate, and the idea of budgeting millions of dollars more to congressmen's paychecks was particularly contentious since it came in the midst of federal deficits and domestic budget cuts.<br />
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Many members of Congress agreed that the generous raise proposed by Reagan was unnecessary. Representative Virginia Smith, a Nebraska Republican, not only wanted to block the raise, but also the minor bump in pay members had received at the start of the session. "We can get by on $75,100 a year, and overwhelmingly the people back home in my district expect us to," she said. "For Nebraskans, times are harsh."<br />
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Smith's comment and proposal prompted Marty Davis to respond with a letter to the editor, which appeared in the Washington Post. "Seventy-five thousand dollars may blow people away in Nebraska," the letter read in part, "but in Washington, it is pin money." <br />
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Plenty of residents in Bob Davis's district were blown away by a $75,000 salary as well, and they weren't too pleased with Marty's comments. After all, the median price for a house in the northern Michigan region the congressman represented was only $31,000. Some constituents criticized her objection to the congressional salary as being out of touch. A duo from the town of Iron Mountain started a tongue-in-cheek charitable collection called Moola for Marty, urging their fellow "Yoopers" to send $1 checks to the congressman's wife to support her lifestyle.<br />
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Marty sent a lengthy followup letter to the Washington Post, admitting that it had been hyperbolic to dismiss the congressional salary as "pin money" but maintaining that the income was modest when all factors were considered. She said many congressmen were struggling to maintain two homes—one in their district, and one in the nation's capital—alongside car payments and other expenses. <br />
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Marty also suggested that politicians bore a disproportionate amount of the public's ire whenever people rose objections to salaries they considered exorbitant. "There's no great hue and cry over Washington Bullets star Moses Malone's hefty $2 million-plus salary for dribbling and shooting," she said. "But politicians, responsible for the laws of the land, are reviled for wanting a piece of the American dream - a few extra bucks to keep up with the cost of living."<br />
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Ironically, Bob Davis himself was not in favor of the pay raise for Congress. An aide to the congressman said Davis hadn't supported any such raises since he was first elected to the House of Representatives, and he didn't intend to start now. He also said that Davis was supportive of his wife, since he wasn't surprised that "two intelligent people might reach different conclusions" on the matter. The raise would ultimately go through in a rather farcical manner, after the House voted to reject it but only after missing the deadline by one day, thus causing the boost in pay to take place automatically.<br />
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The controversy over congressional salaries and Marty's remarks would mark something of a watershed moment in Davis's life. By the end of the year, the marriage to his outspoken wife would be faltering. A few years later, he would be named as one of the top offenders in the abuse of a House financial system; he would claim that his actions had been driven, in part, by the challenge of paying expenses related to his divorce and job responsibilities.<br />
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<b>Early life and politics</b><br />
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Robert William Davis was born in Marquette, Michigan, on July 31, 1932. After graduating from Lasalle High School in St. Ignace in 1950, he went on to attend Northern Michigan University and Hillsdale College. In 1954, he earned a degree in mortuary science from Wayne State University.<br />
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Four years earlier, Davis's father had left his job at a funeral home to start his own. Davis joined him in the family business, running the Davis Funeral Home in St. Ignace from 1954 to 1966. For a time, he also owned a greenhouse and flower shop.<br />
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Davis's political career began in 1964, when he was elected to the city council of St. Ignace. He served as a Michigan state representative from 1966 to 1970, then as the majority whip of the state senate from 1970 to 1974. Between 1974 and 1978, he was the Republican leader in the state senate.<br />
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In 1978, Davis left state politics to run for the House of Representatives. He was elected to Michigan's 11th District, which at 22,000 square miles was one of the largest in the country. In addition to the entire Upper Peninsula, the district sprawled over much of the northern part of the state's Lower Peninsula, reaching as far as the suburbs of Detroit. Although he had spent much of his early life in St. Ignace, Davis would live in the more southern community of Gaylord for most of his time in Congress.<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span>
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<i>Davis with President Ronald Reagan in 1988</i> (<a href="http://www.stignacenews.com/news/2009-10-22/Front_Page/Legislators_Recall_Davis_Lifetime_of_Public_Servic.html">Source</a>)</div>
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A moderate conservative in his views, Davis would do his most substantive work on the Armed Forces Committee and the Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee. The latter was considered particularly appropriate, since the 11th District bordered three of the five Great Lakes. During his time in office, he helped establish the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary and Keweenaw National Historical Park. He worked to bring an addition to the Hammond Bay Biological Laboratory near Cheboygan to improve national research into sea lamprey control. He also successfully pushed back against efforts to decommission the Coast Guard cutter Mackinaw, arguing that it would impede icebreaking on the Great Lakes, and helped bring the service's buoy tender Acacia to Charlevoix.<br />
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Davis also secured funding and support for a variety of public improvements in his district, including roads, hospitals, libraries, and senior housing. In 1968, he joined with Governor George Romney to lower tolls on the Mackinac Bridge, which connects the Upper and Lower Peninsulas. This effort cut the toll from $7.50 for a round trip to $1.50 each way, quickly leading to a 22 percent boost in travel on the bridge. <br />
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He maintained nine offices throughout the vast district with a team of staffers to respond to constituent concerns. In a 1992 interview, he said he tried to help anyone who asked for assistance. "I've had people from Manistique call and tell me that their driveway wasn't plowed. We never turned down any [request for help]," he said. "We didn't always solve it, but no matter how small it was, we didn't turn it down."<br />
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This work made Davis a popular figure throughout much of Michigan. He easily won re-election in 1980 and the subsequent five House contests.<br />
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<b> The black leotard</b><br />
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Davis married Marty, his third wife, in 1976. Marty was a former television and radio anchor, and worked as a freelance journalist in Washington, D.C. after Davis began serving in the House. In February 1985, she was outraged to read a letter in the magazine Washington Dossier which expressed surprise at the attractiveness of a congressman's wife. The implication, she felt, was that congressional wives were generally regarded as dowdy, stay-at-home types.<br />
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Marty fired off a letter to Dossier, Marty protesting that not all women married to congressmen were "cloying Barbie dolls swathed in Ultrasuede" or "stuck in a 1950s Donna Reed time warp." She said she was speaking for herself as well as "the business-oriented, career-oriented women in our ranks."<br />
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The letter likely would have attracted little notice had Marty not decided to back it up with a revealing photograph, with which she hoped to dispel the notion that an attractive, aspirational congressional wife was out of the ordinary. In the photo, Marty is bending over and shooting the camera an alluring look while wearing a cutaway black exercise leotard and high heels. She had originally taken the photo for her husband, to show off how she had lost 62 pounds after giving birth to their daughter.<br />
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The photo was quickly picked up and distributed in media outlets beyond Dossier. In an interview with the Washington Post, she marveled at the "completely overblown" coverage of the image and her letter. She said her husband had invited her to attend the State of the Union address, but she was worried she would upstage the President if she showed up. She turned down offers to appear on a number of TV shows, including Today and Good Morning America, saying she didn't want to "be fodder for the early morning news vulture."<br />
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At the same time, Marty was happy to use interviews on the subject to explain why she decided to send the photo to Dossier. It was clear that she had a good deal of pent-up annoyance over how congressional wives were treated in the nation's capital. More often than not, she complained, they were regarded as an extension of their husbands instead of individuals. She was disgusted by how frequently lobbyists called her "honey" or "sweetheart."<br />
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Yet her letter to Dossier had also been a way to combat perceptions that women married to congressmen weren't physically attractive. Men had frequently commented that she didn't "look like a congressman's wife." In her interview with the Washington Post, she commented, "Just because she's married to a congressman, she doesn't have to look like a toad. She's not a dog with no brains."<br />
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Marty said several congressional wives expressed their support and thanked her for changing the way people looked at them. Arlene Crane, wife of Republican Representative Philip Crane of Illinois, figured the photo had been meant as something of a joke. "If that's the case, she exhibited what has sustained me for the past 15 years in Washington, and that is a sense of humor," she said.<br />
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Other wives weren't laughing. Sally Dornan, who was married to Republican Representative Robert K. Dornan of California, thought Marty was simply trying to get attention and possibly trying to break into show business. Indeed, some of the people contacting her were Hollywood agents, and there was talk of making Marty the host of a women's talk show. "I exercise in a leotard, but I don't invite photographers in," said Sally. "She is certainly not speaking for me or many other wives I know."<br />
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There was even some speculation that Marty's risqué photo would erode support for her husband in Michigan. Dick Storm, a radio reporter with WHUH in Houghton, said, "We have a conservative population in the district, a lot of senior citizens and Apostolic Lutherans, and they're just not going to go for it." But a newspaper editor in the same town, Rick Fromm, said both Davis and Marty were well-liked in the district and the incident likely wouldn't have any effect. "I think most people, contrary to popular opinion, might think 'more power to her,'" he said. "She wanted to make a point and I think she made it very well."<br />
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Davis himself stood by his wife. He claimed that he had simply had a good chuckle when he found out about the image, and had suffered nothing worse than some ribbing by his colleagues. He commented that Marty's actions showed that "congressional wives aren't what people think."<br />
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<b>Divorce from Marty</b><br />
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Despite showing support for Marty after both the photo imbroglio and her controversial stance on congressional pay, Davis's relationship with his wife was starting to break down. The couple began taking intermittent separations from one another in 1987. Davis began dating a woman named Brook Ball on and off during these breaks.<br />
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In December 1988, Davis and Marty officially separated. Davis filed for divorce in March 1989. About a month later, Marty filed for financial support in Virginia. Soon after, Davis came under scrutiny for his relationship with Ball.<br />
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At the start of the year, Davis had gotten Ball a job helping to research and prepare reports for the minority members of the Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee. She had no prior experience with maritime matters, having formerly worked as division secretary for the Air Force office at the Pentagon. Her new position on the committee came with a $28,000 salary, $6,000 more than she had previously been making. Soon after Ball started the job, Davis moved in with her. At 28 years old, she was exactly half his age.<br />
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When news of this arrangement broke, Davis insisted he had done nothing wrong. He and Ball had first checked with the Ethics Committee to make sure there wouldn't be any issues with the hire and their subsequent cohabitation. He noted how they had used similar caution when Ball accompanied him on a business trip through Europe in 1987; Davis's way had been paid by a company in his district, while Ball covered her own expenses.<br />
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Davis added that Ball was doing a capable job and was actually saving taxpayers money, since she drew the lowest pay on the committee. The average salary of a committee staff member was $30,000 higher. "I would have hired Brook for that position even if we hadn't been dating," she said. "But that's not what anyone in my position would say, and I don't expect many people to believe that." He didn't believe that the hiring issue would affect his popularity at home. "People base their opinions of me on how I do my job, and I do a good job...I made no mistake here," he maintained.<br />
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The issue also wound up making Davis's acrimonious divorce a more public affair. In the course of defending the hiring of his girlfriend, the congressman also accused Marty of bringing the issue to light in the first place. He said he had refused his ex-wife's demands for $4,000 a month in child support, and suspected that she had tipped off the Detroit Free Press about Ball's employment in hopes that the courts would order him to pay more alimony.<br />
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Marty denied this charge, but admitted that she had been in a tough spot financially since the divorce. In another interview with the Washington Post, she said she was "completely broke." She was living in Arlington with the five-year-old daughter she had had with Davis, and she was paying $3,068 a month for rent, a car lease, electricity, and her daughter's schooling. Between her limited earnings and considerable debts, she had been forced to apply for welfare; she was turned down because her income was $100 over the maximum limit. <br />
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Those who had been unsympathetic to Marty's complaints about congressional earnings a couple of years earlier may have been similarly unlikely to empathize with her current situation, given that her expenses included $1,900 a month for a three-bedroom apartment and tuition for private school. But she claimed that Davis was paying only $234 a week in child support, less than a third of what she said was necessary for her to get by. Davis's attorney called her estimates "unfair" and "untrue," saying Davis had been paying her rent for a few months in addition to the weekly child support.<br />
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A Michigan court set Davis's alimony payments at $2,000 a month, a sum he protested as too high. His own financial situation was not sound enough that he could sustain this kind of regular contribution, he said. Marty, abandoning her old position about inadequate congressional pay, responded that her ex-husband made $91,500 a year and could comfortably afford to pay twice what they were asking. Davis argued that his actual income was closer to $67,000 after taxes. The court ultimately made only a modest increase in Davis's alimony requirements, asking him to pay Marty $247 a week.<br />
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The general assessment held that the proceedings wouldn't hurt Davis's reputation too much, since he represented a larger and more rural district. "We're so spread out, we're so isolated, these kinds of things don't hit people the same way they do in a big city," said Bob Anderson, an attorney who ran unsuccessfully against Davis in the 1986 election.<br />
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In 1992, Davis married Ball. They would remain wed until Davis's death 17 years later.<br />
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<b>Campaign funds</b><br />
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The complaints about congressional compensation raised by Marty at the start of the 1987 and Davis during the couple's divorce seemed to ring hollow after a July 1990 press investigation. Since 1978, Davis's campaign efforts had collected $1.6 million and spent $1.52 million. Over the course of these bids, $225,000 in campaign money had gone toward Davis's personal expenses.<br />
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This kind of remuneration was not prohibited under federal law. The Federal Election Commission would only investigate campaign funds used for personal expenses if there was a complaint. But the receipts did show that Davis had not been as hard up for cash as previously indicated. He often wrote out multiple checks on the same day, including one to Marty for $4,800 in 1984 and two $500 payments to his son, Bob Jr. The largest single check sent to his personal bank account from campaign funds, $7,721.28 on December 1, 1988, was for "travel, meals and lodging."<br />
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Davis hadn't reported these payments as income. He said there was no need to, since the checks were reimbursement for the considerable expenses he incurred in covering his sizable district. He also defended the use of $103,000 in campaign funds in non-election years. "Everything a congressman does is related to being re-elected," he said. Davis also added, "I campaign all the time. I don't wait to the last minute to campaign. I campaign 12 months a a year. I work at it all the time."<br />
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A loophole in the federal election laws also allowed congressmen to pocket any leftover campaign funds if they left office before 1993. Davis assured a reporter that he wouldn't be taking advantage of this potential windfall. "Bob Davis will be here long after that time," he said. "I don't intend to retire. Never."<br />
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<b> Banking scandal</b><br />
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For more than 150 years, the House of Representatives had hosted a bank which was open only to a select group of members. These included congressmen, their spouses, House staffers, and journalists. During Davis's time in office, the House Bank was a fairly simple institution; it could cash checks for its members, but it didn't offer interest or grant loans. The Office of the Sergeant at Arms oversaw its operation.<br />
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On September 18, 1991, the General Accounting Office found that the House Bank had honored a whopping 8,331 bad checks in the year leading up to June 30, 1990. Two weeks after this revelation, the bank was closed and the Ethics Committee began a five-month investigation into the issue.<br />
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The committee found that the House Bank had developed the ill-advised practice of honoring checks even if they overdrew the balance in a member's account. The bank essentially considered the withdrawal to be an advance on their next deposit. The generous overdraft protection meant that members could abuse the system by having the bank honor thousands of dollars worth of bounced checks without seeing the slightest blemish on their credit.<br />
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In the 39 months between July 1, 1988 and October 3, 1991, nearly 20,000 bad checks had been written from House Bank accounts. Some had been six-figure sums. The investigation proceeded using account numbers instead of names, although there was plenty of debate over how many offenders should be exposed. The House Bank didn't have clear rules against overdrafts, and the Ethics Committee did not want to embarrass congressmen who may have only bounced one or two checks due to an honest mistake.<br />
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<i><i>Jim Nussle (R-Iowa), briefly wore a paper bag when speaking before Congress about the House Bank scandal on Oct. 1, 1991. After removing the bag, he said it was time to expose the scandal and return honor to the institution.</i> (<a href="http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/house-headgear-the-paper-bag-speech/article/1201546">Source</a>)</i><br />
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The committee initially decided that it would spotlight members whose overdrafts were "routine, repeated and significant." Many congressmen had overdrawn their accounts to get money for their campaigns, but others had used them to acquire funding for business ventures or other potentially profitable actions. After much negotiation, they set up a rubric to identify the worst offenders. To qualify, a congressman would have had to overdraw their account by more than their net monthly pay in at least eight of the 39 months under review. These parameters would only lead to the exposure of the 24 worst offenders: 19 sitting congressmen and five former members.<br />
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There were complaints that this limited disclosure was inadequate, especially given the widespread abuse of the House Bank. Some pointed out that many of the most egregious offenders could still escape notice; some congressmen had written more than 800 bad checks, but hadn't overdrawn their accounts beyond their monthly salary. Republicans in particular were eager to press the issue, since Democrats represented the bulk of the offenders (in part because they outnumbered the GOP almost two-to-one in the House). These congressmen trumpeted the overdrafts as a sign of Democratic mismanagement of the bank as well as the House in general.<br />
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House Democrats eventually gave in to the pressure to name every member who had written at least one bad check on their House Bank account. A total of 325 members, including 269 still in the House, would be implicated; it was the largest ethics scandal in House history. On March 13, 1992, a unanimous House resolution agreed that every offender would be named.<br />
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One day after this vote, Davis flew home and held a town hall meeting. He confessed that he would not only be named in the forthcoming revelation, but that he would likely have one of the highest counts of bad checks; he had bounced more than 800 during the period in question. He said his overdrafts occurred during "the worst period in my financial life," when his finances were in turmoil as a result of his divorce. He also blamed his own "sloppy bookkeeping," "lax procedure" at the House Bank, and the expenses involved in traveling throughout the large district.<br />
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Davis said the overdrafts hadn't resulted in a loss of any taxpayer money, since any bad checks were buoyed up by deposits made from other congressmen and House Bank members. He also said that he had not broken any rules or laws since the bank was actually a "cooperative check-cashing fund" instead of a true financial institution. But he acknowledged that the revelation was likely to upset his constituents. "I realize the bottom line here is that congressmen got benefits that most Americans didn't and that was wrong," he said. "I offer my sincerest apologies to the people who I represent."<br />
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As the House began to publish the names of all offenders in the bank scandal, it emerged that Davis had written the third highest number of bad checks. Between July 1, 1988 and October 3, 1991, he had drawn 878 checks from the House Bank without sufficient funds in his account to cover them. He was overdrawn for 13 months of the 39-month period. The face value of the bad checks totaled more than $344,000, the sixth highest amount among all offenders. <br />
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Davis was one of only three of the 21 worst offenders who didn't report any unearned income during the period in question. In fact, his last financial discloser form named his home as his only personal asset. He also declared that he had debts to three lending institutions ranging from $35,000 to $115,000.<br />
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Davis's record not only opened him up for criticism from the Democrats, but also made him a target within his own party. The Republicans had hoped to capitalize on the banking scandal in the upcoming election, but soon found that many from their own ranks had also abused the House Bank. Democrats were particularly delighted to find that Minority Whip Newt Gingrich, who had been especially vocal in criticizing the Democrats over the issue, had collected $26,891 from 22 bad checks. A total of 117 of the offenders, or more than one in three, hailed from the GOP. Tommy F. Robinson, a former Republican congressman from Arkansas, had the highest tally of bad checks at 996.<br />
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A Newsweek poll suggested that voters would be unlikely to support the worst offenders in the House Bank scandal. In April, GOP national committeeman Chuck Yob wrote to Davis asking him to abandon any attempt for an eighth term.<br />
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On May 4, Davis announced that he would not run for re-election. He pointed out how a poll taken in the previous month had shown that he would likely win both the Republican primary for his seat as well as the general election. However, he figured he would only be able to win through a large fundraising effort and nonstop campaigning; he also assumed that any opponents in either race would use the banking scandal to launch an extremely negative campaign against him. "Ultimately, I decided that I was not interested in that kind of negativism," he said.<br />
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<b>Inside Edition sting</b><br />
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In a strange coda to his political career, Davis found himself targeted by the tabloid TV show Inside Edition. With so many congressmen being forced from office, rumors were swirling that the representatives affected by the scandal were desperate to stay in Washington and would do anything to secure new employment there. Inside Edition sought to test whether retiring representatives would stoop to corrupt acts in exchange for a lucrative new job.<br />
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The show created a setup where they would have a person claim to be representing a nonexistent trade association, the National Association of Bolt Distributors. They would offer the departing congressman a $250,000 annual salary to head this group. All they asked in the meantime was their assistance in influencing pending government legislation related to the fasteners industry. A hidden camera would be rolling to see if the congressman took the bait.<br />
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Inside Edition tried to tempt both Davis and Representative Robin Tallon, a South Carolina Democrat who would be stepping down after his term expired in 1993. Tallon had bounced two checks from the House Bank, but this hadn't played a factor in his decision to retire from office. Redistricting had given his district a majority black population, and he had been pressured to step aside and allow a black candidate to run. <br />
<br />
In September 1992, Inside Edition went ahead with the sting. John L. Jackley, a former Democratic press secretary who had published a book about congressional chicanery five months earlier, disguised himself as lobbyist "Donald Lee" and met with Davis at a D.C. restaurant. Jackley, writing about the encounter for his next book, described Davis as boorish, dismissive of his constituents, and eager to accept a corrupt quid pro quo.<br />
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"You could almost see the drool of greed begin to form at the edges of his mouth. We had offered him a fantastic job—great pay, benefits, travel, the whole works—and he was beside himself with desire," Jackley wrote. "For one of the largest congressional check-overdrafters in the House, it was unparalleled. Davis represented Michigan's Upper Peninsula, and he candidly told us that after fourteen years in Washington, there was damn little that interested him back home."<br />
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The setup unraveled after the maître d' appeared and delivered a note to Davis, warning that he was being videotaped. Some GOP wonks had noticed Inside Edition's poorly disguised camera inside a gift box and relayed the message. Unnerved, Davis soon left the meeting. Nevertheless, Jackley claimed that Davis left a voice mail the next morning saying he had "taken the initiative" to set up meetings with an attorney, Dan Quayle's Council on Competitiveness, and a regulator working on bolt regulations at the National Institute of Standards.<br />
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Tallon claimed that he abandoned his own meeting as soon as the proposal of influence peddling came up. Jackley said he thought Tallon was also interested in the offer, but did note that the congressman was more cautious. In checking out the references from the meeting, Tallon discovered that Inside Edition was behind the whole thing.<br />
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In February 1993, word of the botched sting hit the papers. Davis said he was considering legal action against the program, but he ultimately never sued.<br />
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<b>Later life</b><br />
<br />
The Republicans continued to hold up the "Rubbergate" scandal as a primarily Democratic infraction. President George H.W. Bush even brought up the issue, accusing the Democrats of being incapable of running "a tiny bank or a tiny post office." He told voters, "It is time for a new Congress. You give me the right lawmakers, and I'll give you the right laws."<br />
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But the Democrats were easily able to accuse Republicans of hypocrisy. Three former representatives who had gone on to join the Bush Cabinet were found to have overdrafts: Defense Secretary Dick Cheney, Labor Secretary Lynn Martin, and Secretary of Agriculture Edward Madigan. In the 1992 election, the Democrats lost only nine seats to the Republicans; they maintained a healthy majority in the House. Bush himself would lose the presidency to Democratic candidate Bill Clinton.<br />
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By one measure, however, the scandal would have a major impact on the House of Representatives. Davis was one of 77 congressmen implicated in the affair who either left office or were defeated in their primary or the general election. This meant more than one in four sitting representatives who overdrew their accounts were not returned to office.<br />
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Malcolm Wilkey, a retired federal appeals court judge, was named as special counsel to investigate the House Bank scandal. He determined that 20 sitting or former members may have committed crimes in the course of the scandal. A number of people—including the former Sergeant at Arms and several former congressmen, their family members, or staffers—were ultimately convicted of charges stemming from the investigation. In 1993, Davis was cleared of any criminal wrongdoing by the Justice Department.<br />
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Despite his reassurance to a reporter in 1990 that he did not plan to retire, Davis's early departure meant he would be able to benefit from the loophole in federal campaign laws after all. He pocketed $40,147 in leftover campaign funds before leaving office in January 1993.<br />
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<i>A photo of Davis and wife Brook Ball Davis, posted on Brook's Facebook page about seven months before Davis's death. </i>(<a href="https://www.facebook.com/brook.b.davis.7">Source</a>)</div>
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Redistricting changed the 11th District considerably. It was reduced to a much smaller area around Detroit and stayed firmly Republican, with GOP candidate Joe Knollenberg taking the seat in the 1992 election. Much of the area formerly covered by Davis would now be covered by the 1st District. Republican candidate Phillip Ruppe, who had preceded Davis in office for 12 years, lost the race in this district to Democratic candidate Bart Stupak.</div>
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Davis stayed in the D.C. area after leaving Congress and kept out of the headlines. He began his own lobbying firm, and also worked for the international law firm K&L Gates. He opposed an ultimately successful proposal to set term limits for state officials in Michigan in 1992, saying he thought his long tenure in office had helped him build trust and serve his constituents more effectively. In 2002, an act of Congress named the St. Ignace post office for him.</div>
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After suffering from kidney failure and heart trouble, Davis died on October 16, 2009 in Arlington, Virginia. He was 77 years old.</div>
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Sources: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, ""Congress Wives Not Toads, One Says - And Proves It" in the Los Angeles Times on Feb. 6 1985, "Marty Davis and the Pose That Was" in the Washington Post on Feb. 7 1985, "Marty Davis Has Other Congressional Wives Talking" in UPI on Feb. 7 1985, "Congressman's Wife Shatters the Stereotype" in the Boca Raton News on Feb. 7 1985, "Marty Davis Bends Over Forwards to Create a New Image for Housewives" in People on Feb. 25 1985, Photo Changes Life for Legislator's Wife" in the Detroit Free Press on Mar. 4 1985, "2 in GOP Try to Block Pay Raise for Congress" in the Washington Post on Jan. 7 1987, "Congressman, Wife Differ on Pay Increase" in the Detroit Free Press on Jan. 20 1987, "Pay Raise Splits State Legislators" in the Battle Creek Enquirer on Feb. 2 1987, "What $75,000 Won't Buy in Washington" in the Washington Post on Feb. 8 1987, "Financial Gun is At Our Heads" in the Battle Creek Enquirer on Feb. 10 1987, "Congressman, Wife Trade Barbs in Pending Divorce" in the Detroit Free Press on May 31 1989, "Turmoil in Congress: Congressman Defends Hiring of Companion" in the New York Times on Jun. 1 1989, "Congressman Is Target of Hiring Controversy" in the Journal of Commerce on Jun. 1 1989, "Friend's Hiring Throws Davis Into Ethics Fray" in the Detroit Free Press on Jun. 4 1989, "Welfare Woes of Hill Wife Marty Davis" in the Washington Post on Jun. 8 1989, "So Davis Hired Lover? Voters Aren't Objecting" in the Detroit Free Press on Jun. 8 1989, "Davis Got $225,000 In Election Funds" in the Green Bay Press-Gazette on Jul. 29 1990, "24 May Be Named in House Bank Case" in the New York Times on Mar. 7 1992, "Michigan Congressman Admits to 800-Plus Overdrafts" in UPI on Mar. 14 1992, "House Bank List an Index of Lives Out of Control" in the Los Angeles Times on Mar. 15 1992, "Davis Bounces $344,000 in Checks; Will Voters Bounce Him?" in the Detroit Free Press on Mar. 15 1992, "Foley Proposes Using Outsider to Run House Services" in the New York Times on Mar. 16 1992, "Third-Worst Congressional Check Bouncer Is Retiring" in UPI on May 4 1992, "Stop Filibustering and Take Out The Trash!" in Spy in October 1992, "Tabloid Show Aims at Ex-Lawmakers" in the Detroit Free Press on Feb. 19 1993, "Voters Enraged Over House Bank Abuses" in the 1992 CQ Almanac, "Former U.S. Rep Bob Davis Dies at 77" in the Oakland Press on Oct. 16 2009, "Former Congressman Bob Davis, 77" in the Washington Post on Oct. 19 2009, "Legislators Recall Davis' Lifetime of Public Service" in The St. Ignace News on Oct. 22 2009, Beyond the Hill: A Directory of Congress from 1984 to 1993. Where Have All the Members Gone? by Rebecca Borders and C.C. Dockery, Below the Beltway: Money, Power, and Sex in Bill Clinton's Washington by John L. Jackley</div>
Dirk Langeveldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10347292004358347133noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8953541230084203389.post-48922848736738491152017-10-09T16:03:00.002-04:002018-01-26T15:44:53.420-05:00William Taulbee: A Stain on the Capitol<br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-w7DaEoy4D-M/WduKZAmxvgI/AAAAAAAACJQ/kGqU4OTeTys17jBdrJhdtwggxvcP8N3EgCLcBGAs/s1600/taulbee.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-w7DaEoy4D-M/WduKZAmxvgI/AAAAAAAACJQ/kGqU4OTeTys17jBdrJhdtwggxvcP8N3EgCLcBGAs/s1600/taulbee.jpg" /></a></div>
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(<a href="http://troytaylorbooks.blogspot.com/2014/03/politics-can-be-murder.html">Source</a>)</div>
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In most sex scandals involving elected officials, the damage is limited to a politician's career. The scandal is easy fodder for a political opponent to use in the next election. Some voters may be willing to forgive infidelity, but others see it as a sign that the official is untrustworthy, morally unsound, or just plain sleazy.<br />
<br />
Occasionally, however, a sex scandal ends in bloodshed. One of the most famous examples is the case of <a href="http://downfalldictionary.blogspot.com/2010/10/daniel-e-sickles-through-perilous.html">Representative Daniel Sickles</a>, a New York Democrat, who shot and killed his wife's lover within sight of the White House. <a href="http://downfalldictionary.blogspot.com/search/label/Utah">Arthur Brown</a>, a Republican and one of the first two U.S. senators from Utah, was murdered by his mistress about nine years after he left office.<br />
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William Preston Taulbee is another federal politician who wound up meeting his end as a result of a sex scandal. It is unusual, however, in that he did not die at the hands of a jilted lover, cuckolded husband, or angry wife. Instead, he was gunned down by a reporter he had been routinely harassing for his coverage of the scandal.<br />
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<b>Taulbee and Kincaid</b><br />
<br />
Taulbee was born on October 22, 1851, near Mount Sterling in Morgan County, a mountainous area of eastern Kentucky. He attended the common schools and was also tutored by his father, who later served in the state's general assembly. In his youth, Taulbee also helped run the family farm.<br />
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Although he worked for a time shoveling coal, Taulbee soon left to become a teacher. He married Lou Emma Oney in 1871, and would have five sons with her. Taulbee continued teaching until 1877, when he began to study theology. He became an ordained minister and was admitted to the Kentucky conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church South. Taulbee also studied law and opened a practice after he was admitted to the bar in 1881.<br />
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Taulbee's first foray into politics occurred in 1878, when he was elected clerk of the Magoffin County Court. He was re-elected in 1882. Two years later, he became the Democratic candidate for the House of Representatives and handily defeated his Republican opponent, William L. Hurst. He faced a tougher re-election fight in 1886, even though he was battling the same opponent. Both Taulbee and Hurst traveled extensively through their district prior to the election, engaging in fiery debates on 27 occasions. Although it was a tighter race, Taulbee was returned to the House.<br />
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There is little information about Taulbee's service in the nation's capital. He was known as a gifted speaker, described as having a dignified bearing despite his rather young age. He was also popular enough in his district that one phrase suggested, "As goes Taulbee, so goes the mountains." His supporters nicknamed him "Our Pres" or "Pres Taulbee."<br />
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Soon after winning his second term, rumors began to circulate that Taulbee would not run again in 1888. He essentially confirmed these suspicions when he said he had purchased a house in Washington, D.C. and planned to live there after retiring from Congress.<br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-s2guAW-0EC4/WduUX9nYQlI/AAAAAAAACJg/w6eHHfixQccnsVWDjrateknQt108dsB_wCLcBGAs/s1600/kincaid.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-s2guAW-0EC4/WduUX9nYQlI/AAAAAAAACJg/w6eHHfixQccnsVWDjrateknQt108dsB_wCLcBGAs/s320/kincaid.jpg" /></a></div>
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(<a href="http://wamu.org/story/12/06/08/new_book_explores_the_wicked_ways_of_capitol_hill/">Source</a>)</div>
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Charles Euston Kincaid was slightly younger than Taulbee. He had been born on May 18, 1855, and spent much of his early life around Lexington. Kincaid graduated from Centre College and began working in journalism, editing a newspaper in Lawrenceburg for two years. He then worked as a correspondent for the Lexington Courier-Journal, covering state politics and later matters related to the South and Cuba.<br />
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<br />
Kincaid also dabbled in politics. He picked up the nickname "Judge Kincaid" after he was elected a municipal judge in Lawrenceburg in 1879, and a year later he was appointed a state railroad commissioner. Kincaid also spent a good deal of time abroad, serving as a consular agent to England under President Grover Cleveland. In 1884, he was one of the emissaries appointed by the state legislature to travel to Italy and persuade the authorities there to repatriate the body of Kentucky sculptor Joel T. Hart. Kincaid also served as the private secretary to Governor Proctor Knott and later to Senator John Williams.<br />
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By the late 1880s, Kincaid was working as the Washington, D.C. correspondent for the Louisville Times. He was a social friend of several congressmen, but also known for unflinching accounts challenging those in power. Most targets simply shrugged off the attacks, however. Senator James B. Beck, a Kentucky Democrat, commented, "He's one of those small, buzzing bees. He won't hurt anybody, and he's too little to take hold of."<br />
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It is unclear how well Taulbee and Kincaid were acquainted during the former's last years in the House. Kincaid undoubtedly had contact with the congressman while covering the actions of Kentucky's congressmen and senators. But any hope of a cordial relationship disappeared after Taulbee became involved in a salacious scandal in December 1887.<br />
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<b>"Brown-Haired Miss Dodge"</b><br />
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The first report that Taulbee was having an extramarital affair didn't even include the congressman's name. The Washington Post issued a brief article saying a Patent Office employee had caught a Kentucky representative "in a very compromising position" with one of the office's clerks. This wasn't exactly an uncommon occurrence. The model room of the Patent Office, where the miniature versions of various inventions submitted with patent applications were stored, was nicknamed the "Lovers' Retreat" because it was a popular place for flirtatious clerks and their wooing suitors to meet during lunch breaks. The thick cases holding the models offered plenty of hiding places for discreet trysts. <br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-awME0rC5wyA/WduwXKIjd1I/AAAAAAAACJw/sy2d7SRE4l0B8dfe7vkigOCPKlWW3jYfACLcBGAs/s1600/patentroom.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-awME0rC5wyA/WduwXKIjd1I/AAAAAAAACJw/sy2d7SRE4l0B8dfe7vkigOCPKlWW3jYfACLcBGAs/s320/patentroom.jpg" /></a></div>
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<i>The Patent Office's model room as it appeared in the mid-1860s</i> (<a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Old_Patent_Office,_model_room_-_Washington,_D.C..jpg">Source</a>)</div>
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Kincaid pursued the matter further, publishing an article in the Louisville Times with a rambling headline: "Kentucky's Silver-Tongued Taulbee Caught in Flagrante, or Thereabouts, with Brown-Haired Miss Dodge, Also of Kentucky." The headline also declared that the duo had been "lunching on forbidden fruit and hidden waters" and asked, "What's the world coming to?"<br />
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Kincaid's reports gave more details than the Washington Post brief, but still erred on the side of Victorian modesty. Taulbee and the clerk had been discovered "in a compromising way," "held sweet communion for half an hour before going to plebeian Monday lunch," and were "rather warmer than they were proper." Kincaid also detailed the circuitous routes Taulbee took to rendezvous with his mistress as well as other maneuvers he employed to try to keep the affair hidden, and determined that the congressman had helped the clerk get her job so they could arrange their meetings more easily. He would later maintain that he had told Taulbee he would be glad to interview him to get his side of the story, but that the congressman had not accepted the offer.<br />
<br />
The clerk, Laura L. Dodge, was more accommodating. She sat down for an interview with Kincaid, who described the 17-year-old as beautiful, petite, "plump as a partridge," and "bright as sunshine and saucy as a bowl of jelly." Dodge admitted that she was not from Kentucky, as she had told the Patent Office. She refused to answer Kincaid's question about where she was actually from, saying she didn't want to get Taulbee in trouble. The congressman was a gentleman, Dodge said, and she was supposed to be a lady. "We will both swear on a stack of Bibles that we have not done anything," she declared.<br />
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Kincaid wasn't convinced. "What a mess this is for an ex-Methodist minister and a Congressman from the grand old Commonwealth of Kentucky," he ended the article.<br />
<br />
<b>Abuse of Kincaid</b><br />
<br />
While newspapers in Kentucky picked up the tale of infidelity, the scandal aroused little interest in the nation's capital. The Washington Post didn't even follow up on its brief to identify the congressman. Patent Commissioner Benton J. Hall said he would investigate the matter, but the outcome was never reported. It seemed one likely result was the dismissal of Dodge, who left the Patent Office in the wake of Kincaid's articles but was soon able to find work in the Pension Office.<br />
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Taulbee did not seek the Democratic nomination in 1888, but it seemed clear that he had already made this decision soon after starting his second term, not because he had been exposed as an adulterer. He had also irritated his party a few years earlier. At the 1887 state convention, he proposed censuring President Grover Cleveland. The suggestion which was greeted by hisses and easily voted down.<br />
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After leaving office at the beginning of 1889, Taulbee stayed in Washington, D.C. to work as a lobbyist. He was successful in this role, earning a great deal of money. He lost some of these assets in the same year he left office, when House cashier Craven Silcott absconded with $75,000 in congressional payroll funds. The vanished funds included some savings Taulbee had had with the Sergeant at Arms, but he remained comfortably wealthy. His reputation in Kentucky also seemed to be intact. Kentucky's Semi-Weekly Interior Journal suggested that he was still "the most popular man in the district," and that his endorsement would all but guarantee victory for any congressional hopeful from eastern Kentucky.<br />
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Kincaid was still working as a correspondent covering Congress, so he ended up frequently crossing paths with Taulbee. Even though Taulbee had weathered the scandal fairly well, he was apparently none too fond of how the reporter had portrayed him. There were suggestions that Kincaid's articles had helped destroy Taulbee's marriage to Eliza, although the matrimony seems to have survived as well; the two would ultimately be buried together. Perhaps Taulbee simply held a grudge against Kincaid for the tenor of his articles.<br />
<br />
Whatever the reason for Taulbee's enduring hatred for Kincaid, he rarely if ever encountered the reporter without bullying him. On several occasions, Taulbee insulted Kincaid or warned that he would someday kill him. Sometimes the harassment carried over into physical abuse. Kincaid recalled separate incidents where Taulbee had shoved him against an iron railing, slammed him into the door of a streetcar, and crushed his foot under his heel while the two men were in an elevator. Taulbee also got into the habit of tweaking Kincaid's nose or ear to indicate that he didn't consider the reporter to be worth fighting.<br />
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A brawl between Taulbee and Kincaid would have been extremely one-sided. The former congressman was described as "tall and sinewy," having retained the muscular physique built up in his youth of hard labor. Kincaid, by contrast, was "a little pint of cider fellow," barely five feet tall and weighing less than 100 pounds. He also had a range of health problems, including astigmatism which limited his vision as well as liver and digestive problems. On two occasions in the previous five years, he had nearly died of typhoid fever.<br />
<br />
Kincaid never responded to Taulbee's insults, threats, or abuses. He did not want to worry his sick mother, he later said; he also told Taulbee that he did not want any trouble. He hoped that Taulbee would simply tire of this behavior and leave him alone.<br />
<br />
Instead, the bullying continued unabated for a full year. It finally culminated in a confrontation on a House stairwell on a winter afternoon.<br />
<br />
<b>The final confrontations</b><br />
<br />
On the morning of February 28, 1890, Taulbee spotted Kincaid near the entrance to the House of Representatives chamber. He called out that he wanted to see him. Kincaid responded that he couldn't, since he was "waiting for a gentleman."<br />
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Perhaps taking this as an insult, Taulbee responded by grabbing Kincaid by the collar, throwing him about, and giving his ear a violent twist. The House doorkeepers, who controlled access to the chamber, separated the two men.<br />
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The exact verbal exchange that followed between Taulbee and Kincaid is uncertain, but the intent of the words is clear. Kincaid protested, "I am not prepared to cope with you physically," to which Taulbee replied, "Well, you had better be." Another version had Kincaid saying, "I am a small man and unarmed," with Taulbee responding, "You had better be armed, or go arm yourself."<br />
<br />
Both Taulbee and Kincaid were able to enter the House soon after the scuffle. Word of the altercation spread through the press gallery and among the members of Congress. Some had long expected that the feud between the two men would only end when one of them killed the other. Taulbee's words suggested that the fatal showdown was imminent.<br />
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About two hours after the initial confrontation, Kincaid and Taulbee met again on the eastern side of the House wing of the Capitol Building. A Y-shaped staircase descends toward a basement restaurant, and the encounter occurred near where the twin sets of marble stairs meet.<br />
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Kincaid had gone home in the interim and retrieved a revolver. Referencing Taulbee's earlier request, Kincaid allegedly declared, "Taulbee, you can see me now." He then raised the gun and shot Taulbee in the face.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OOGbJpBf7k0/WdvGK0lPOaI/AAAAAAAACKE/m-b-cSKWXCgQ3UOB4BG_HuPRWJEn2rmpQCLcBGAs/s1600/taulbeeshot.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OOGbJpBf7k0/WdvGK0lPOaI/AAAAAAAACKE/m-b-cSKWXCgQ3UOB4BG_HuPRWJEn2rmpQCLcBGAs/s320/taulbeeshot.jpg" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>An illustration of the incident, inaccurately showing Kincaid shooting Taulbee in the back of the head</i> (<a href="http://wamu.org/story/12/06/08/new_book_explores_the_wicked_ways_of_capitol_hill/">Source</a>)</div>
<br />
The shot was audible in many parts of the building, including the House chamber. The bullet just missed Taulbee's eye, piercing his cheek. Bleeding profusely, Taulbee managed to stagger away from the scene. Kincaid promptly surrendered to a police officer who rushed to the scene, confessing that he was the shooter.</div>
<div>
<br />
Although he had suffered a serious wound, Taulbee managed to stay conscious and conversant. He spoke with Senator John Griffin Carlisle, a Kentucky Democrat and former colleague; Carlisle had served in Congress since 1876, including three terms as Speaker of the House. Taulbee admitted to the earlier altercation with Kincaid, but told his friend, "He ought not to have done it. Why did he do so?"<br />
<br />
Kincaid, speaking from his jail cell, claimed that he only shot Taulbee after he approached him in a threatening matter. Although the former congressman was said to be unarmed, contemporary articles noted that there were rumors that Taulbee's friends had made sure to relieve him of an "ugly-looking pistol" after the incident. Kincaid told reporters how Taulbee had told several people, including a judge, that he would have Kincaid's blood yet.<br />
<br />
"Mr. Taulbee had been dogging me for more than a year. I am almost ashamed to admit it, but he has assaulted me six times," Kincaid said. He added, "No man has suffered more at the hands of another than I have from him. Mr. Taulbee has haunted me like a ghost. He has heaped insult after insult on me, and three different times threatened to kill me."<br />
<br />
Reactions to the shooting were split between congressmen and reporters. Elected officials did not always have the best relationships with the press, and some thought that Kincaid and other reporters had dedicated too much attention to the Patent Office scandal. The press corps expressed regret for the incident, but was more likely to sympathize with Kincaid; his fellow reporters described him as an agreeable, fair person who wouldn't have harmed Taulbee unless provoked.<br />
<br />
Several newspapermen were aware of the contentious relationship between Taulbee and Kincaid. Jay Durham, a former D.C. reporter, said, "He alway manifested the most intense hatred toward Kincaid. He was voluminous in vile epithets toward the correspondent."<br />
<br />
Some accounts suggested that this was simply how Kentuckians settled their disagreements. The infamous feud between the Hatfields and McCoys had been raging for 10 years in the eastern part of the state, and it was only one of several deadly rivalries in the area. A little more than a decade earlier, a judge and former congressman had been <a href="http://downfalldictionary.blogspot.com/2012/02/john-milton-elliott-most-ignominious.html">gunned down outside his Owingsville hotel</a> by a defendant dissatisfied with his ruling. Ten years after Kincaid shot Taulbee, an unknown assailant would <a href="http://downfalldictionary.blogspot.com/2016/11/william-s-taylor-killing-in-kentucky.html">assassinate Kentucky's governor</a> after a contested election. The Courier-Journal of Louisville commented, "that which may regarded in Kentucky and other states of the Union as a matter of self-defense is treated here in Washington as murder in the first degree."<br />
<br />
As Taulbee recovered in Providence Hospital, it seemed probable that he would survive. The bullet had lodged somewhere in his skull, and the physicians decided not to try to remove it.<br />
<br />
More than a week after the shooting, however, his condition worsened. The bullet had come to rest just inside the skull, and an abscess had formed around the projectile and put pressure on the brain. On March 11, Taulbee died.<br />
<br />
<b> Kincaid's trial</b><br />
<br />
Kincaid had been released on $2,000 bail, and turned himself in to face the upgraded charge of murder after Taulbee's death. He was released again due to poor health, and because his friends had helped him raise the $20,000 needed for the new bail, and allowed to return to Kentucky to recuperate.<br />
<br />
In the spring of 1891, Kincaid returned to the nation's capital to stand trial on the charge of killing Taulbee. The proceedings had been delayed until after Congress adjourned on March 3, since Kincaid's defense attorneys included Senator Daniel Voorhees, a Democrat from Indiana. Kincaid was also represented by Washington advocate C. Maurice Smith, circuit court judge and former Republican congressman Jeremiah Wilson of Indiana, and Charles Grosvenor, a Republican congressman from Ohio who had left the House after losing his party's nomination in the previous year. U.S. Attorney Charles C. Cole, newly appointed by President Benjamin Harrison, would lead the prosecution.<br />
<br />
An attempt to delay the trial a second time occurred after Voorhees came down with rheumatism. However, this request was denied after the court concluded that Kincaid was adequately represented by the remainder of his legal team. Testimony began on March 23.<br />
<br />
Over the course of the two-week trial, eight sitting or former members of Congress were called to the stand. A number of Washington reporters also attended the trial as witnesses. The testimony outlined the animosity Taulbee felt toward Kincaid, establishing how the former congressman had tormented the reporter for months. One correspondent quoted Taulbee as saying, "He ought to be killed. By God, I'll kill him." Another said Taulbee had threatened to kick Kincaid's head off if he ever got within 10 feet of him. Many of the reporters said they had relayed these threats to Kincaid, and that he grew increasingly worried about his personal safety.<br />
<br />
Two House doorkeepers, William McCormick and Robert Woodbridge, testified that they had witnessed the first confrontation between Taulbee and Kincaid. Woodbridge said he saw Taulbee pull on Kincaid's ear, while McCormick said he'd heard Taulbee call Kincaid a liar. About an hour later, McCormick said, Kincaid returned to the Capitol and spoke with him. He was in an anxious state, wondering what to do since he was a sick man and had been unable to cope with Taulbee while unarmed. McCormick told the reporter he had no advice to give.<br />
<br />
The defense expanded on Kincaid's assertion that he had been in fear for his life when he shot Taulbee. Witnesses described Taulbee's long campaign of harassment against the reporter. Kincaid took the stand in his own defense, recounting how Taulbee had once threatened to cut his throat. He also said Taulbee had called him "a damn little coward and monkey" at their first confrontation on the fateful morning of February 28, 1890. The warning to arm himself had been enough to convince him to take up the revolver he never took outside his room.<br />
<br />
Kincaid said that he had not been trying to seek out Taulbee, but had simply had another chance encounter with the former congressman. He had been taking one set of stairs down the Y-shaped staircase, intending to go to lunch and meet someone in the basement restaurant, when he unexpectedly came upon Taulbee and a companion on the platform. He said Taulbee immediately reacted by striding toward him, declaring, "I'll show you!"<br />
<br />
Taulbee had a hand in his pocket, Kincaid testified. He said he began to retreat, and declared, "You're going to kill me, are you?" Kincaid also remembered that he had drawn his weapon and warned Taulbee several times to stand back. Taulbee had been undeterred, growling, "I'll show you." It was only when Taulbee was within reaching distance of him that he pulled the trigger, deciding that it was a choice between killing or being killed.<br />
<br />
The prosecution suggested that Kincaid should have fled before opening fire for it to be a true case of self-defense; they also framed the matter as one of revenge. Kincaid, angered and humiliated by Taulbee's provocations, had finally decided to ambush him and end the harassment once and for all. One of their key witnesses was Samuel Donelson, a House doorkeeper who was the only witness of the shooting besides Kincaid and the deceased Taulbee. Donelson said Kincaid had waited until he and Taulbee were walking down the stairs before shouting, "Taulbee, you can see me now" and firing the single shot.<br />
<br />
Taulbee's brother was also called to the stand. He said that three days before his death, Taulbee told him, "I did not know Kincaid was near and did not know who it was who shot me until I was told." Taulbee had also reportedly said he bore "no resentment" toward Kincaid, although he considered the shooting to be cowardly. The defense scrutinized the statements, pointing out discrepancies between the testimony of Donelson and Taulbee's brother.<br />
<br />
The trial ended on April 8. After just a few hours of deliberation, the jury returned with a verdict. They determined that the matter had been one of self-defense; Kincaid was not guilty.<br />
<br />
<b>Aftermath and legacy</b><br />
<br />
The shooting of Taulbee helped fuel a flurry of reform efforts on Capitol Hill. Constituents demanded for rules that could improve congressional conduct and morals while limiting corruption.<br />
<br />
Kincaid returned to Kentucky and continued to work in politics and diplomacy alongside his journalistic endeavors. He also remained in poor health. He died in 1906, only 51 years old, while working for the Cincinnati Enquirer.<br />
<br />
Dodge worked at the Pension Office until 1895, when she was fired. Five years later, she married a Pension Office reviewer named William Albert Paul; after his death in 1927, she was re-married to prominent attorney Tracy L. Jeffords and became well-known on the D.C. social scene. She died on Christmas Day in 1959 at the age of 89.<br />
<br />
Taulbee's descendants showed little willingness to forgive Kincaid or accept the verdict that he was acting in self-defense. Six decades after the trial, one of his sons, John Taulbee, denounced the trial as "a farce." Not only had the defense bought off witnesses, he accused, but the shooting had nothing to do with Taulbee's hostility toward the reporter; instead, Kincaid had murdered his father because Taulbee had not named him to a political position. Virginia Hinds-Burton, a great-granddaughter of Taulbee's, said in 2007, "My great-grandfather was murdered. And his murderer got away with murder. And five boys were left without a father. A wife was left without a husband to support her."<br />
<br />
A contemporary account of the shooting notes how House janitors started scrubbing away the bloodstains as soon as possible. Even so, much of the blood had soaked into the porous marble. "Some of the stains will remain there for all time," the article suggested.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yfCStSG1M0Q/WdvUXvd-NtI/AAAAAAAACKU/0kgZ2mcNhKYwGdcmEnqSJ4JADkqwsN3CwCLcBGAs/s1600/stairs.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yfCStSG1M0Q/WdvUXvd-NtI/AAAAAAAACKU/0kgZ2mcNhKYwGdcmEnqSJ4JADkqwsN3CwCLcBGAs/s320/stairs.jpg" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
(<a href="https://www.ouest-france.fr/leditiondusoir/data/465/reader/reader.html#!preferred/1/package/465/pub/466/page/7">Source</a>)</div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gvR4AlEpp1E/WdvU3RG7DoI/AAAAAAAACKY/GstdkVGVtVIoNQ3RcpmvqVj5YAbXvQ66gCLcBGAs/s1600/stairs2.JPG"><img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gvR4AlEpp1E/WdvU3RG7DoI/AAAAAAAACKY/GstdkVGVtVIoNQ3RcpmvqVj5YAbXvQ66gCLcBGAs/s320/stairs2.JPG" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
(<a href="http://glennschoolwaip.blogspot.com/2014/04/unconventional-capitol-facts.html">Source</a>)</div>
<br />
The observation proved prescient. Visitors to the staircase today can still see dark splotches on the stone. These are said to be Taulbee's bloodstains, still evident after more than 125 years. Those with a belief in the paranormal say the ex-congressman continues to haunt the site of his killing to this day. Reporters who stumble on the stairs aren't just miscalculating a step, they say; rather, Taulbee trips members of the media to show his continuing disdain toward the field of journalism.<br />
<br />
<b>Sources</b><br />
<br />
Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, "The Shooting of Congressman William Taulbee on the Steps of the U.S. Capitol" at House.gov, "Charles Kincaid Trial: 1891" at law.jrank.org, "Settled a Grudge" in the Chicago Tribune on Mar. 1 1890, "The Taulbee Inquest" in The Day on Mar. 13 1890, "The Kincaid Case" in the Terre Haute Daily News on Mar. 27 1891, "Kincaid on the Stand" in the Galveston Daily News on Apr. 2 1891, "Are Blotches in Capitol Bloodstains?" in the Poughkeepsie Journal on Nov. 1 1978, "A Historic Killing in the Capitol Building" on NPR on Feb. 19 2007, Kentucky Politicians: Sketches of Representative Corn-Crackers and Other Miscellany by John J. McAfee, Wicked Capitol Hill: An Unruly History of Behaving Badly by Robert S. Pohl, True Tales of Old-Time Kentucky Politics: Bourbon, Bombast, and Burgoo by Bery, Genealogy of the Lewis Family in America, From the Middle of the Seventeenth Century Down to Present Time by William Terrell Lewis</div>
Dirk Langeveldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10347292004358347133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8953541230084203389.post-59680360058969838182017-09-13T21:09:00.002-04:002017-09-13T21:09:53.002-04:00Andrew Johnson: The First Test of Presidential Impeachment<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-59Lz-g6RsPo/WbMvptXVyeI/AAAAAAAACBo/W7ecJxLb-7w7mI4kJODE39qM186hGj1-QCLcBGAs/s1600/Andrew%2BJohnson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="370" data-original-width="380" height="311" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-59Lz-g6RsPo/WbMvptXVyeI/AAAAAAAACBo/W7ecJxLb-7w7mI4kJODE39qM186hGj1-QCLcBGAs/s320/Andrew%2BJohnson.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
(<a href="https://www.civilwar.org/learn/biographies/andrew-johnson">Source</a>)</div>
<br />
The first suggestions that Andrew Johnson should be impeached were raised less than a week into his term as Vice President. On the morning of March 4, 1865, when he was to be sworn into office alongside President Abraham Lincoln, Johnson was suffering from typhoid fever. Meeting his his predecessor, Hannibal Hamlin, he drank a few whiskeys to try to combat the illness.<br />
<br />
He apparently had a few too many. By the time Johnson was to give a brief address to the Senate, he was considerably drunk. Slurring his words, he delivered a rambling, incoherent, and overlong address boasting about his humble beginnings and his ultimate triumph over the Southern aristocrats who had looked down on him. At one point, Hamlin even pulled on Johnson's coattails in a futile effort to make him stop talking. After he finally wrapped up the address and took the oath of office, Johnson became so confused with his duty of swearing in the new senators that he turned the task over to a clerk.<br />
<br />
The spectacle was all the more embarrassing because it came shortly before Lincoln's stately second inaugural address, which has endured as one of the great speeches of the Civil War. Senators were horrified by Johnson's performance; Senator Zachariah Chandler, a Republican from Michigan, recorded in his diary, "I was never so mortified in my life, had I been able to find a hole I would have dropped through it out of sight." Johnson was ridiculed in the press, with one article labeling him a "drunken clown."<br />
<br />
Although Johnson showed no other signs of alcoholism beyond this public display, the speech led to rumors that he was a dipsomaniac. These gained further traction when Johnson, still suffering from typhoid fever, left the Senate for a few days. When he returned on March 11, there were suggestions that he had gone on a chaotic drinking spree. Some Republicans drafted a resolution calling for him to resign, and there was talk of impeachment as a way to remove him from the second highest office in the land.<br />
<br />
Lincoln urged his colleagues to be calm, saying his Vice President was still getting accustomed to the job. "It has been a severe lesson for Andy, but I do not think he will do it again," he said.<br />
<br />
Just a month later, Lincoln's reassurance would be put to the test as Johnson became President of the United States. Unfortunately, a rift between Johnson and the liberal wing of the Republican Party would quickly deepen, culminating in the first impeachment trial to affect a President of the United States.<br />
<br />
<b>Early life</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
Johnson was born in Raleigh, North Carolina, on December 29, 1808. His father died when he was three years old, and seven years later he was apprenticed to a tailor named James Selby. After working for Selby for five years, Johnson abruptly abandoned the apprenticeship after a neighbor threatened to sue him and his brother, William, for throwing pieces of wood at her house.<br />
<br />
Running away to South Carolina, Johnson worked for another tailor for two years. Here he fell in love with a girl and asked her to marry him, but her family objected to the pairing. Dejected, Johnson returned to Raleigh and asked Selby to take him back in. Although Selby had posted notices offering a reward for Johnson's return, he now refused the young man's request.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8rQMKyuBYwo/WbMxN1T8grI/AAAAAAAACB0/DlxkxwHgmQogk2pG6wQHzj_EbiDnyJMGgCLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-09-08%2Bat%2B8.08.36%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1016" data-original-width="938" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8rQMKyuBYwo/WbMxN1T8grI/AAAAAAAACB0/DlxkxwHgmQogk2pG6wQHzj_EbiDnyJMGgCLcBGAs/s320/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-09-08%2Bat%2B8.08.36%2BPM.png" width="295" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>A notice posted by Selby seeking the return of Andrew Johnson and his brother </i>(<a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=u_k8KQ0_45YC&pg=PA14&dq=andrew+johnson+selby+notice&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjLp57l55bWAhWCJiYKHT-nA5gQ6AEILjAB#v=onepage&q&f=false">Source</a>)</div>
<br />
Johnson subsequently moved to Greenville, Tennessee, with his mother and stepmother. Assisted by his wife Eliza, whom he married in 1827, he began a self-education effort. He had also learned enough about the tailoring business to start his own business.<br />
<br />
Before long, Johnson had entered politics. He was elected a town alderman in 1829, and as mayor of Greenville in 1834. He joined the state militia around the same time, winning the nickname of "Colonel Johnson" after achieving this rank. Johnson served in the Tennessee house of representatives from 1835 to 1837 and again from 1839 to 1841, when he was elected to the state senate. During his political career, he helped write a new state constitution that eliminated the property-owning requirement to vote or hold office.<br />
<br />
Running as a Democrat in 1842, Johnson was elected to the first of five terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. In this chamber, he came out against a number of spending initiatives including increases to soldiers' pay, accepting funds to start the Smithsonian Institution, infrastructure projects in the nation's capital, and funding to aid the victims and families of a cannon explosion on the USS <i>Princeton </i>that had killed eight people, including two Cabinet officials. Johnson was also opposed to plantation rule and protective tariffs. However, he did express support for the public funding of education.<br />
<br />
These stances hint at Johnson's deep-seated hatred for the wealthy elite. He despised any organizations or people he saw as aristocratic, including military academies and future Confederate president Jefferson Davis, whom he said was part of the "illegitimate, swaggering, bastard, scrub aristocracy."<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xdEbY4hSm6Q/WbMxpsMhZJI/AAAAAAAACB4/ZnDzjyP9xNsjmWrzFwf8YkjT_wOcdyOmwCLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-09-08%2Bat%2B8.10.47%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="584" data-original-width="464" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xdEbY4hSm6Q/WbMxpsMhZJI/AAAAAAAACB4/ZnDzjyP9xNsjmWrzFwf8YkjT_wOcdyOmwCLcBGAs/s320/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-09-08%2Bat%2B8.10.47%2BPM.png" width="254" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>A depiction of Andrew Johnson in 1842, the year he was first elected to the House of Representatives</i> (<a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=u_k8KQ0_45YC&pg=PA14&dq=andrew+johnson+selby+notice&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjLp57l55bWAhWCJiYKHT-nA5gQ6AEILjAB#v=onepage&q&f=false">Source</a>)</div>
<br />
Some racist remarks are attributed to Johnson around this time. In 1844, he tacitly supported slavery by declaring that a black man was "inferior to the white man in point of intellect, better calculated in physical structure to undergo drudgery and hardship." His business was also successful enough that he bought a few slaves of his own. He proclaimed himself to be equally critical of both abolitionist and the most virulent pro-slavery plantation owners, saying both were driving the country toward war instead of reconciliation.<br />
<br />
When it looked like a gerrymandering effort would threaten his seat in the House, Johnson ran for governor of Tennessee and was elected in 1852. His signature accomplishment during his time in office was the establishment of the first state law supporting public education through taxation. Although he won re-election against Know-Nothing candidate Meredith P. Gentry in 1856, he soon left the governor's office when the state legislature named him to the U.S. Senate.<br />
<br />
During his time in the state house of representatives, Johnson had proposed a homestead bill to help Tennessee's poor residents acquire land to cultivate. He made a similar proposal in the Senate, advocating a bill to provide 160-acre plots. Although this bill passed in 1860, it was vetoed by President James Buchanan. Johnson would persist, pushing through the homestead bill in 1862.<br />
<br />
<b>Civil War</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
The long simmering tensions between the North and South finally came to a head in the election of 1860. Fearing that Lincoln would destroy the slave-based economy of the Southern states, many political figures below the Mason-Dixon Line threatened that secession would follow if the Republican candidate was elected President. Johnson sought to strike a balance, throwing his support behind Southern Democratic candidate John C. Breckinridge. He also opposed secession and urged Tennessee to remain in the Union if Lincoln came to office.<br />
<br />
Breckinridge swept the Southern states, but came far short of Lincoln's electoral total. As calls for secession increased, Johnson continued to advocate for unity. On December 18, just two days before South Carolina became the first state to break away, Johnson pleaded, "Let us exclaim that the Union, the Federal Union, must be preserved!"<br />
<br />
The attack on Fort Sumter prompted more states to secede. Johnson traveled throughout Tennessee, making public appearances urging the state to remain loyal to the Union. It was a risky move; despite Johnson's status as an elected official, his stance on secession had become quite unpopular. Across the state, he was burned and shot in effigy. In one instance, Johnson's train was stopped by an angry mob out to lynch the senator; he was reportedly saved only at the intervention of Jefferson Davis. At one appearance, he responded to an angry and hostile crowd by calmly taking a pistol out of his pocket, placing it on the pulpit where it could be quickly taken up at the first sign of trouble, and continuing his address.<br />
<br />
Johnson's efforts were for naught. Tennessee voted to secede on June 8, 1861, becoming the last state to leave the Union. Although elected officials typically withdrew from Congress after the secession of their state, Johnson was the only senator from the South to keep his seat. This show of support for the Union made him a popular figure in the North, but he was forced to live in Washington, D.C., to avoid being arrested in Tennessee. Although Eliza continued to live in Greeneville for a time, she too eventually moved to the nation's capital.<br />
<br />
The exile was fairly short-lived. After Union troops captured Nashville on March 4, 1862, Lincoln named Johnson to be the state's military governor and awarded him the rank of brigadier general. Resigning from the Senate to take on this duty, Johnson returned to Tennessee to find that the Confederacy had branded him an "enemy alien," subsequently confiscating and selling his property.<br />
<br />
Johnson was faced with considerable challenges in his role as military governor of Tennessee. He seized the Bank of Tennessee and records left behind by the fleeing Confederate government, reorganized the Nashville city government, and silenced secessionist newspapers. The Confederacy continued to hold portions of the state and made frequent raids into Union-held territory. In 1863, he was embarrassed when a civil election named a conservative pro-slavery candidate to succeed him. On Lincoln's orders, Johnson ignored the result. He also issued a requirement that Tennessee residents needed to take a loyalty oath to the Union in order to vote, and even then would have to wait six months before casting a ballot.<br />
<br />
While governor, Johnson showed more sympathy to the idea of emancipating slaves. But he considered this to be more of a military measure, one which would help end the war by taking valuable resources from the aristocratic plantation owners who had encouraged the war. "Treason must be made odious and traitors punished," he declared at one point. At Lincoln's urging, he worked to incorporate black soldiers into Tennessee regiments to defend against Confederate raids, although these troops never received enough arms or support to become a reliable force.<br />
<br />
With the presidential election of 1864 looking to be a particularly close one, the Republicans chose Johnson as a compromise candidate for Vice President to replace Hannibal Hamlin. During the campaign, Johnson also continued to show some resentment for the aristocrats. At one stop in Logansport, Indiana, he noted how his Democratic opponents had laughed him off as a "boorish tailor." Johnson said he took it as a compliment, since it showed how he had risen from humble roots to a successful political career. He held the principle that "if a man does not disgrace his profession, it never disgraces him." In one address, he cited certain plantation owners by name and suggested that the nation would be improved if their land was broken up into smaller plots worked by "loyal, industrious farmers."<br />
<br />
Johnson also demonstrated more support for the idea of ending slavery. "Before the rebellion, I was for sustaining the Government with slavery; now I am for sustaining the government without slavery, without regard to a particular institution," he declared in an address at Louisville, Kentucky on October 13, 1864. "Institutions must be subordinate, and the Government must be supreme." In same address, says he supports "the elevation of each and every man, white and black, according to his talent and industry."<br />
<br />
Eleven days later, Johnson emancipated Tennessee's slaves. This action, again taken at Lincoln's urging, was essentially a voluntary one; since Tennessee had come under control of the Union at the time the Emancipation Proclamation had been issued, it was not considered to be in rebellion and its slaves had not been freed by the order. Johnson seemed particularly happy with emancipaction; on the same day he approved the action, he told a black audience in Nashville, "I will indeed be your Moses, and lead you through the Red Sea of war and bondage to a fairer future of liberty and peace."<br />
<br />
Johnson even wanted to delay his inauguration until April so he could oversee the emancipation process in Tennessee, but Lincoln insisted that he be sworn in on schedule. Historians have noted that it was fortunate that Johnson agreed to take office when he did. If the office of Vice President was vacant at the time Lincoln was assassinated, the presidential succession may have been thrown into limbo.<br />
<br />
<b>Accession to President</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
On the evening of April 14, 1865, Johnson was woken and informed that Lincoln had been shot. The President lingered through the night before passing away the next morning. After scarcely a month as Vice President, Johnson was given the oath of office by Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase and became the 17th President of the United States.<br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Vpvp2UQplS8/WblaKbmt_PI/AAAAAAAACCI/iLdUk9H6sNI5gdix5RIEGz9DqN3f0ZZIgCLcBGAs/s1600/johnson1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="421" data-original-width="574" height="234" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Vpvp2UQplS8/WblaKbmt_PI/AAAAAAAACCI/iLdUk9H6sNI5gdix5RIEGz9DqN3f0ZZIgCLcBGAs/s320/johnson1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>An illustration showing Johnson being sworn in as President </i>(<a href="http://www.gettysburgdaily.com/john-wilkes-booths-last-day-in-washington-4-with-gettysburg-lbg-mike-kanazawich/">Source</a>)</div>
<br />
It soon emerged that John Wilkes Booth, Lincoln's assassin, was one of several conspirators aiming to kill a number of high-ranking Union officials in a coordinated assault. Johnson himself had been one of the targets; George Atzerodt had registered at his hotel and, after drinking plenty of alcohol, got cold feet and left without attempting to assassinate Johnson. Atzerodt was arrested soon after, and was one of four conspirators hanged for their role in the plot.<br />
<br />
Shortly before his attack on Lincoln, Booth learned of Atzerodt's failure and made a last-ditch effort to frame Johnson as being part of the plot. He left a card for the Vice President with the message, "Don't wish to disturb you. Are you still at home? J. Wilkes Booth." However, this card was instead picked up by Johnson's secretary, who had met Booth after one of his performances and mistakenly thought the card was for him.<br />
<br />
Although the process of the disbanding and surrender of Rebel armies was ongoing at the time of Lincoln's death, the Confederacy had essentially ceased to exist. Robert E. Lee had surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia five days before Lincoln was shot, and Jefferson Davis would be captured by Union troops about a month later. Johnson was enraged by the conspirators' attack on the Union government, and for a time seemed bent on revenge. He considered pursuing treason charges against the former Confederate military and political leaders, and was only dissuaded at the urging of Ulysses S. Grant.<br />
<br />
This pugnacious attitude helped convince the Radical Republicans that Johnson would be a helpful ally in the postwar Reconstruction era. This political faction would be defined by their pursuit of full emancipation and civil rights for ex-slaves. They had been somewhat disappointed by Lincoln's support of gentler forms of repatriation and occasional hindrance of larger reforms. For example, he opted not to sign the Wade-Davis Bill to enforce Reconstruction efforts with federal troops and readmit Southern states only after they agreed to protect the rights of freedmen; instead, he killed the 1864 legislation with a pocket veto.<br />
<br />
Senator Ben Wade, a Radical Republican from Ohio and a co-sponsor of the Wade-Davis Bill, declared to the new President, "Johnson, we have faith in you. By the gods, there will be no trouble now in running this government." Such feelings would be short-lived.<br />
<br />
<b>Falling out with the Radicals</b><br />
<br />
On May 29, 1865, Johnson issued two proclamations outlining his plans for Reconstruction. The first issued a pardon and a promise of amnesty for any ex-Confederates who were willing to take an oath of loyalty to the Union and pledge to support the emancipation of slaves in the South. He also named <a href="http://downfalldictionary.blogspot.com/2012/04/william-woods-holden-divided-legacy.html">William W. Holden</a> as the provisional governor of North Carolina and directed him to amend the state constitution. Similar proclamations were made for other Confederate states, but made no request for a change in voting rules. This meant that black men were still excluded from the ballot box.<br />
<br />
In one area, Johnson seemed keen to levy some punishment on the former Confederates. The wealthiest landowners in the South, namely those with estates worth $20,000 or more, would be required to seek individual pardons. It seemed clear that Johnson was relishing the opportunity to have the high and mighty aristocrats groveling before him for forgiveness. Even with this condition, Johnson still agreed to return the land of most plantation owners who made an appeal and grant them a pardon.<br />
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Most notably, Johnson failed to intercede when the South made blatant efforts to return Confederate officials to power. The Confederate vice president, along with four generals and five colonels from the Confederate army, were all elected to Congress after the war. Johnson also took no actions when Southern governments began imposing stringent "black codes" to strip the civil rights of black citizens. These included vagrancy laws to have idle black residents arrested and put to work; in short, a <i>de facto </i>form of slavery.<br />
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There were signs that whatever support Johnson may have had for emancipation and equality had cooled. He told one group of African-Americans, "The time may soon come when you shall be gathered together in a clime and country suited to you, should it be found that the two races cannot get along together." His private secretary, William G. Moore, recorded that Johnson displayed a "morbid distress and feeling against negroes." In a December 1867 message to Congress, he would remark that "negroes have shown less capacity for government than any other race of people" and were more likely to "relapse into barbarism."<br />
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Some historians have suggested that Johnson was not trying to impede the progress of ex-slaves so much as he was trying to keep any Reconstruction efforts within the boundaries set by the Constitution. In his veto of the Civil Rights Act, he said it "contains provisions which I can not approve consistently with my sense of duty to the whole people and my obligations to the Constitution of the United States." When he vetoed a bill to extend the mission of the Freedmen's Bureau, which was assisting former slaves displaced in the wake of emancipation, Johnson reasoned that it was federal encroachment on a state issue and an improper use of the military during peacetime; he also argued that it would hinder ex-slaves from being able to sustain themselves, and said there were no similar provisions for poor white men who had been harmed by the war.<br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rGMnlZtsdT0/Wbl-BugS1tI/AAAAAAAACCY/qmd4sLGj3BsJizNvCjlCOBlEKtsHu8XMgCLcBGAs/s1600/KickingFreedmensBureauCrop480.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="291" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rGMnlZtsdT0/Wbl-BugS1tI/AAAAAAAACCY/qmd4sLGj3BsJizNvCjlCOBlEKtsHu8XMgCLcBGAs/s320/KickingFreedmensBureauCrop480.jpg" width="194" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>An 1866 political cartoon depicts Johnson using a veto to boot the Freedmen's Bureau </i>(<a href="http://www.andrewjohnson.com/ListOfCartoons/KickingFreedmensBureau.htm">Source</a>)</div>
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Johnson agreed with the Radical Republicans on some issues. In particular, he thought that some individual rebels should be punished and that new state governments established in the South should meet certain conditions before the states were formally reabsorbed into the Union. However, he also thought that some of the proposed Reconstruction programs would benefit landowners more than freedmen.<br />
<br />
The Radical Republicans were less than pleased at Johnson's acquiescence to the status quo in the South. The former Confederate states were quick to return ex-Confederates to power, some before they had even received a pardon. The political faction was also appalled when, in the summer of 1865, Johnson ordered the Freedmen's Bureau to return abandoned plantation lands to their former owners. In several cases, these lands had already been divided up and distributed to former slaves. While Johnson had originally been welcomed as a leader who would deal firmly with the rebellious states, he was now praised among Southern Democrats as a President who would protect them against the Republican agenda and preserve white supremacy in the region.<br />
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At the end of the year, Johnson declared that the work of Reconstruction was complete. The Radical Republican resistance mobilized quickly. Led by Representative Thaddeus Stevens of Pennsylvania, they refused to recognize members of Congress sent by states who had seceded from the Union. They also created a Joint Committee on Reconstruction, which began working on the Fourteenth Amendment to prevent Southern states from getting a numerical advantage in Congress by excluding black residents from the population count if they weren't allowed to vote.<br />
<br />
In a President's Day message in 1866, Johnson complained that the committee was concentrating the government power accompanying Reconstruction into a tiny fringe group. He also said this approach would make the more moderate and conservative Republicans less likely to support his administration.<br />
<br />
Radical Republicans passed the Civil Rights Bill of 1866 in the spring, targeting the black codes in the South and granting citizenship to anyone born in the United States. Johnson vetoed the legislation, saying it was "made to operate in favor of the colored and against the white race." In the first instance of Congress overriding a veto on a major piece of legislation, and by a margin of a single vote in the Senate, Congress overrode the veto to enact the bill. During his time in office, 15 of Johnson's 29 vetoes would be overturned, the most of any U.S. President. These bills included statehood for Nebraska and voting rights of black residents of Washington, D.C.<br />
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The most noticeable split between Johnson and the Radical Republicans occurred after he opposed ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment. Although he was distrusted by both Democrats and Republicans, the President tried to rally moderate members of both parties in a separate Union Party before the 1866 elections. During a "swing around the circle" campaign to rally support for this effort, he frequently traded insults with hecklers and made embarrassing statements; in one, he suggested that divine intervention had removed Lincoln from office so he could ascend to the White House. After this disastrous campaign, Republicans easily won majorities in both houses of Congress.<br />
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Once the new Congress was sworn in, they quickly passed the Reconstruction Act. This legislation divided the former Confederate states into five military districts and installed new governments to oversee the process of bringing the South back into the Union. Johnson vetoed the bill, but the Radical Republican majority easily overturned it.<br />
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Another bill passed over the President's veto was the Tenure of Office Act, which made it illegal for the President to dismiss any appointees who had been approved by the Senate without first getting Senate approval. This bill was essentially an effort to head off any effort Johnson might make to dismiss Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, a Lincoln appointee who was allied with the Radical Republicans, and replace him with someone who would guide the military element of Reconstruction in a way that was more in line with Johnson's views. Stanton had already undermined Johnson to some extent, telling Grant he could still continue to impose martial law in the South as needed even after Johnson declared the war officially over, raising the question of whether martial law was still legal. Stanton also vowed to stay in office, saying he considered Johnson to be a man "led by bad passions and the counsel of unscrupulous and dangerous men."<br />
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<b>Dismissal of Stanton</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>Edwin Stanton </i>(<a href="http://www.andrewjohnson.com/11BiographiesKeyIndividuals/EdwinMStanton.htm">Source</a>)</div>
<b><br /></b>
In January 1867, Republican Representative James Ashley of Ohio made the first formal move toward impeaching the President by proposing an inquiry into Johnson's official conduct. He made a number of allegations against Johnson, including suggestions that he had had a role in Lincoln's assassination and that he had sold pardons to former rebels, but offered no proof for these accusations. In June, the House Judiciary Committee voted 5-4 against approving any articles of impeachment.<br />
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However, the Republican attitudes toward Johnson soon hardened. During a congressional recess in August, Johnson took the opportunity to remove some of the more vigorous Reconstruction commanders from their posts. He also asked for Stanton to step down, declaring that "public considerations of a high character constrain me to say, that your resignation as Secretary of War will be accepted." Stanton shot back, "Public considerations of a high character, which alone have induced me to continue at the head of this department, constrain me not to resign." Johnson responded by suspending Stanton and appointing Grant as an interim war secretary in the hopes that he would be more aligned with his views.<br />
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In November 1867, the Judiciary Committee reversed itself and approved an impeachment resolution in a 5-4 vote. Representative John Churchill of New York said several matters in recent months had swayed him, including Johnson's statements denouncing Reconstruction efforts, his veto of a third Reconstruction bill, his dismissal of military officers overseeing Reconstruction, and his suspension of Stanton. The majority report made a number of criticisms of the President, saying his lenient attitude toward former rebels was helping to stoke violent incidents in the South, such as a race riot in New Orleans that killed scores of black men demanding the right to vote.<br />
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But the report was fairly general in its denunciations. Representative Thomas Williams, the Pennsylvania Republican who chaired the Judiciary Committee, said he did not think impeachment was possible under the circumstances of Johnson's alleged misdeeds as well as the constraints of the Constitution. Although 57 Republicans favored the impeachment resolution in a vote before the full House, 68 joined with 38 Democratic colleagues to oppose it. Another 22 congressmen did not vote on the measure.<br />
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On January 11, 1868, the Senate made a move to return Stanton to his post. In a 35-6 decision, they voted to restore him as Secretary of War. Grant did not protest the decision, and soon became embroiled in a battle with Johnson over the question of whether he had supported the President's effort to unseat Stanton. Grant charged that Johnson had sought his help in violating the Tenure of Office Act. This brought on another impeachment effort, led by Stevens, but the Committee on Reconstruction tabled this measure in a 6-3 vote.<br />
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Johnson was still itching to get Stanton out of his Cabinet. He offered to name the renowned Civil War general William T. Sherman as an interim War Secretary, but Sherman declined. On February 21, he settled on Adjutant General Lorenzo Thomas, an opponent of Stanton. Johnson issued one letter appointing Thomas as the interim Secretary of War and a second informing Stanton that he had been removed from office.<br />
<br />
Instead of leaving, Stanton ordered Thomas arrested for illegally taking office. He quickly found support from the Republicans in Congress. A Senate resolution, passed in a 29-6 vote, stated that Johnson's action was beyond his power.<br />
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Once Thomas was released on bail, he too firmly held that he held the legal right to the office. For a time, the country essentially had two Secretaries of War. Many veterans and militiamen vowed to uphold the legitimacy of one man or the other, sparking fears that the squabble might lead to violence.<br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mo4UHWvUtMM/WbnQcXqNT7I/AAAAAAAACC0/zxYa1gPj0Rg1h0i6AIGfh4j_F1Y7BBP0ACLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-09-13%2Bat%2B8.41.42%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="558" data-original-width="850" height="210" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mo4UHWvUtMM/WbnQcXqNT7I/AAAAAAAACC0/zxYa1gPj0Rg1h0i6AIGfh4j_F1Y7BBP0ACLcBGAs/s320/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-09-13%2Bat%2B8.41.42%2BPM.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>A political cartoon showing Stanton preparing to attack Johnson and Lorenzo Thomas, using a cannon labeled "Congress" and the Tenure of Office Act as a rammer. </i>(<a href="http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/uhic/PrimarySourcesDetailsPage/DocumentToolsPortletWindow?jsid=198d901b2ec4b7b213e8fc7bdd08fc72&action=2&catId=&documentId=GALE%7CCX3441200047&userGroupName=atla65426&zid=869f83f15d0e65b9c54371f5ef7d6ef2">Source</a>)</div>
<br />
The attempted removal of Stanton proved to be enough to get an impeachment effort off the ground. Some in Congress sided with Johnson, accusing the Radical Republicans of overstepping their authority and inflaming sectional divides, but the majority held that Johnson had been the one to exceed the power of his office. On February 24, the House of Representatives voted 126-47 to pursue impeachment. The confrontation with Stanton was the inciting issue, although Stevens suggested that Johnson had also bribed Grant by offering to pay any fine levied against him for violating the Tenure of Office Act by serving as Secretary of War.<br />
<br />
There were some suggestions that impeachment was unnecessary. Johnson had no hope of capturing the GOP's presidential nomination, which Republicans expected would go to Grant, so the President had just over a year left in office. "Why hang a man who is bent on hanging himself?" Horace Greeley asked in the <i>New York Tribune</i>. For the Radical Republicans, however, a greater issue was at stake. Johnson could easily wreak havoc on the Reconstruction efforts in his final year in office; by removing him, they would remove that threat.<br />
<br />
<b>Impeachment</b><br />
<b><br /></b>On March 2, the House of Representatives approved the first article of impeachment against Johnson. Two more articles were passed the next day. Ultimately, the House would seek to remove Johnson based on 11 offenses. It was the first time a President had been impeached. The Constitution states that impeachment can take place if an official is found guilty of "treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors;" it would fall to the Senate to decide whether Johnson's behavior was enough to convict him on any of the charges and remove him from office.<br />
<br />
Nine of the articles of impeachment were essentially different ways of accusing Johnson of violating the Tenure of Office Act. The tenth listed a number of inflammatory comments Johnson had made about Congress, charging that the remarks "brought the high office of the President of the United States into contempt, ridicule, and disgrace." The final article was a general summary of the charges against Johnson.<br />
<br />
There were enough Republicans in the Senate to convict Johnson on any one of these articles of impeachment and remove him from office. But there was also a certain degree of reticence among the GOP senators. The office of Vice President had been vacant since Johnson was sworn in; as president pro tem of the Senate, Benjamin Wade would be next in line to be President if Johnson was removed. Some Republicans were less than enthusiastic about this possible accession, since they saw Wade as being too liberal on Reconstruction issues to prevail in the upcoming presidential election; others disagreed with Wade's economic policies, which included support for high tariffs.<br />
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Chief Justice Salmon Chase, who had sworn Johnson in just a few years earlier, would now oversee the impeachment trial in the Senate. Johnson did not attend personally, but spoke to the press on several occasions to offer remarks on the proceedings. Representative Benjamin Butler of Massachusetts, a former Civil War general, led the prosecution. Attorney General Henry Stanbery resigned to lead Johnson's defense team,which included three other lawyers who volunteered their services.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>An illustration of an impeachment hearing for Johnson </i>(<a href="http://etc.usf.edu/clipart/5600/5678/johnson_impeachment_1.htm">Source</a>)</div>
<br />
Butler called 25 witnesses during the trial. The crux of his argument was that Johnson had acquiesced to the Tenure of Office Act by initially following it, but then knowingly violated it by removing Stanton from office. He also blamed Johnson for the unrest in the South, saying his lenient attitude toward former Confederates had emboldened white racists into making violent attacks on black residents and others.<br />
<br />
However, Butler also made a number of missteps over the five days of presenting his case. One passage earned a good deal of criticism by telling the senators that they were "bound by no law, either statute or common," but were rather "a law unto yourselves, bound only by natural principles of equity and justice." The prospect of a trial to decide the fate of the President was so exciting that public admission to the galleries was by ticket only, but the testimony soon became tedious. One press account declared the fourth day of Butler's prosecution to be "intensely dull, stupid, and uninteresting."<br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WhDzSe2Sg0E/WbnVWAc6NcI/AAAAAAAACDE/p5ABug0zYZkgDZKiqBO-6V-hrgqsyueCACLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-09-13%2Bat%2B9.02.46%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="975" data-original-width="1600" height="194" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WhDzSe2Sg0E/WbnVWAc6NcI/AAAAAAAACDE/p5ABug0zYZkgDZKiqBO-6V-hrgqsyueCACLcBGAs/s320/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-09-13%2Bat%2B9.02.46%2BPM.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>An admission ticket to the impeachment trial for Johnson </i>(<a href="http://www.anderson-auction.com/andrew-johnson-impeachment-ticket-lot59160.aspx">Source</a>)</div>
<br />
Johnson's attorneys figured that the nine Democrats and three pro-Johnson Republicans in the Senate would vote for acquittal. In order to deprive the vote of the two-thirds majority necessary to convict Johnson, they would need to convince seven Republicans to vote against impeachment. The defense called 16 witnesses to support its case.<br />
<br />
The defense focused on the validity of the Tenure of Office Act. Johnson's lawyers argued that the President had no obligation to retain Stanton since he wasn't Johnson's own appointee. Ben Curtis, a former Supreme Court justice and one of Johnson's defenders, pointed out how the bill initially didn't extend to Cabinet officers. The defense also suggested that Johnson may have simply misinterpreted the law, and that he had the right to test the constitutionality of the Tenure of Office Act and have the matter heard before the Supreme Court. Thomas, they reasoned, had simply been appointed to keep the War Department staffed in the interim. The defense also suggested that the impeachment effort against Johnson wasn't motivated by any serious "high crimes and misdemeanors," but rather by the rancorous relationship between the President and Congress.<br />
<br />
In the midst of the proceedings, Johnson consulted with his supporters and decided to blunt the impeachment effort by naming a compromise candidate as War Secretary. On April 21, he offered the position to General John Schofield, a Civil War commander who had been helping to oversee the Reconstruction efforts. Another Johnson lawyer, William M. Evarts, promised that Johnson would cease his efforts to impede the Radical Republicans' policies on Reconstruction if he was acquitted.<br />
<br />
The Senate took their first vote, on Article XI, on May 16. This was the catch-all summary of Johnson's misdeeds, and the tally was 35-19 in favor of conviction. It was one short of the two-thirds majority necessary to convict; the defense had been successful in swaying seven Republicans to their side. One GOP representative, James Grimes of Iowa, summed up his opposition by saying, "I cannot agree to destroy the harmonious workings of the Constitution for the sake of getting rid of an unacceptable President."<br />
<br />
Ten days later, the Senate voted on the first and third articles of impeachment to see if any of the opposing Republicans had been swayed by the prosecution's arguments on the Tenure of Office Act. Both votes failed to convict Johnson in the same 35-19 split. As it appeared that the divide would not change on any of the remaining eight articles, no further votes were taken.<br />
<br />
The narrow margin of the acquittal raised suspicions that bribery had been employed to convince just enough senators to vote against conviction. Butler set up an impromptu committee to investigate the matter, interviewing dozens of witnesses and confiscating correspondence and bank records. The committee seemed particularly interested in Edmund Ross, a moderate Republican who had cast the deciding vote against conviction, but the committee ultimately finished its work without presenting any evidence of bribery.<br />
<br />
<b>End of term and later life</b><br />
<br />
Following Johnson's acquittal, Stanton stepped down so Schofield could continue working as an undisputed Secretary of War. Johnson continued to spar with the Radical Republicans, vetoing bills related to Reconstruction and earning condemnation for his failure to provide federal protection for black residents and white Unionists who were subject to violent attacks in the South.<br />
<br />
Although Johnson harbored no expectations that the Republicans would support him as their presidential pick for the 1868 ticket, he did believe that the Democrats were likely to choose him. Instead, they selected Governor Horatio Seymour of New York. A disappointed Johnson endorsed to be his successor. Grant was chosen as the Republican nominee and easily won the election.<br />
<br />
The Tenure of Office Act was sidelined during Grant's presidency, with Congress giving him the ability to fire Cabinet appointees and lower level officials without Senate approval. The act was repealed in 1887, during the presidency of Grover Cleveland. The Tenure of Office Act was referenced several decades later when the Supreme Court took up the case of <i>Myers v. United States</i>. In a 6-3 decision in 1926, the justices ruled that President Wilson had the authority to remove a postmaster from office without Senate approval and that the Tenure of Office Act had been unconstitutional.<br />
<br />
Returning to Tennessee, Johnson was soon vying to return to politics. Running as a Democrat, he was an unsuccessful candidate for the Senate in 1869 and the House of Representatives in 1872. He was successful in his next bid for Senate, in January 1875, becoming the only President so far to return to serve in this chamber.<br />
<br />
Lincoln's other Vice President, Hannibal Hamlin, was also a member of this Senate, along with several of the same people who had tried to oust him from the White House seven years earlier. After taking the oath of office, Johnson denied rumors that he would try to fulfill any sort of vendetta against these senators. "I have no enemies to punish nor friends to reward," he declared.<br />
<br />
Johnson's time in the Senate was short-lived. He served only from the start of his term on March 5 to the end of a special session on March 24. On July 31, at the age of 66, he died of a stroke near Elizabethton, Tennessee.<br />
<br />
<b>Sources: </b>The Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, The National Governors Association, "Andrew Johnson, 16th Vice President" at Senate.gov, Andrew Johnson National Historic Site (National Parks Service), "The Impeachment of Andrew Johnson" at Senate.gov, <i>Impeached: The Trial of President Andrew Johnson</i> by David O. Stewart, <i>The Presidents of the United States</i> by Frank Freidel and Hugh Sidey, <i>The Impeachment of Andrew Johnson</i> by Chester G. Hearn, <i>Andrew Johnson </i>by Kate Havelin, <i>The American Presidency</i>, edited by Alan Brinkley and Davis Dyer, <i>Reconstruction: A Historical Encyclopedia of the American Mosaic</i> edited by Richard ZuczekDirk Langeveldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10347292004358347133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8953541230084203389.post-41250780275029936832017-06-04T20:34:00.000-04:002018-04-23T14:23:54.714-04:00Buddy Cianci: Intimidation, Cronyism, and Renewal<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Pxhk2evkrcE/WTNS4RQTvzI/AAAAAAAAB24/ooeOC7VPjTA7envSbjjga_D9daY4ScKVwCLcB/s1600/cianci1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="766" data-original-width="1000" height="245" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Pxhk2evkrcE/WTNS4RQTvzI/AAAAAAAAB24/ooeOC7VPjTA7envSbjjga_D9daY4ScKVwCLcB/s320/cianci1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
(<a href="http://www.wbur.org/news/2016/01/28/buddy-cianci-dies">Source</a>)</div>
<br />
Few could doubt that the mayor of Providence was deeply invested in the city. Vincent A. Cianci, Jr., nicknamed "Buddy," spearheaded several efforts to revitalize the city and turn it into an attractive metropolis. It wasn't hard for residents to see the mayor in person; he was a frequent guest at Providence Bruins hockey games, and could even be found chatting with spectators at Little League games.<br />
<br />
But Cianci was a polarizing figure as well. Throughout his time in office, several people close to the mayor found themselves behind bars. Cianci himself had to cut one term short after brutally assaulting a man. Critics considered him little more than a glad-handing thug.<br />
<br />
Judge Ernest C. Torres would reference the competing aspects of Cianci's character while sentencing him on corruption charges in 2002. Torres compared the mayor to Robert Louis Stevenson's famous story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.<br />
<br />
"The first Buddy Cianci is a skilled charismatic political figure, one of the most talented Rhode Island has ever seen, someone with wit who thinks quickly on his feet and can enthrall an audience," the judge said. "Then there's the Buddy Cianci who's portrayed here. That's the Buddy Cianci who was mayor of an administration that was corrupt at all levels."<br />
<br />
<b>Early life</b><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></div>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ckVzKQYg-UE/WTNXT8SHCtI/AAAAAAAAB3I/igGLFMr5Dm8WKXkbLgsNzcynUR9dGbmTgCLcB/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-06-03%2Bat%2B8.41.05%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="880" data-original-width="674" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ckVzKQYg-UE/WTNXT8SHCtI/AAAAAAAAB3I/igGLFMr5Dm8WKXkbLgsNzcynUR9dGbmTgCLcB/s320/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-06-03%2Bat%2B8.41.05%2BPM.png" width="245" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>Cianci's yearbook photo from the Moses Brown School </i>(<a href="http://wpri.com/2016/01/28/report-vincent-buddy-cianci-dead-at-74/">Source</a>)</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
Born on April 30, 1941, Cianci had a comfortable upbringing as a proctologist's son in Cranston, Rhode Island. He attended the Moses Brown School, a preparatory school in Providence, where he joined the football and wrestling teams. He started his college education at St. Louis University, but after a semester he transferred to a school closer to home. He completed his undergraduate studies at Fairfield University in Connecticut, earning a degree in political science.<br />
<br />
Cianci went on to earn a master's degree from Villanova University and a law degree from Marquette University. He was drafted into the military after law school and was set to deploy to Vietnam when his father passed away. Cianci was allowed to stay stateside, spending most of his three-year Army service at Fort Devens in Massachusetts.<br />
<br />
After his discharge, Cianci returned to Rhode Island and opened a private practice. Before long, he was selected to serve as the chief prosecutor of an anti-corruption task force established by the state's attorney general in 1973 to go after organized crime.<br />
<br />
Cianci would play a particularly effective part in bringing down Providence mob boss Raymond L.S. Patriarca. Another mobster, Rudolph Marfeo, had been gunned down in 1969 just one month after Patriarca was convicted of conspiracy in the murder of Marfeo's brother. Prosecutors suspected that Patriarca had been involved in the killing of the other sibling as well.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-l2ggsQG9iS0/WTNVOdkRULI/AAAAAAAAB3A/MoGydiUHAuIdvDcyNoV7Nx6L9wR1264hACLcB/s1600/patriarca.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="716" data-original-width="634" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-l2ggsQG9iS0/WTNVOdkRULI/AAAAAAAAB3A/MoGydiUHAuIdvDcyNoV7Nx6L9wR1264hACLcB/s320/patriarca.jpg" width="283" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>Raymond Patriarca </i>(<a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/ap/article-4002722/Crimetown-looks-Rhode-Island-citys-corrupt-underbelly.html">Source</a>)</div>
<br />
Patriarca had an alibi. He claimed that a Washington, D.C. priest had been visiting his company at the time of Marfeo's death. It seemed almost too good to be true: a man of the cloth who was ready to testify to the innocence of a criminal kingpin.<br />
<br />
Cianci found a way to undercut the defense's case. Examining the parish records, he found that the official record showed the priest had not been in Rhode Island on the day of Marfeo's murder, but was actually attending a baptism in Virginia. Patriarca's alibi was shattered. He would be convicted and sentenced to 10 years in prison.<br />
<br />
<b>The "anti-corruption candidate"</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NWfgxNzu9go/WTNbH24ZPEI/AAAAAAAAB3c/i4-dThJUcvs9DJLwccknw3OnDd3VJXLTACLcB/s1600/cianci5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="633" data-original-width="537" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NWfgxNzu9go/WTNbH24ZPEI/AAAAAAAAB3c/i4-dThJUcvs9DJLwccknw3OnDd3VJXLTACLcB/s320/cianci5.jpg" width="271" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>Cianci is sworn into office </i>(<a href="http://www.crimetownshow.com/episodes-1/2016/11/20/chapter-three">Source</a>)</div>
<b><br /></b>
Following his performance on the anti-corruption task force, Cianci parlayed his local fame into a mayoral run. Providence was a staunch Democratic stronghold, but a fortuitous division opened up during the election year of 1974. Lawrence P. McGarry, head of the city's Democratic committee, refused to endorse incumbent mayor Joseph A. Doorley, Jr., who had served in the role for 10 years.<br />
<br />
Doorley forged on without the nomination, but the split with McGarry fractured a decades-old political machine in the city. Running as an "anti-corruption candidate" in the general election, Cianci won a stunning upset. As the Republican candidate, he edged out Doorley by 709 votes out of more than 52,000 ballots cast. He was the first Italian-American mayor to be elected mayor of Providence as well as the city's youngest mayor and the first Republican to hold the office in more than 30 years.<br />
<br />
Many years later, Cianci admitted in his autobiography that he was inexperienced and completely unprepared for the job. "Maybe I didn't know precisely what I was doing, but I was confident I could save the city," he said.<br />
<br />
The razor-thin victory in a strongly Democratic city in New England made Cianci something of a celebrity within the Republican party. He was able to get an audience with President Gerald Ford, and in 1976 he gave a brief speech at the Republican National Convention before introducing former Texas governor John Connally.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qa0YHZJzF1w/WTNWz7fHT7I/AAAAAAAAB3E/5ARUhzG7DII9M0j_Gh6AGedy5PDbD5EugCLcB/s1600/cianci2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="630" data-original-width="1200" height="168" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qa0YHZJzF1w/WTNWz7fHT7I/AAAAAAAAB3E/5ARUhzG7DII9M0j_Gh6AGedy5PDbD5EugCLcB/s320/cianci2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>Buddy Cianci at the 1976 Republican National Convention </i>(<a href="https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4603797/1976-republican-convention-buddy-cianci-introduces-john-connally">Source</a>)</div>
<br />
Cianci would dedicate much of his time in office to reimagining the former industrial city of Providence into a commercial and tourist center. More than $200 million would be invested in new commercial and office buildings during his term. During his first week as mayor, monkeys escaped from the city's decrepit Roger Williams Park Zoo. In 1976, he earmarked millions of dollars to improve the facility.<br />
<br />
But while Cianci would earn a reputation as a tireless advocate for Providence, he also contemplated leaving office before he had served a full term as mayor. As the 1976 election approached, he contemplated challenging incumbent Senator John Chafee for the Republican nomination for the seat. He ultimately decided against it.<br />
<br />
By the time Cianci was up for re-election in 1978, he was facing a number of challenges. There were accusations that he had been coercing the Providence Police Department to hire unqualified candidates. Earlier in the year, Police Chief Robert E. Ricci had shot himself in his office. Edward J. Collins, a police captain who would later unsuccessfully run for mayor, blamed Cianci for the suicide.<br />
<br />
It was an open secret that Cianci rewarded his supporters with city jobs. James Diamond, a mayoral aide, recalled that Cianci asked him to set up a computer database of every Providence resident in 1975. He figured the technology could be useful in assessing their loyalties and determining where to mete out rewards or punishments. Diamond never carried out this request.<br />
<br />
The city had also fared poorly during the Blizzard of 1978, which had dumped more than 30 inches of snow on Providence. When the public works department tried to respond to the storm, few of its snowplows were in working condition; those that worked weren't even able to break out of the department's parking lot. A contingent of Seabees from North Kingstown eventually had to open up the streets, long after other communities in New England had managed to dig themselves out. Critics charged that Cianci's patronage system had left the public works department woefully mismanaged during the crisis.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>Vehicles abandoned on Providence highway after the Blizzard of 1978 </i>(<a href="http://www.blizzardof78.org/photos-of-providence.php">Source</a>)</div>
<br />
Perhaps most damaging of all was a cover story run by <i>New Times</i> magazine in 1978. In the article, a woman accused Cianci of raping her at gunpoint in 1966 while he was a student at Marquette. She said she withdrew her criminal complaint in exchange for a $3,000 payment from Cianci so she wouldn't sue. Sources at the River Falls Police Department in Wisconsin told <i>New Times</i> that Cianci had flunked a lie detector test three times while the woman had passed.<br />
<br />
Denouncing the story as an "ugly character assassination," Cianci pressed a $72 million libel lawsuit against the magazine. In legal filings, he admitted that he had slept with the woman, that there was a gun in the house at the time, and that he paid her $3,000 after she dropped her complaint. It was enough for the court to dismiss the matter, but Cianci pressed an appeal. The case was settled out of court for $8,500 and an official letter of apology from <i>New Times</i>, which conceded that both the district attorney and Cianci's lawyer in the matter concluded that no crime had occurred.<br />
<br />
Despite these scandals, Cianci won a second term when he defeated Democratic candidate Frank Darigan with 56 percent of the vote. But his administration was soon tarnished by new revelations of corruption. Prosecutors charged 30 city workers and contractors with criminal activity, namely conspiracy and fraud; 22 would be convicted. Cianci denied any knowledge of this misconduct and was never charged.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>Cianci celebrates his 1978 win with his wife, Sheila </i>(<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/29/us/vincent-a-cianci-jr-celebrated-and-scorned-ex-mayor-of-providence-ri-dies-at-74.html?_r=0">Source</a>)</div>
<br />
Cianci pondered whether to put his name into consideration as a vice presidential candidate for the 1980 election. He met with Ford as well as Republican presidential candidate Ronald Reagan, but ultimately decided to turn his sights to a local race.<br />
<br />
In the Rhode Island gubernatorial election for 1980, Cianci challenged Governor Joseph Garrahy, the Democratic incumbent who was completing his first term. The mayor won the Republican nomination, but performed disastrously in the statewide race. Under heavy criticism for his handling of Providence's finances, Cianci mustered barely a quarter of the total vote. Worse, he didn't even win a majority of votes in any of the wards in Providence, let along in any other city or town in Rhode Island.<br />
<br />
Other developments seemed to signal Cianci's inevitable defeat for re-election in 1982, if he even decided to enter the race. In March 1981, the mayor made the unpopular proposal to raise property taxes by 20 percent to avoid bankruptcy. Outraged residents called for his resignation, and the city council began considering whether an ordinance should be drafted to allow voters to remove elected officials from office.<br />
<br />
Poor fiscal management in the Cianci administration had helped bring the city to the brink of insolvency in the first place. Opponents charged that the mayor had avoided more manageable tax increases in previous years for political reasons, had only hired a financial director after leaving the post vacant for three years, and had hired four times as many summer recreational workers as he had been authorized to do. While Cianci managed to put $100 million in state and federal funds toward revitalizing the city in his first two terms, these funds were facing cutbacks. The city also had to deal with the challenges of inflation and a declining population.<br />
<br />
Things only got worse in July 1981, when municipal workers went on a 16-day strike in response to cutbacks in overtime pay and other austerity measures. The protest earned the nickname "The Great Garbage Strike" for its most pungent feature: heaps of uncollected trash ripening in the summer heat. Cianci responded by firing the striking garbagemen and hiring private crews to collect the refuse.<br />
<br />
Tensions were high enough that these workers feared that the union men would use tractor-trailers to ram their garbage trucks. Shotgun-wielding police officers accompanied the private workers on their runs, which were conducted at night in an effort to avoid confrontation. The tactic was successful in stemming violence, aside from one angry union garbageman who smashed into one of the city trucks with his own pickup. At the end of the strike, the union won some concessions but trash collection remained privatized.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>Cianci speaks with a police officer accompanying private garbage collectors during a strike of municipal workers in 1981 </i>(<a href="http://www.crimetownshow.com/episodes-1/2016/11/21/chapter-five">Source</a>)</div>
<br />
A widespread effort to repave streets and sidewalks throughout Providence in the summer and fall played a significant part in Cianci's re-election in 1982. There were accusations that the work was a blatant political gesture, and that the public works department would have done the upgrades sooner if it hadn't become a den of corruption and mismanagement. But voters may well have been reassured by the improvements.<br />
<br />
A three-way race also helped tilt the odds in Cianci's favor. Running as an independent, he faced off against Darigan and Republican candidate Frederick Lippitt. He again squeaked through to victory, defeating Darigan by 1,074 votes out of approximately 55,000 cast to win a third term.<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Assault on Raymond DeLeo</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
While he was a gregarious character in public, Cianci could be appallingly vindictive in private. One restaurant owner recalled that the mayor was enraged when a new bouncer at the venue insisted that he pay a $2 cover charge. Cianci retaliated by having the fire department shut down the eatery. The restauranteur said Cianci threatened, "You don't want to get into a pissing match with me, because you're a cup of water and I'm Niagara Falls."<br />
<br />
In his autobiography, Cianci himself gleefully recalls a hair-raising if dubious act of thuggery. He suspected that Ronald H. Glantz, his chief of staff, had leaked information to Garrahy to sabotage his gubernatorial campaign. During a helicopter trip to an event where Cianci was scheduled to speak, he claimed to have seized the controls and forced the aircraft into a dive. As the chopper plummeted toward the ground, he angrily demanded that Glantz admit to the betrayal and didn't relent until his chief of staff did so.<br />
<br />
Cianci's short-tempered side became clear with a violent incident in the spring of 1983. At this point, the mayor was estranged from his wife Sheila; the couple would later be divorced. Cianci became convinced that she was having an affair with a local contractor, Raymond DeLeo. On the evening of March 20, he asked DeLeo to meet him at his rented carriage house.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RCFee6FYLlQ/WTSgyv3J9MI/AAAAAAAAB3w/YzGWsxXzowMOx2FcTQiuhmXT1wlYovcwgCLcB/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-06-04%2Bat%2B8.07.03%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="632" data-original-width="432" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RCFee6FYLlQ/WTSgyv3J9MI/AAAAAAAAB3w/YzGWsxXzowMOx2FcTQiuhmXT1wlYovcwgCLcB/s320/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-06-04%2Bat%2B8.07.03%2BPM.png" width="218" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>Raymond DeLeo </i>(<a href="http://turnto10.com/politics/deleo-figure-in-cianci-scandal-dies-at-89">Source</a>)</div>
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When DeLeo arrived at the mayor's home, it proved to be the start of a three-hour ordeal. He said the mayor kept him against his will and periodically assaulted him. DeLeo said that Cianci slapped him, struck him with a fireplace log, and burned him with a lighted cigarette after trying to put it out in his eye.<br />
<br />
Several other men were present during these acts of violence, including James K. Hassett, a Providence patrolman who served as Cianci's driver; William McGair, Cianci's attorney; and Joseph DiSanto, the city's public works director. McGair eventually became perturbed by the mayor's behavior and called Herbert DiSimone, a former Rhode Island attorney general and friend of Cianci's. But the abuse continued even after DiSimone arrived and tried to talk some sense into Cianci. He reportedly threw an ashtray at DeLeo and threatened to kill the contractor or destroy his business unless he not only signed an affidavit confessing to an affair with Sheila, but also agreed to cut Cianci a check for $500,000. DiSimone eventually persuaded Cianci to let DeLeo go.<br />
<br />
DeLeo reported the incident to the police, and his complaint became public on April 25. About a month later, on May 24, Cianci was indicted on two charges of extortion and one each of kidnapping, conspiracy to kidnap, assault with a deadly weapon, and assault and battery. One of the extortion charges accused the mayor of threatening Lenore Siegel Sternberg, a Florida resident, to get her to make a statement about the relationship between Sheila and DeLeo. Hassett was charged with kidnapping and conspiracy to kidnapping.<br />
<br />
Cianci quickly sought to downplay the severity of the incident. He admitted that he may have made some intimidating gestures, but that he never actually harmed DeLeo. He may have picked up a log and thrown it angrily into the fireplace, he said, but he hadn't used it to strike the contractor. Cianci claimed that DeLeo had always been free to leave his home anytime he wished.<br />
<br />
The mayor also griped that the incident was a "domestic matter" that never should have been brought before a grand jury. "Anyone can accuse if they've got something to hide or gain from it," he said. Cianci said he would refuse to resign his office.<br />
<br />
Trial preparations began at the end of February 1984, at about the same time that several city employees were indicted on charges related to corruption in the public works department. Three days later, petitions were delivered to City Hall demanding a recall election to try to oust Cianci; they included 19,760 signatures. The woman who had claimed that Cianci raped her at gunpoint agreed to come to Providence to testify as a character witness against the mayor.<br />
<br />
On March 5, Cianci agreed to plead no contest to charges of assault with a deadly weapon as well as assault and battery; the remaining charges were dropped. Hassett would also plead no contest to a charge of assault with a deadly weapon and resign from the police department. However, he would later be reinstated after his attorneys argued that there was no basis for the charge if Hassett had not been convicted of kidnapping.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>Cianci is sentenced on April 23, 1984</i> (<a href="http://www.crimetownshow.com/episodes-1/2017/1/11/chapter-seven">Source</a>)</div>
<br />
Cianci faced up to 11 years in prison, but on April 23 he was sentenced to a fully suspended five-year term with five years of probation. The sentence raised the question of whether he could continue to serve as mayor; the assault with a deadly weapon charge was a felony, and the new city charter barred felons from holding public office. Cianci resolved the issue by resigning two days after he was sentenced. The Rhode Island Supreme Court later gave him a public censure, but allowed him to continue practicing law.<br />
<br />
In his autobiography, Cianci expressed regret for the incident but couldn't help joking about the matter as well. "[F]ind me a man who will never admit to having made a mistake and I'll show you a successful politician," he quipped.<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Return to office</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
At about the same time as Cianci's resignation, a federal investigation began looking into malfeasance in the Providence city government. When the five-year probe ended in 1989, it had indicted 30 people. Charges included extortion, accepting kickbacks, theft of city pavement for private jobs, and employees conducting personal business while on the clock.<br />
<br />
U.S. Attorney Lincoln C. Almond commented that more people would have been charged but for the expiration of the statute of limitations. Those who were convicted included former city solicitor Ronald H. Glantz, who was sentenced to eight years in prison; former Democratic city chairman Anthony J. Bucci, who received the same sentence; and Richard A. Carroll, former chairman of the Providence Water Supply Board, who was sentenced to three-and-a-half years. Cianci was considered for indictment, but ultimately was not charged.<br />
<br />
Since his resignation, Cianci had been working as a radio host. Even with the news that he had been under investigation for corruption, there was speculation that he would again seek the mayor's office in 1990. Joseph R. Paolino, Jr., the Democratic chairman of the city council, had become acting mayor after Cianci's resignation and won a special election to keep the seat before being re-elected in 1986. He wasn't running again in 1990, opting instead to enter the gubernatorial race.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>Cianci hosting his AM radio show </i>(<a href="http://www.crimetownshow.com/episodes-1/2017/3/23/chapter-fourteen">Source</a>)</div>
<br />
Just 17 minutes before the deadline expired on June 27, Cianci filed his papers announcing his intention to run for mayor of Providence. He was once again running as an independent; he would again face Lippitt in the general election, along with Democrat city councilman Andrew Annaldo.<br />
<br />
During the campaign, one of Cianci's billboards was creatively vandalized by Rhode Island School of Design student Shepard Fairey. Residents looking up at the billboard saw that Cianci's face had been replaced by a stenciled image of professional wrestler Andre the Giant, with the slogan altered to read, "Andre never stopped caring about Providence." The image became so popular that Fairey turned it into a brand, selling millions of Andre the Giant stickers as well as other merchandise. Today, Fairey is better known as the artist behind the famous "Hope" campaign poster for Barack Obama.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uytwcUO1QQg/WTSiflPFEvI/AAAAAAAAB34/DZICNzxJ6gEr_FUypcWrEzwWbB4wHscLgCLcB/s1600/andre.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="393" data-original-width="663" height="189" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uytwcUO1QQg/WTSiflPFEvI/AAAAAAAAB34/DZICNzxJ6gEr_FUypcWrEzwWbB4wHscLgCLcB/s320/andre.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>"Andre never stopped caring about Providence" </i>(<a href="http://www.rifuture.org/obey-the-giant-how-a-risd-student-took-on-buddy/">Source</a>)</div>
<br />
When the ballots were counted, Cianci had won his narrowest victory yet. About 47,000 people had gone to the polls; Cianci won by a mere 317 votes. A small group of residents challenged his victory, arguing that the state constitution disqualified felons from holding office until three years after the completion of their sentence and probation. Under these rules, Cianci wouldn't be eligible for office until the spring of 1992.<br />
<br />
Thomas Rossi, the newly re-elected mayor's campaign advisor, responded that it was a moot point. The torrid details of Cianci's assault on DeLeo had been given national coverage, he noted, and voters would have to be "hermetically sealed in a mayonnaise jar" to not know about his past conviction; they had favored him anyway.<br />
<br />
Cianci renewed his focus on revitalizing Providence and turning the city into a destination. One of the most ambitious projects involved an effort to draw attention to the Providence River, which had long been hidden beneath roadways and other infrastructure. Once the waterway and its tributaries were exposed, they were girded with pleasant walkways and ornate bridges. In 1994, the city debuted WaterFire, a popular semi-regular event where braziers floated down the river as gondolas plied the waters.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>Downtown Providence during the WaterFire festival </i>(<a href="http://waterfire.org/visit/plan-your-trip-to-providence/">Source</a>)</div>
<br />
The downtown was further enhanced by the opening of the Providence Place Mall and a new skating rink. A total of $300 million was invested in transportation upgrades. Several biomedical businesses opened in the city. Cianci became a tireless promoter of the city, lobbying the New England Patriots to build a stadium in Providence and frequently appearing on national programs to discuss its business development, arts scene, and historical and cultural attractions. He made a point to show his acceptance of the LGBT community, welcoming them to visit the city or make it their home.<br />
<br />
The accelerating pace of Providence's resurrection helped improve Cianci's popularity. Critics continued to point out that the mayor's plans were doing little to help the city's poorest neighborhoods or improve its schools, or that he was taking credit for revitalization plans that were bearing fruit after decades of bipartisan efforts, but these concerns were often overshadowed by praise for the glittering new business district. Cianci further won sympathy by promising to donate the proceeds from his locally distributed pasta sauce, "Mayor's Own Marinara Sauce," to fund a scholarship assisting poor children.<br />
<br />
In 1994, Cianci comfortably won re-election in a race against former Democratic state representative Paul Jabour as well as Republican candidate Thomas J. Ricci. In 1998, he was unopposed in the general election.<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Operation Plunder Dome</b><br />
<br />
This momentum may easily have carried Cianci to another term in office had he not once again been faced with criminal charges. On April 2, 2001, Cianci was indicted on 30 counts of racketeering, extortion, conspiracy, witness tampering, and mail fraud. The charges were the culmination of a four-year federal investigation, dubbed Operation Plunder Dome, which accused the mayor of essentially running his office like an organized criminal enterprise.<br />
<br />
The indictment charged Cianci with involvement in a wide variety of schemes to accept money under the table. Between 1991 and 1999, he and two associates were said to have received $250,000 in campaign funds from tow truck operators. These companies acted as straw donors, giving the money to Cianci's campaign to ensure that they would stay on the police department's preferential tow list. Cianci was also accused of taking bribes to give out municipal jobs, give people breaks on their property taxes, or allow them to obtain vacant city properties.<br />
<br />
Similar to the accusations that Providence had been poorly managed under Cianci in the 1970s and 1980s, investigators said there had been widespread corruption elsewhere in the city government. Cocaine and gold had mysteriously disappeared from the police department's evidence room. Manhole covers had also vanished, stolen by city workers to sell for scrap metal.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>Cianci talks to the media after his arraignment on April 6, 2001 </i>(<a href="http://turnto10.com/i-team/gallery/nbc-10-i-team-fbi-files-shed-new-light-on-operation-plunder-dome#photo-2">Source</a>)</div>
<br />
Cianci responded with defiance. Referring to the 97-page indictment, he joked, "I'm not afraid of this. Ninety-seven times zero is zero." When he heard that former tax board chairman Joseph Pannone had said the mayor instructed him how to take a bribe, Cianci joked, "What the hell does he think, that I'm running a seminar? Stealing 101?"<br />
<br />
Nevertheless, Operation Plunder Dome began to win convictions against those accused of malfeasance. Not long after the investigation concluded, four city officials and two lawyers were found guilty of corruption.<br />
<br />
Cianci went to trial in June 2002, five months before an election he had every intention to enter. By the time the proceedings began, many of the criminal charges had been thrown out for lack of evidence or other reasons.<br />
<br />
The trial focused on a number of different incidents, including the extortion related to the tow truck leases and an accusation that Cianci accepted bribes on a $1.2 million lease the School Department took out on a building owned by a convicted felon. One woman testified that she paid the mayor $5,000 to get her son a job on the police force. Another man said he had shelled out $5,000 to get a city job; he started in a temporary role that paid only $9 an hour, but was later rewarded with a full-time senior planner position. Cianci was also accused of accepting $10,000 to grant a property tax break to a resident; taking another $10,000 bribe from a person who wanted to purchase city real estate; extorting a lifetime membership to the University Club, a private club on the city's East Side; and tampering with a witness who had been summoned to discuss the extortion before the grand jury.<br />
<br />
David C. Ead, a tax official who had been convicted of bribery as part of Operation Plunder Dome, testified that he arranged a total of $25,000 in bribes for the mayor. Another witness said Cianci had made the threat, "Be careful of the toe you step on today, because it might be connected to an ass that you have to kiss tomorrow." More than 50 witnesses testified for the prosecution, with several saying that they had feared reprisals from Cianci or his director of administration, Frank E. Corrente.<br />
<br />
Some of the most damning evidence in Operation Plunder Dome came from Antonio Freitas, a businessman who had paid bribes for tax breaks and other rewards at the FBI's direction. He had also worn a wire to secretly record 180 conversations with city officials between 1998 and 1999. In the tapes, played during the trial, tow truck drivers and other boasted about their connections to City Hall and the schemes they had set up to benefit Cianci.<br />
<br />
In one conversation, Pannone described the mayor as being addicted to taking money. "He needs the green. He needs to fix his hair," Pannone said. The comment may have referred to Cianci's distinctive toupee, which he had nicknamed "the squirrel."<br />
<br />
Cianci's defense attorneys sought to undermine the credibility of the witnesses who testified against the mayor. They didn't mince words, describing the witnesses as liars and thieves. Ead, one lawyer said, had a gambling addiction and was "a pig, plain and simple." Attorney John Tarantino declared, "David Ead has said just about anything and will do just about anything to protect himself. He's lied and he's cheated and he's deceived for money."<br />
<br />
By the end of the trial, the charges related to the tow truck operator kickbacks and the alleged witness tampering were thrown out due to lack of evidence. The charge related to the school lease was also dismissed after the judge determined that it didn't meet the criteria for racketeering.<br />
<br />
On June 24, Cianci was acquitted of 11 charges. But the jury found him guilty of one count of racketeering conspiracy under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. The RICO rules held that the leader and beneficiary of a racketeering conspiracy could be held responsible for the acts of other conspirators even if he or she did not directly take part in their criminal actions. In his memoir, Cianci agreed with state representative Steven Smith's assessment of the conviction: "They found him guilty of nothing but responsible for everything."<br />
<br />
The conviction did little to dampen support for Cianci among the mayor's adherents. He was greeted outside the courtroom by applauding supporters, some of whom shouted, "Let him go!" Almond had called on Cianci to resign after his indictment and repeated the advice after the verdict, saying, "I think the time has come to say the capital city cannot stand this type of corruption. Enough is enough." But Cianci was not required to leave office until his sentencing, and continued to put in public appearances; he even kept an appointment to address a graduating high school class on the evening of his conviction.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>Cianci leaves his hotel to begin his prison sentence </i>(<a href="http://www.crimetownshow.com/episodes-1/2017/4/28/chapter-seventeen">Source</a>)</div>
<br />
Cianci faced up to 20 years in prison, along with a potential fine of $250,000. On September 7, Judge Ernest C. Torres ordered Cianci to serve 64 months behind bars and pay a $100,000 fine. The prison sentence was squarely in the middle of the federal sentencing guidelines of 57 to 71 months for racketeering conspiracy. Torres, disagreeing with the state's contention that the corruption under Cianci had been a significant disruption to city business, rejected the prosecution's request for a 10-year sentence. The mayor was also required to serve two years of probation and perform 150 hours of community service after his release.<br />
<br />
Having maintained his innocence throughout the trial, Cianci thanked the judge for what he considered to be fair treatment. "It's an unfortunate situation. I'm sorry, obviously, that it has come to this," he said. "My heart will always be with Providence. I never intended to do anything wrong, Your Honor."<br />
<br />
The sentence was stayed until December to give Cianci an opportunity to appeal, but state law required him to leave office immediately. The remainder of his term, through January 2003, was served by city council president John Lombardi. After Lombardi declined to run in the 2002 election, he was succeeded by Democratic state representative David Cicilline.<br />
<br />
Several other people were convicted as a result of Operation Plunder Dome, including Corrente, Ead, and tow truck operator Richard Autiello. A businessman named Edward Voccola was also charged with involvement in the scheme, but was acquitted by a judge partway through his trial.<br />
<br />
<b>Later years</b><br />
<br />
While in prison, Cianci kept up with local politics by reading week-old issues of the <i>Providence Journal</i>. He was also inducted into the Providence Preservation Society's hall of fame while still incarcerated. He belatedly filed an appeal in May 2003, arguing that the state had not provided any direct evidence that he was involved in corruption in the Providence city government. A federal appeals court upheld the verdict against him in a 2-1 decision in August 2004.<br />
<br />
A surprising development came in April 2005, when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit threw out the sentences of Cianci, Autiello, and Corrente. The court ruled that a recent Supreme Court decision, <i>United States v. Booker</i>, had invalidated the mandatory sentencing guidelines used to determine the prison terms for the three men. Cianci attorney John MacFadyen vowed to press for a shorter term, while Robert Corrente, the U.S. Attorney for Rhode Island, said he would oppose any reduction in the former mayor's sentence. Torres, who was ordered to re-sentence Cianci, decided against shortening his prison term.<br />
<br />
On May 30, 2007, Cianci was released from prison and sent to a halfway house. Four months later, he again began making frequent appearances as a radio host. He was a frequent critic of Representative Patrick Kennedy, and in January 2010 said he was considering challenging the congressman for his seat in the House of Representatives. He decided against it.<br />
<br />
In 2011, Cianci released an autobiography entitled <i>Politics and Pasta</i>. At one point, he wrote, "I used my public power for personal reasons. I admit it. It probably wasn't the right thing to do, but it certainly felt good."<br />
<br />
July 2012 marked the end of the three-year waiting period following the end of Cianci's probation. Although Providence residents wondered if he would again run for mayor in the 2014 race, many didn't expect him to do so. Despite his former popularity and track record of urban development, he would be in his early 70s with the less than reputable record of two separate felony convictions.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>Cianci during his 2014 mayoral campaign </i>(<a href="http://www.fox25boston.com/news/rhode-island/buddy-cianci-to-lie-in-repose-in-providence-city-hall/46653567">Source</a>)</div>
<br />
Much to the dismay of his prosecutors and critics, Cianci announced that he would indeed run as an independent and seek a seventh term as mayor of Providence. He won the endorsements of several municipal unions, including those representing the teachers, firefighters, and police department.<br />
<br />
During his campaign, an Associated Press investigation revealed that Cianci had broken his promise to not accept any donations from city workers. Reporters also found that his pasta sauce hadn't actually generated any profits in the previous four years despite marketing that it supported scholarships. In the general election, Cianci won about 45 percent of approximately 38,000 votes cast. Several Democratic candidates had abandoned their bids to consolidate support against Cianci; the remaining Democratic candidate, Jorge O. Elorza, won the race.<br />
<br />
In November 2015, Cianci's official portrait was unveiled in City Hall. During his remarks at the event, Cianci quipped that it was "not the first time I've been framed."<br />
<br />
Three months later, Cianci got engaged to Tara Marie Haywood, a 34-year-old actress and model. A few weeks after that, he was suddenly stricken with severe abdominal pain while taping a TV show. He died on January 28, 2016, at the age of 74.<br />
<br />
Sources: "Mayor of Providence Seeking Re-Election Without Nomination" in the <i>New York Times </i>on Aug. 25 1974, "R.I. Mayor Cianci Denies Alleged Rape Incident" in <i>The Telegraph </i>on Jul. 10 1978, "City Troubles Catch A Rising Political Star" in <i>The Telegraph</i> on Apr. 18 1981, "Mayor Indicted on Kidnap Charges" in the <i>Lewiston Daily Sun </i>on May 25 1983, "Legal Scrapes Pursue Mayor of Providence" in the <i>Washington Post </i>on Jul. 2 1983, "Kidnaping Charge is Mayor's Next Hurdle" in the <i>Chicago Tribune </i>on Jul. 6 1983, "Mayor of Providence Pleads No Contest to Assault Case" in the <i>New York Times </i>on Mar. 6 1984, "Northeast Journal - Back on the Beat in Providence" in the <i>New York Times</i> on Jul. 7 1985, "Providence Journal - The Election Was Only Round One" in the <i>New York Times </i>on Nov. 14 1990, "Providence Mayor Indicted on Racketeering Charges" in the <i>New York Times</i> on Apr. 3 2001, "Providence Mayor Convicted On Corruption Charges" in <i>The Hour </i>on Jun. 25 2002, "Providence Mayor Convicted of Corruption" in <i>South Coast Today </i>on Jun. 25 2002, "A Sentence for Corruption Ends an Era in Providence" in the <i>New York Times </i>on Sep. 7 2002, "A Heap of Trouble" in the <i>Providence Journal</i> on Dec. 11 2002, "Raymond DeLeo's Nightmare on Power Street" in the <i>Providence Journal </i>on Dec. 12 2002, "Ex-Providence Mayor Appeals Conviction" in the <i>Plainview Daily Herald </i>on May 27 2003, "Ex-Providence Mayor's Conviction Upheld" in the <i>Los Angeles Times</i> on Aug. 11 2004, "Sentences of Cianci, Two Others Thrown Out" in the <i>Boston Globe</i> on Apr. 7 2005, "Cianci Will Serve Full 64-Month Sentence" in the <i>Brown Daily Herald </i>on Jun. 27 2005, "Buddy Cianci Is In The Lead to Become Mayor of Providence. Again" in the <i>Washington Post </i>on Sep. 24 2014, "Good Buddy, Bad Buddy" in the <i>New York Times </i>on Oct. 11 2014, "Vincent A. Cianci Jr., Celebrated and Scored Ex-Mayor of Providence, R.I., Dies at 74" in the <i>New York Times </i>on Jan. 28 2016, "Timeline of the Late Buddy Cianci's Political Career" in the <i>San Diego Union-Tribune</i> on Jan. 28 2016, "Vincent 'Buddy' Cianci, 1941-2016" in the <i>Providence Journal </i>on Jan. 28 2016, "Former Providence Mayor 'Buddy' Cianci Has Died" in <i>South Coast Today </i>on Jan. 28 2016, "Buddy Cianci, Flamboyant and Roguish Mayor Who Rebuilt Providence, Dies at 74" in the <i>Washington Post </i>on Jan. 28 2016, <i>Politics and Pasta </i>by Vincent Cianci Jr. and David Fisher, <i>The Prince of Providence </i>by Mike Stanton, <i>Who We Be: The Colorization of America</i> by Jeff ChangDirk Langeveldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10347292004358347133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8953541230084203389.post-86733933294981356752016-12-29T14:27:00.003-05:002018-06-27T11:47:47.324-04:00Glen H. Taylor: Civil Rights Cowboy<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div style="text-align: center;">
(<a href="http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=T000079">Source</a>)</div>
<br />
Glen Hearst Taylor earned a reputation as one of the most peace-loving people to serve in the Senate, but he could still exhibit sudden flashes of temper when provoked. So when he felt a man had insulted him on Election Day in 1946, Taylor responded by punching the offender in the face.<br />
<br />
The election marked a downturn for the Democratic Party after many years of dominance in the nation's capital. Riding the wave of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's popularity, the party had gained control of both the House of Representatives and Senate in 1932 and maintained a majority in Congress ever since. With the end of World War II, and Harry Truman proving to be a less popular President that the late FDR, the Republicans won back both chambers in 1946.<br />
<br />
The Democratic Party's state headquarters in Idaho were located near the Boise Hotel, where the GOP was celebrating a sweep of the congressional races. An incumbent Democratic congressman, Compton I. White, narrowly lost to Republican challenger Abe Goff. John C. Sanborn easily held the state's other House seat after Representative Henry C. Dworshak opted to run for the Senate instead. Dworshak defeated Democratic candidate George E. Donart in the Senate race, leaving Taylor as the only Democrat to represent Idaho in Congress.<br />
<br />
Although not up for re-election, Taylor had vigorously advocated for Donant during the lead-up to the election. Somehow, Taylor crossed paths with Ray McKaig, a Republican leader and legislative committeeman for the Idaho Grange, in the lobby of the Boise Hotel. Both combatants gave wildly differing accounts of what happened next. Taylor said McKaig called him an obscene name in the presence of his wife. McKaig protested that he was only "twitting" Taylor, although he would also claim that he "never said a word."<br />
<br />
Taylor admitted that he "instinctively" threw a punch at McKaig after being insulted, but pulled it before he could do any harm. McKaig then struck Taylor in the face, bloodying his nose. Taylor didn't pull his next punch, hitting McKaig hard enough to lay the GOP leader out on the hotel floor, breaking his jaw and causing his dentures to cut his lips.<br />
<br />
In giving his version of the brawl, Taylor said McKaig had provoked him. "McKaig called me a foul name," he said. "I can take the Democratic defeat, but I couldn't take that." He also accused McKaig of breaking his nose after he pulled his first punch, after which he was "dancing excitedly in front of me, waving his arms and shouting, 'Come on!'"<br />
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<i>McKaig hospitalized with a broken jaw </i>(<a href="https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=3MtSAAAAIBAJ&sjid=2n4DAAAAIBAJ&pg=6751%2C877150">Source</a>)</div>
<br />
McKaig, speaking to reporters with a plaster cast on his jaw about a week after the incident, said Taylor had blindsided him with the punch and kicked him while he was down. He accused the senator of making up the story about the broken nose after he "found out it was not popular to kick me in the face."<br />
<br />
Taylor would never be criminally charged for assaulting McKaig, but the GOP leader would continue to hold a grudge for many years after. When Taylor lost the Democratic nomination for Senate in 1950, McKaig reportedly cabled him with the message, "You may have broken my jaw, but I just broke your back!"<br />
<br />
When Taylor was arrested two years after the incident in Boise, he was thousands of miles away from Idaho and had been chosen as a vice presidential candidate for the year's election. He had also deliberately provoked the arrest to challenge racist policies in the South.<br />
<br />
<b>A theatrical youth</b><br />
<br />
One of 13 children of an Oregon minister, Taylor was born in Portland on April 12, 1904. His father, John, preached in mining camps across the West. He usually incorporated the children into his services, having them do musical or theatrical performances to make the religious element more appealing. The family settled on a 160-acre homestead near Kooskia, Idaho, when Taylor was still a child.<br />
<br />
The permanent home helped Taylor get a more formal education, but he only attended the public schools until he was 12. At that point, he left to seek employment and help supplement his father's meager income. For a time, he helped herd sheep to their summer pasture. A year later, he joined his brother E.K. Taylor to run two small movie theaters he owned in Kooskia as well as the nearby town of Stites. After his father fell ill during the influenza epidemic, Taylor took a job as a sheet metal worker's apprentice to again help support his family.<br />
<br />
The theatrical elements of their youth had inspired at least some of Taylor's siblings to get into the performing arts, and at the age of 17 he joined his oldest brother, Ferris, to be part of his traveling vaudeville act. He again traveled the western United States, this time as part of the Taylor Players. Not long after, he briefly married and had a daughter. However, the relationship quickly fell apart due to Taylor's transitory nature. In 1945, while Taylor was a senator, his first wife charged him with desertion and tried to win back payments for the support of her and their child. The matter proved embarrassing to Taylor, but he turned the matter over to his attorneys and was absolved in court.<br />
<br />
Vaudeville was a slowly dying form of entertainment, as movies became more popular among the population. When a fire destroyed the Taylor Players' tent and wardrobe, they had no opportunity to recover. The company disbanded, with each member going their own way. Taylor worked odd jobs before finding permanent employment with the Slade Musical Comedy Company. During a performance in Montana, he fell in love with an usher named Dora Pike; the two were married in 1928.<br />
<br />
The couple formed their own vaudeville company, dubbing it The Glendora Players as a portmanteau of their names. They used a similar trick when naming their first child, a son born in 1935, simply spelling the name of the boy's mother backwards to make Arod.<br />
<br />
The company struggled under the dual challenges of the declining popularity of vaudeville and the financial hardships of the Great Depression. Income was variable, since admission to see The Glendora Players was whatever audiences were able and willing to pay. In some cases, they accepted donations of vegetables and live chickens.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>The Glendora Players, with Glen, Arod, and Dora in the front row </i>(<a href="http://www.radiodismuke.com/forum/lofiversion/index.php?t675.html">Source</a>)</div>
<br />
Taylor may have continued this hardscrabble life had it not been for a chance encounter with politics. While going to a theater in Driggs, Idaho, to see the manager about booking the venue for a performance, he discovered that Governor C. Ben Ross was giving a speech. Taylor observed that he shared several qualities with "Cowboy Ben," then running for a Senate seat as a Democrat. Ross was a good speaker, had excellent comedic timing, and easily made friends with people he met. Taylor figured it wouldn't be too hard to put his performing skills to use to try to earn a place in Washington.<br />
<br />
Once he became more committed to the idea of running for office, Taylor began to study politics and economics. He was particularly interested in how the Great Depression had happened and how to prevent a similar economic crash in the future. He took most of his inspiration from <i>The People's Corporation</i>, written by razor magnate King Camp Gillette with assistance from prominent Socialist Upton Sinclair, as well as Stuart Chase's <i>A New Deal</i>, which helped inspire FDR's economic relief programs.<br />
<br />
Taylor tried to organize farmer-laborer parties in Nevada and Montana in 1935, but without success. He also contemplated whether the Socialist or Communist parties were a good fit for his economic views, but finally decided that FDR and the Democrats were the best way to move the country forward. Since Taylor had little chance of qualifying for public office as a nomadic showman, he settled with his family in Pocatello, Idaho.<br />
<br />
<b>"Wholly uneducated and wholly unfitted"</b><br />
<br />
When Taylor launched his first national campaign in 1938, he employed an unorthodox campaign strategy. He had learned to play the guitar and banjo, and incorporated country-Western tunes into his performances. He now used this image to appeal to the voters of Idaho, crooning ditties on his campaign stops and in radio appearances. He also presented the full cowboy image, wearing a ten-gallon hat and riding a horse. Taylor ran for the House of Representatives in an open Democratic primary, but was a relatively unknown figure and finished fourth.<br />
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In 1940, Taylor got an early opportunity to run in the year's election. Senator William E. Borah, a Republican who had represented Idaho in Washington for more than three decades, suddenly died in his sleep on January 19 at the age of 74. The Republican governor, Clarence A. Bottolfsen, appointed former GOP senator John W. Thomas to fill the vacancy pending a general election.<br />
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<i>Governor Bottolfsen in his office </i>(<a href="http://www.gettyimages.ae/photos/c.-a.-bottolfsen?excludenudity=true&sort=mostpopular&mediatype=photography&phrase=c.%20a.%20bottolfsen">Source</a>)</div>
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Using the same tactics he had employed in the 1938 race, Taylor won an unexpected upset in the Democratic primary. The party had underestimated his populist appeal, considering him to be little more than a joke. But when the ballots were counted, Taylor had bested George Donart and judge James R. Bothwell to be the party's candidate for the Senate. Angered by Taylor's victory, the Democratic Party offered little in the way of support or financing for the November campaign.<br />
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Opponents also found Taylor to be an easy target. He held very liberal views, expressing criticisms of the profit system and arguing that companies should be trying to ensure a comfortable life for their workers rather than earning excessive profits that would only benefit those at the top. The Republicans promptly accused him of harboring Socialist or Communist views. Others suggested that the cowboy candidate was an unsuitable choice to fill the vacancy left by so distinguished a figure as William E. Borah. The <i>Idaho Pioneer</i> described Taylor as a "sweet singer, wholly uneducated and wholly unfitted."<br />
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Taylor's appeal in the primary didn't extend to Idaho's populace as a whole. Thomas won by about 14,000 votes, winning over about 53 percent of the electorate.<br />
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After the loss at the polls, Taylor decided to pursue work in military preparedness. The nation had been moving to gird itself for defense as war raged in Europe and the Pacific, and there was a naval ordnance plant in Pocatello. But when Taylor submitted an application there, the personnel director quickly rejected him after finding out he was the far-left Senate candidate. Taylor subsequently traveled to California to begin working at a munitions factory.<br />
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In 1942, with the United States now at war with the Axis powers, Taylor again ran for Senate in Idaho. This time he traveled between campaign stops on horseback, saying this alternative to the automobile helped save rubber and gas for the war effort. He defeated four other candidates for the Democratic nomination and worked to make amends with the party. He attended regular campaigns with other candidates, leaving his horse and cowboy outfit at home.<br />
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But Taylor still faced accusations that he was a Socialist, Communist, or buffoon. He again lost to Thomas, who was elected to a full term in his own right after completing the remaining years of Borah's term. However, Taylor succeeded in narrowing the gap between the two to less than 5,000 votes.<br />
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Taylor once again traveled to California, this time finding employment as a steel worker at a shipyard. He installed kitchens on destroyers while quietly preparing for his next Senate run. Realizing that his populist arguments worked well for the Democratic primary but fell short among the full electorate, Taylor received some economic tutelage from Idaho secretary of state George Curtis. When the 1944 race rolled around, Taylor resumed his familiar criticisms of Wall Street and the banking industry, but reframed them to appeal to a larger audience.<br />
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This was also the first race where Taylor benefited from a full head of artificial hair. He had started going bald in his 20s, with this physical trait making him look considerably older than he was. This became apparent during the 1942 campaign when a service station clerk mistook his wife for his daughter. Working to give himself a more youthful appearance, Taylor made himself a custom toupee out of a pie plate, felt, and human hair.<br />
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In the Democratic primary, Taylor went up against incumbent Senator D. Worth Clark as well as two Boise lawyers. He narrowly earned the party's nomination for the third Senate race in a row, getting only about one-third of the vote but eking out victory by a mere 216 ballots. The Democratic Party would prove more supportive this time around; the state chairman who had opposed Taylor resigned and was replaced by an official who immediately assured Taylor that the Democrats would back their candidate.<br />
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In the lead-up to the general election, Taylor offered a more detailed platform than his previous bids for office. He called for full employment legislation after the war, protections for small business owners against monopolies and trusts, more farm and business cooperatives, and efforts to preserve the postwar peace. The Democrats were the party that worked for the protection and well-being of the people, he argued, while the Republicans strove for the protection and well-being of private property. He strongly endorsed FDR, hoping to ride into office on the popular President's appeal.<br />
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There were continuing accusations that Taylor was a Communist and ill-prepared to serve as a senator. The Republicans were further able to accuse him of being an opportunist, saying he was a <i>de facto </i>California resident who only came back to Idaho when he wanted to run for office. Taylor, responding to the labeling of his ideas as Communist, fired back that the Republicans used the label to try to discredit every single proposed liberal measure. He called it a "straight steal from Hitler, who cried 'Bolshevist' at everybody who opposed him."<br />
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Taylor's third attempt at the Senate proved successful. On Election Day, he earned 107,096 votes. It was a narrow majority, but it was enough to defeat Bottolfsen, the Republican candidate, who had received 102,373 votes.<br />
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<b>An advocate for peace</b><br />
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<div style="text-align: left;">
Although Taylor had largely abandoned his image as an entertainer as he became a more skilled politician, he quickly revived the singing cowboy character after arriving in Washington, D.C. There was an acute housing shortage because of the war, and the newly elected senator was having trouble finding a home for his family. In January 1945, he invited the press to see him play a song on the steps of the Capitol Building.</div>
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<i><i>Taylor sings on the steps of the Capitol as his family looks on</i> (<a href="http://www.allposters.com/-sp/New-Senator-Glen-H-Taylor-Singing-His-Own-Version-of-Home-Posters_i8509596_.htm">Source</a>)</i><br />
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To the tune of "Home on the Range," Taylor sang, "Oh give me a home, near the Capitol dome, with a yard where little children can play / Just one room or two, any old thing will do / Oh we can't find a pla-a-a-ce to stay!" The stunt no doubt embarrassed some Democratic leaders, but it proved effective. A real estate agent contacted Taylor and set him up with a suitable residence.<br />
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On October 23, Taylor introduced his first resolution before the Senate. He hoped that the United States and other nations could work toward the creation of a world republic designed to prevent bloody conflicts such as the one that had formally ended just one month earlier. He called for the abolition of military training and conscription, a prohibition on the manufacture of atomic weapons, and an eventual end to the production of armaments. Taylor was disappointed that this ambitious plan received little attention, complaining that the press had dedicated plenty of coverage to his musical appeal for housing and written next to nothing on his suggestions for world peace.<br />
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Taylor's liberal views often put him at odds with Truman, since he thought the President's postwar stances were creating too many tensions with the Soviet Union. He opposed both the Truman Doctrine, which provided aid to Greece and Turkey to shore up the countries against Communist influence, and the European Recovery Program, or Marshall Plan, which was designed to rebuild the Western European countries devastated by World War II. Taylor said he wasn't opposed to supporting nations in need, but thought American aid should be administered through the United Nations.<br />
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Perhaps cognizant of how his unusual behavior had gained attention when he first came to Washington, Taylor launched a cross-country tour in the autumn of 1947 to try to raise awareness of his concerns with U.S. foreign policy. He intended to visit several states, riding two horses named Nugget and Chuck for much of the way and traveling with his brother by automobile for the rest, with the horses coming along in a trailer. Taylor expected that the "Paul Revere" ride would be able to make stops in every state before culminating in the nation's capital.<br />
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During the stops, Taylor resumed his practice of weaving guitar playing and songs into his public appearances. He said he did not think that the United States was deliberately trying to provoke the Soviet Union with its actions overseas, but that certain policies might appear threatening. It would be far better, he opined, for the United Nations to oversee foreign aid than to go about it unilaterally. <br />
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"In other words, how would we feel if the Russians suddenly began dredging the harbors of Mexico, building hard surface roads to the borders of California and Texas, and otherwise making military preparations for an unannounced purpose?" he asked at one stop. "I think we should be plenty upset. That is exactly what the United States has been doing in Turkey and, to some extent, in Greece."<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span>
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<img border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Y6TZH23hqTU/WGQOHHeCi0I/AAAAAAAABwc/JlmQBwqVhswW7WBVBBOUf5lgYyXCivd8wCEw/s320/glen3.jpg" /></div>
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<i>Taylor stops in Arizona during his horseback ride for peace</i> (<a href="http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/tucson-az-senator-glen-h-taylor-is-shown-taking-a-break-news-photo/517393060#tucson-az-senator-glen-h-taylor-is-shown-taking-a-break-near-tucson-picture-id517393060">Source</a>)</div>
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Taylor had to cut the trip short in November, just one month after starting it, when Truman called Congress back into session. He decided to end the tour with one last spectacle, riding Nugget up the Capitol steps before joining the other senators.<br />
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For the rest of his term, Taylor would be one of the most outspoken voices for peace and international understanding. He was the only Democrat opposed to the creation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and in 1949 he unsuccessfully proposed an end to peacetime conscription. <br />
Following rumors that an alien spacecraft had crashed on a ranch near Roswell, New Mexico, Taylor was asked for his opinion on UFOs. He replied that he hoped they were real, considering that any alien race that had mastered interplanetary travel might also be able to inspire better global cooperation. <br />
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"They could end our petty arguments on Earth," he said. "Even if it is only a psychological phenomenon, it is a sign of what the world is coming to. If we don't ease the tensions, the whole world will be full of psychological cases and eventually turn into a global nuthouse."<br />
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Statements like these made Taylor a very polarizing figure. Some people thought the senator was guided by the simple idea that people could live together in harmony. On at least one occasion, he was compared to the aloof but admirable character played by Jimmy Stewart in <i>Mr. Smith Goes to Washington</i>. Both Taylor and the film character were rookie senators from the West who were guided by their faith in American institutions and the idea that most people were good at heart.<br />
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Others considered Taylor to be little more than an unrealistic idealist. In 1950, Time mockingly described him as a "banjo-twanging playboy of the Senate and an easy mark for far-left propaganda."<br />
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<b>A voice for labor and civil rights</b><br />
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In addition to his crusade for world peace, Taylor became a strong supporter of organized labor and civil rights activists. Both stances were a result of his ideology more than an effort to pander for votes; unions weren't particularly prevalent in Idaho, and there were fewer than 500 black residents in the state when Taylor represented it.<br />
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He kept up his commitment to full employment for American workers, along with rent controls to make housing more affordable. He opposed the Taft-Hartley Act of 1947, which placed some restrictions on the powers of labor unions. When Truman refused to approve the bill, Taylor was one of four senators who contributed to an unsuccessful filibuster to try to keep Congress from overriding the veto.<br />
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Late in 1946, Taylor periodically gained the floor to speak as Southern senators filibustered an effort to give permanent status to the Fair Employment Practices Committee, which had worked to enforce FDR's executive order to bar discrimination in defense and government hiring during World War II. Taylor said he was willing to support all-night sessions and any other measures necessary to break the filibuster and force a vote.<br />
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"This is not democracy, this is rule by a small minority," he declared. "I hope that those who really believe in democracy will stand by their guns and not yield to this legislative blackmail."<br />
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<div style="text-align: left;">
Taylor's support of civil rights made him an enemy of the Southern delegation in general, but <a href="http://downfalldictionary.blogspot.com/2011/09/theodore-g-bilbo-race-to-end.html">Senator Theodore Bilbo</a> in particular. The Democratic senator from Mississippi was perhaps the most openly racist and hateful person in the entire Senate, at one point even praising the Nazi regime's appreciation of "the importance of race values" while proposing the deportation of all black Americans to Liberia. </div>
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<i>Theodore Bilbo during his 1946 campaign for Senate </i>(<a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2016/08/mississippi-sen-theodore-bilbo-dies-at-age-69-aug-21-1947-227126">Source</a>)</div>
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On one occasion, Bilbo opposed the nomination of Aubrey Williams to be administrator of the Rural Electrification Administration and noted how Williams had been endorsed by a black Republican newspaper in Philadelphia. Taylor interrupted Bilbo, demanding to know what effect the endorsement could possibly have on Williams' qualifications. "I certainly object to having brought up on the floor of the Senate the question of whether a man is red, black, or white," he stated. Bilbo was dismissive, asking, "What do they know about Negroes in Idaho?"<br />
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A more dramatic confrontation between Taylor and Bilbo occurred early in 1947. Bilbo won re-election in the 1946 general election, but his victory was tainted by violence and voter intimidation at the polls. Before the Special Committee to Investigate Senatorial Campaign Expenditures, Bilbo openly admitted that he had called on "every red-blooded American who believes in the superiority and integrity of the white race to get out and see that no nigger votes" in the Mississippi race. Despite the clear incitements to voter suppression, the committee opined that Bilbo was entitled to his seat since most of his hateful language had been aimed at "outside agitators" who were allegedly trying to stir up trouble in the election.<br />
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The excuse didn't sit well with the more liberal members of the Senate, especially since Bilbo was also under investigation for illegally accepting gifts from war contractors. At a conference of Republican senators, Homer Ferguson of Michigan was chosen to issue a resolution asking the Senate to deny Bilbo his seat. But as the roll call was made at the beginning of the session, Taylor managed to jump in first to issue his own call for barring the Mississippi senator from the chamber.<br />
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Taylor charged that Bilbo had violated the civil rights of black residents in his state, incited violence against them, violated the Constitution, and allowed himself to be influenced by gifts from war contractors. He asked that his colleague be denied his seat until after an investigation had been completed. He focused most of his attention on the voting rights issue, quoting examples of some of Bilbo's most racist language. He admitted that race relations were a complex issue, but stressed that it was important to strive for progress rather than division. Bilbo, he accused, had been "stirring up racial hatred, inciting white to hate black and causing black to hate white."<br />
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"What a hypocritical and blasphemous gesture we would witness today if Mr. Bilbo were to stand in our midst and place his hand on the Holy Bible and swear fealty to democratic institutions, to free elections, to the rights of citizens," Taylor declared.<br />
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Taylor pushed the speech to its conclusion, even as Bilbo sauntered over and sat down at his elbow, glowering up at the man who sought to unseat him. Some other senators from the South, enraged at Taylor's resolution, vowed to filibuster any attempt to assemble the newly elected Senate unless Bilbo was allowed to take office. Alben Barkley, the Senate's Democratic leader, defused the issue by announcing that Bilbo needed to return to Mississippi for emergency surgery and would not insist on being seated until he returned.<br />
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Bilbo laughed off the resolution, mockingly declaring that "a cowboy named Taylor stole the whole Republican show." Later, he commented, "Taylor ain't got no sense. He's just a nut. He goes around playing a fiddle with a hillbilly band."<br />
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Although the Republicans were irked that Taylor had stolen their thunder, they grudgingly complimented Taylor's speech. Harold Ickes, who had served as Secretary of the Interior under FDR and gone on to become a syndicated columnist, hailed Taylor's address as "one that will reverberate throughout the country for a long time." The Southern Negro Youth Congress distributed copies of his speech, which helped accelerate the migration of black support from the Republicans to the Democrats.<br />
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The Senate would never take a vote on Taylor's resolution. Bilbo solved the thorny issue of whether or not he should be seated by dying, in August 1947, of complications from multiple surgeries for mouth cancer.<br />
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<b>Vice presidential candidate and arrest in Birmingham</b><br />
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As the 1948 presidential election approached, the Democrats were facing a challenge from a liberal splinter group as well as the Republicans. Henry A. Wallace, who had served as vice president for much of FDR's time in office, formed the Progressive Party in 1947 to make a bid for the White House. The party sought to improve the relationship between the United States and Soviet Union, enhance cooperation with the United Nations, and pursue arms reduction. It also advocated for an accelerated improvement of civil rights at home, including measures to outlaw lynching and poll taxes.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6_IW8Um4VVw" width="560"></iframe><br /></div>
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Naturally, Taylor was a perfect fit for the party. When Wallace asked him to be the vice presidential candidate on the Progressive ticket, he readily accepted.<br />
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The Progressives would be dogged by accusations that the party was influenced by Communism, in part because the Communist Party opted to endorse Wallace instead of fielding its own candidate. Taylor, long familiar with such rhetoric, said the decision to join the Progressive ticket had not been made lightly. "I knew I would probably kill my chances of being re-elected in 1950 if I threw in with Henry," he said. "I'm not a lawyer. I've been in show business all my life, living hand to mouth, often in debt. I can't leave the Senate and practice law, like most of these fellows do. It was a tough decision." He explained that he had backed the more liberal party because he believed the "question of peace or war is more important than any other consideration."<br />
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Wallace and Taylor were under no illusions that their platform would be warmly greeted in the South, where several states would list segregationist candidate Strom Thurmond on their ballots as the Democratic candidate instead of Truman. The duo organized campaign appearances in the region before integrated audiences, and were often greeted by segregationists who hurled insults and rubbish at the candidates.<br />
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On May 1, 1948, Taylor arrived in Birmingham, Alabama, at the invitation of the Southern Negro Youth Congress. The organization had asked Taylor to deliver the keynote address at their annual convention. Although he initially refused due to a city ordinance requiring public gatherings to be segregated, the SNYC convinced Taylor to attend anyway and make a statement about why he could not address the integrated group. The convention was the target of several forms of harassment, including bomb threats and hotels canceling the reservations of white delegates. Although several places declined to host the group for fear of violence, the Alliance Gospel Tabernacle church finally provided a venue for the gathering.<br />
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The local police had no intention of letting the meeting proceed quietly. Eugene "Bull" Connor, the city's commissioner of public safety, threatened that the Birmingham police would arrest anyone who committed even the smallest of provocations, such as black attendees trying to talk to white ones. Connor would later become infamous for refusing to protect civil rights advocates from racist attacks and for siccing police dogs and high pressure fire hoses on peaceful demonstrators. Upon arriving in Birmingham, Taylor referred to Connor as "a spokesman for a small and fast dying clique."<br />
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<i>Taylor meets with the SNYC in 1947 </i>(<a href="https://www.pinterest.com/pin/27514247701241793/">Source</a>)</div>
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Upon arriving at the Alliance Gospel Tabernacle church, Taylor found that it was the scene of blatant intimidation. Looking to avoid a confrontation with Connor, the SNYC had erected temporary partitions and labeled separate entrances to ensure that the church was in compliance with the segregation ordinance. Nevertheless, the meeting site was surrounded by police officers as well as some demonstrating Klansmen.<br />
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Instead of going to the door reserved for white attendees, Taylor decided to enter through the "colored" entrance. He was confronted at the door by a police officer who told him to use the other entrance. "I'm not particular about these things," Taylor replied. He tried to force his way past the officer, at which point the cop sent him sprawling to the ground before shoving him up against a wire fence, leaving him with several scratches.<br />
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Some accounts accused Taylor of angrily sparring with the Birmingham police during the confrontation. They said the vice presidential candidate announced that he couldn't be arrested due to his status as a senator, swung his fists at officers, and called them "vile names." Along with several other visitors to the SNYC conference, Taylor was arrested and taken to jail.<br />
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The arrest provoked outrage across the United States, as many observers saw it as a heavy-handed response to a minor violation of an unjust law. Wallace declared that no one could claim to be a liberal while supporting the Jim Crow laws. "Glen was not violating any law," he said. "He was upholding the basic law of the land, the Constitution of the United States." Taylor later offered his own rationale, saying defiance of an unconstitutional measure was no vice. "If they passed a law saying you had to spit in the face of any Negro you passed on the sidewalk, I would disobey it," he said.<br />
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Taylor received less sympathy in the South. Connor stood by the actions of the police, saying the segregation ordinance applied to "First Ladies of the United States, U.S. senators, and the Constitution of the United States." Alabama newspapers denounced the vice presidential candidate's action as nothing more than a political stunt. The <i>Huntsville Times</i> said the action was "solely to use as political propaganda in the Wallace campaign," while the <i>Shreveport Journal</i> suggested that "Mr. Taylor's reason for his offensive gesture was to attract Negro support of the Wallace ticket." The <i>Alabama Journal</i> commented that it was sad to see a U.S. senator "deliberately defy laws, abuse policemen, play with dynamite."<br />
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Senator John J. Sparkman, an Alabama Democrat who was considered one of the less conservative members of the Southern delegation, also criticized Taylor. Unlike most of the Southern "Dixiecrats," Sparkman had refused to desert Truman in favor of Thurmond's segregationist third party bid, despite his opposition to the President's civil rights measures. After the incident in Birmingham, Sparkman praised Connor and accused Taylor of deliberately provoking his arrest "in order to get the publicity out of it."<br />
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Three days after his arrest, Taylor was brought before a police court on a charge of disorderly conduct. He was quickly convicted, fined $50, and given a fully suspended sentence of 180 days in jail. Taylor immediately appealed the verdict, hoping that in doing so he would be able to challenge the practice of segregation. In August 1948, he wrote to Arthur Shores, a black attorney who frequently represented the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, to ask for a copy of the ordinance. Shores subsequently agreed to work as Taylor's attorney for the rest of the proceedings, and had a new trial scheduled for March 1949.<br />
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Despite high expectations for the Progressives, the party had a disappointing performance on Election Day. Although more than one million people cast their votes for Wallace and Taylor, this total represented just 2.37 percent of the popular vote and was roughly equal to the number of votes earned by Thurmond. And while the Progressives had failed to capture a single electoral vote, Thurmond had carried four Southern states. Truman defeated Republican candidate Thomas E. Dewey in a surprise upset to earn a second term.<br />
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Taylor returned to Alabama the spring after the election to face a jury trial. The court had added the charges of interfering with a police officer and assault and battery to the existing count of disorderly conduct. He could have been charged with violation of the segregation ordinance, but the court declined to press this issue for fear that Taylor would appeal it all the way to the Supreme Court. <br />
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Nevertheless, Shores and Taylor challenged the legitimacy of the segregation ordinance, saying it was a blatant violation of the First Amendment freedoms of speech and assembly. The judge disagreed, stating, "If the defendant committed the acts charged at the entrance to an old ladies quilting party, is he more or less guilty?" Taylor had little chance of triumphing before an Alabaman all-white jury, which quickly found him guilty and upheld the original sentence. <br />
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Taylor again appealed the verdict, but the Alabama Supreme Court upheld the result in January 1950. He then tried to get a hearing before the Supreme Court, but in June the justices declined to take on the case. Connor added insult to injury after this decision by demanding that Taylor come to Alabama to face his sentence. Taylor replied that he had "no intention of turning myself over to that chain gang."<br />
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Connor made a formal request to C.A. Robins, the Republican governor of Idaho, to have Taylor extradited. Robins refused, saying it was a petty demand since Taylor had already paid the fine and had not been required to serve any jail time. The denial quietly ended the battle between the Idaho senator and Birmingham law enforcement.<br />
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<b>Farewell to the Senate</b><br />
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After the 1948 race, the Progressive Party quickly disintegrated. Taylor left in 1949, and Wallace would depart a year later after breaking with the party by supporting the American involvement in the Korean War. Taylor returned to the Democrats and defended his temporary defection, saying, "I didn't leave the Democratic Party. The Democratic Party left me."<br />
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Nevertheless, Taylor faced a stiffer challenge in seeking the Senate nomination from a party he had briefly abandoned. He was also the target of a media attack campaign by Idaho Power, a utility company Taylor had previous criticized. Since 1947, Taylor had accused the company of opposing the Hells Canyon High Dam for the sole purpose of keeping its rates and profits high. During the 1950 election season, Idaho Power publicly accused Taylor of "vicious misrepresentations in every sense of the word, designed to mislead the people of this area." The company accused Taylor of trying to give control of Idaho's water to the federal government, and Taylor admitted that he preferred public rather than private control of water.<br />
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In the year's Democratic primary, Taylor lost to D. Worth Clark, the former senator whom he had defeated for the 1944 nomination. Clark would lose the general election to Republican candidate Herman E. Welker.<br />
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In 1954, Taylor returned for another bid at the Senate. Although he won the Democratic nomination, he lost to Republican incumbent Henry Dworshak, earning only about one-third of the vote in the general election.<br />
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Returning for the 1956 race, Taylor declared, "All I want is to be known as the senator who did the most for Idaho." He found himself in a neck-and-neck race with Frank Church, a Boise attorney who won the Democratic nomination by a mere 200 ballots out of more than 55,000 cast. Taylor charged that the primary had been affected by election irregularities, namely ballot counting procedures in the Mountain Home precinct. But the Idaho attorney general said he had no authority to order a recount, and the Senate subcommittee on elections declined his request for an investigation; the Idaho legislature subsequently passed legislation on recount procedures in their next session.<br />
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Taylor decided to run as a write-in candidate in the 1956 election, but earned less than 12,000 votes. Church defeated Welker in the general election, marking the start of a 24-year career in the Senate. Two years later, Taylor was still irritated with the primary results. He wrote to Church asking if the senator would be willing to take a lie detector test on whether he believed the 1956 election had been conducted honestly. If Church agreed, Taylor promised he would not run for governor of Idaho in the 1958 race or for Senate in 1962. Church's press secretary commented that the proposal was "not deserving of a reply."<br />
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<b>Wigging out</b><br />
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After he left the Senate in 1950, Taylor became the president of the Coryell Construction Company. However, he was forced to resign two years later because the federal government considered him to be a security risk and said they would not award contracts to the company. Taylor began working menial construction jobs in order to maintain an income.<br />
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Eventually, Taylor moved to the San Francisco area and capitalized on his firsthand experience with toupees. In 1961, he founded a wig manufacturing company called Taylor Topper Inc. The company is still in existence today, although it is now known as Taylormade.<br />
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Taylor died of Alzheimer's disease in Millbrae, California, on April 28, 1984. He was 80 years old.<br />
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<b>Sources</b><br />
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The Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, "Taylor Croons Plea for Home" in the <i>Spokesman-Review</i> on Jan. 4 1945, "Senator Packs Election Punch" in the <i>Pittsburgh Press</i> on Nov. 6 1946, "Taylor Cracks Jaw of Political Rival" in the <i>Spokane Daily Chronicle</i> on Nov. 6 1946, "Sen. Taylor Tells of Battle of Boise Hotel" in the <i>Deseret News </i>on Nov. 8 1946, "Jaw in Plaster, McKaig Says Taylor 'Kicked Me in the Face'" in the <i>Spokane Daily Chronicle</i> on Nov. 14 1946, "Washington Calling" in the <i>Daytona Beach Morning Herald</i> on Jan. 7 1947, "Taylor Begins Cross-Nation 'Peace' Ride" in the <i>Toledo Blade</i> on Oct. 27 1947, "Horse-Born Solon Decides Nag's No Good" in the <i>Tuscaloosa News</i> on Oct. 30 1947, "Segregation Law Tested at Trial" in the <i>Owosso Argus-Press</i> on Mar. 31 1949, "Sen. Taylor Glad of Fine, Sentence" in the <i>Free Lance-Star</i> on Apr. 1 1949, "Why the Senator Rides a Horse Across the Nation" in the <i>St. Petersburg Times</i> on Nov. 9 1949, "Gem State Solon Hopefuls Sound Last-Ditch Appeals" in the <i>Spokane Daily Chronicle</i> on Aug. 11 1956, "Church Still Leads Taylor with Canvases Completed" in the <i>Lewiston Morning Tribune</i> on Aug. 22 1956, "Glen Taylor May Head New Splinter Party" in the <i>Sarasota Journal</i> on Oct. 8 1956, "Idaho Balloting Nearly Ties Record" in the <i>Lewiston Morning Tribune</i> on Nov. 8 1956, "Church Rejects Plan by Ex-Senator Taylor" in the <i>Spokesman-Review</i> on Mar. 7 1958, "Political Maverick Glen Taylor Dies" in the <i>Spokane Chronicle</i> on May 4 1984, "Glen H. Taylor of Idaho Dies; Wallace Running Mate in '48" in the <i>New York Times</i> on May 5 1984, "An Idaho Maverick" in the <i>Coeur d'Alene Press</i> on Feb. 22 2015, <i>Prophet Without Honor: Glen H. Taylor and the Fight for American Liberalism</i> by F. Ross Peterson, <i>Public Power, Private Dams: The Hells Canyon High Dam Controversy</i> by Karl Boyd Brooks, <i>The Candy Bombers: The Untold Story of the Berlin Airlift and America's Finest Hour</i> by Andrei Cherny, <i>Dixiecrat Revolt and the End of the Solid South 1932-1968</i> by Kari Frederickson, <i>The Last Campaign: How Harry Truman Won the 1948 Election</i> by Zachary Karabell, <i>Carry Me Home: Birmingham, Alabama: The Climactic Battle of the Civil Rights Revolution</i> by Diane McWhorter, <i>The Gentle Giant of Dynamite Hill: The Untold Story of Arthur Shores and His Family's Fight for Civil Rights</i> by Helen Shores Lee and Barbara S. Shores with Denise George, 1950, <i>Crossroads of American Religious Life</i> by Robert S. Ellwood, <i>Taylor v. City of Birmingham</i>Dirk Langeveldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10347292004358347133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8953541230084203389.post-13802154587015196282016-11-25T12:00:00.000-05:002016-11-25T12:00:11.788-05:00William S. Taylor: A Killing in Kentucky<div style="text-align: center;">
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(<a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=Q84eBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA131&dq=william+taylor+governor+kentucky&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjZnZOypsTQAhXmyFQKHYI4CRUQ6AEIHzAB#v=onepage&q=william%20taylor%20governor%20kentucky&f=false">Source</a>)<br />
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Although he was accused of involvement in a heinous crime in his home state of Kentucky, William Sylvester Taylor was still welcomed to the 1900 Republican National Convention as a delegate-at-large. The meeting would see President William McKinley remain on the ballot for an attempt at a second term, with Governor Theodore Roosevelt of New York named as candidate for Vice President. Taylor joined the other delegates in the near-unanimous decision on this ticket; Roosevelt was the only one of the 926 delegates to not support his name for Vice President, considering it more fitting to abstain.<br />
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Taylor, who had been ousted as governor of Kentucky after serving for just a few weeks, had since moved to Indiana. He only agreed to attend the Republican National Convention after he was assured that the officials in Pennsylvania would make no attempt to extradite him to his home state. After the convention, there were rumors that he was traveling toward Niagara Falls, a popular place to cross the border into Canada. These reports proved to be unfounded.<br />
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Nevertheless, Taylor continued to be nervous about his surroundings. His immediate successor to the governor's office had been gunned down in front of the state capitol in Frankfort, in an incident which remains the only gubernatorial assassination in United States history. A court contended that Taylor had actively plotted to remove his rival after a bitterly contested race.<br />
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<b>Early political career</b><br />
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Taylor was born on October 10, 1853, in Butler County, Kentucky. He grew up on a farm and didn't start his formal education until age 15. Despite this late start, he proved a fast learner and a gifted orator. He became a teacher in 1874, and remained in this profession until 1882. He also continued to work in farming, and later became a lawyer.<br />
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During his time as an educator, Taylor entered his first political contest. He ran for county clerk in 1878, but was unsuccessful. Four years later, he tried again and was victorious.<br />
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Taylor soon proved a popular Republican candidate in Butler County. He was elected to two terms as county judge, serving from 1886 to 1894, and was named as a delegate to the 1888 Republican National Convention. Between 1896 and 1899, he was Kentucky's attorney general.<br />
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The state was a fairly violent place to live during this time. While Kentucky had nominally remained loyal to the Union during the Civil War, sentiments within the state were more divided. The northern part of the state was more developed and industrialized, while the southern portion relied more on agrarian pursuits. During the war, northern Kentuckians had strongly supported the Union while residents living closer to the Tennessee border were more sympathetic to the Confederacy.<br />
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Since Kentucky was a slave state, it was subject to Reconstruction after the war. The ongoing tensions in the state contributed to a number of violent episodes, including duels, feuds, and murders. This atmosphere all but guaranteed that a close election result in the 1899 gubernatorial election would not be resolved without bloodshed.<br />
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<b>Governor's race</b><br />
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The Republicans chose Taylor as their candidate without much fanfare. He would face off against William Goebel, whose ascension to the Democratic nominee had been much more chaotic.<br />
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<i>William Goebel (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Goebel">Source</a>)</i></div>
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Goebel was an attorney and state senator who had also become something of a political boss by the time of the election. He helped organize political efforts across the state, and worked to get his supporters in control of city and county governments. He supported civil rights for black residents and women, and often took on the big railroad companies in his legal work. In the state senate, he supported stronger regulations on the railroads; he often used profanity or insults to shore up his arguments.<br />
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Four years before the gubernatorial race, Goebel's crusade for fair transportation regulations had attracted the ire of businessman John Lawrence Sanford. The two men had been at odds over the removal of tolls from some Kentucky turnpikes, an action which cost Sanford money. On April 11, 1895, Goebel was walking with friends in downtown Covington when he spotted Sanford and confronted him. Witnesses said that Sanford ambushed Goebel, pulling a pistol and firing at close range.<br />
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The bullet passed through Goebel's coat, but didn't leave a scratch on him. He quickly reacted to the assault by pulling his own pistol and shooting Sanford in the head; the businessman died instantly. Goebel was later acquitted of murder, due to witness testimony that Sanford had previously threatened to kill Goebel and that the state senator had fired in self-defense.<br />
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In 1899, Goebel mounted an aggressive effort to win the Democratic Party's nomination for governor. At the state convention, he was one of four candidates vying for the job. He made a secret agreement with fellow candidate William J. Stone, a former Confederate soldier who lost a leg in the Civil War, to assure his favored choice for a temporary chairman over that of Parker Watkins Hardin, an ex-Confederate general backed by the railroads. From there, he was able to get control of the convention's committees and shape its platform.<br />
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When the convention's delegates failed to produce a gubernatorial candidate after 25 votes, Goebel proposed that the person receiving the fewest votes on the next ballot should drop out. He then betrayed Stone, having some of his own men throw their support behind Hardin to help put Stone at the bottom of the tally. He believed that Stone's delegates would be more likely to support him over Hardin after Stone was out of the picture. This tactic proved successful, and Goebel was ultimately picked as the Democratic nominee for governor.<br />
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A small contingent of Democrats, disgusted with the manipulative dealings at the convention, refused to support Goebel. They formed a group called the Honest Election League and named John Young Brown, who had served as governor between 1891 and 1895, as their nominee.<br />
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During his campaign, Goebel accused Taylor of having a cozy relationship with Kentucky's railroad interests. At his rallies, he frequently asked whether the attendees wanted the corporations to be "the master or the servant of the people." William Jennings Bryan, who had been the Democratic nominee in the 1896 presidential election, campaigned on Goebel's behalf.<br />
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Aside from his populist appeal, Goebel had another advantage going into the election. While in the state senate, he had overseen the passage of a controversial new election law. This act established a three-member board of commissioners, appointed by the state legislature, to determine the victor in contested elections. Since the Democrats were in power in the legislature, the commission established in 1899 would likely favor the Democratic candidate.<br />
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<b>A contested result</b><br />
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When the votes were tallied after the general election on November 7, Taylor had eked out a razor-thin majority. The Republican candidate had earned 193,714 votes, while Goebel had mustered 191,331. The Democratic candidate's underhanded tactics had proved his undoing; the Honest Election League had convinced 12,040 voters to cast a ballot for Brown instead of Goebel.<br />
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At first, Goebel was content to accept the loss. However, his supporters convinced him that the election had been marred by corruption. He challenged the result and asked for the matter to be heard before the election commission. But in a move that surprised Kentucky's voters, the Democratic commissioners voted two to one that Taylor had won the election fairly. On December 12, the Republican candidate was sworn into office.<br />
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Their finding still had to be approved by the state legislature, but the Democrats in this body continued to suspect that Taylor had only won the election through fraud. The legislature opted to launch their own investigation into the issue, drawing a group of 11 legislators at random to look into the contest. In what was likely a premeditated maneuver, the selection picked 10 Democrats and only one Republican. Taylor and his allies feared that the committee was almost certain to invalidate the election results.<br />
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<i>A political cartoon shows Goebel trying to dislodge Taylor from the "Governor's Chair" with the Kentucky legislature (<a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=-6fJntaC3EwC&pg=PA63&dq=the+kentucky+campaign+goebel&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjgtb3pqsTQAhWqhFQKHRq9D_kQ6AEIHDAA#v=onepage&q=the%20kentucky%20campaign%20goebel&f=false">Source</a>)</i></div>
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On January 2, 1900, the Democratic legislature formally contested the election results. They charged that a wide range of corruption had taken place on Election Day, including voter intimidation, military interference, a conspiracy by the L&N Railroad and the Republican Party to bribe voters, and the acceptance of fraudulent returns and "thin" ballots (those where the paper was thin enough that it was possible to determine who a voter chose by looking at the back of the ballot).<br />
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To put pressure on the legislature, Taylor called for supporters from the strongly Republican regions of eastern Kentucky to come to Frankfort. A large number of these Appalachian "mountain men" answered his call, surging into the capital and bringing firearms in a show of force. Tensions and resentment over the election continued to worsen.<br />
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<b>The death of Goebel</b><br />
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The stalemate continued until the end of the month, when a shocking turn of events threw the state into even greater turmoil. While walking with his comrades toward the state capitol on January 30, a shot rang out. The bullet pierced Goebel's chest, breaking through a rib and puncturing a lung. His friends rushed him to the Capital Hotel, where the Democrats had set up a base of operations. A doctor worked to stabilize the wound, but knew that it was almost certain to be fatal.<br />
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<i>An illustration portraying the scene moments after Goebel was shot (<a href="http://patrickmurfin.blogspot.com/2016/02/william-goebels-unenviable-first-and.html">Source</a>)</i></div>
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In the wake of the attack on Goebel, Taylor called the militia to Frankfort to keep order. He also ordered the state legislature to disperse, calling on them to reconvene a week later. Suggesting that it would be "sheer madness" for the legislature to assemble in the capital in the current environment, he asked them to meet in the town of London - an eastern Kentucky community and Republican stronghold.<br />
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Taylor also issued a statement a day after the shooting, blaming the "unprecedented and unlawful" acts of the legislature for the incident. However, he also decried the attack on his opponent as unacceptable. "The dreadful tragedy which occurred yesterday shocked and startled all, and can be no more sincerely deplored by any one than myself," he said.<br />
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Given that their nominee for governor was slowly dying of a gunshot wound, the Democrats weren't in the mood to reconcile with Taylor. Instead, they looked at his actions as a blatant attempt to seize power by force. They charged that the call for armed men to occupy the capital and the subsequent shooting of Goebel demonstrated that Taylor was willing to rule through "force, fraud, and corruption." In defiance of Taylor's orders, the Democratic members of the legislature tried to assemble on their own. After the militia refused to let them meet at the capital, courthouse, and opera house, they finally came together at the Capital Hotel.<br />
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On January 31, the Democratic legislators declared that they had deemed enough of the ballots for Taylor to be invalid. As a result, they concluded that Goebel had won the highest number of "legal votes." A total of 76 members of the state house of representatives and senate signed a declaration naming Goebel as governor and John Crepps Wickliffe Beckham as lieutenant governor; the document also denounced Taylor for "filling the capital of the State with reckless armed men, who have assassinated an honored member of this general assembly, and in calling out the militia without cause, excluding the general assembly from the legislative halls and in preventing it from meeting to transact the business of the commonwealth."<br />
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Goebel was sworn in shortly before 9 p.m. In his only act as governor, he signed an order for the legislature to reconvene and the militia to disperse. The leader of the militia, sympathetic to the Republicans, refused to obey the order. Beckham responded by replacing the state's adjutant general with someone more in line with the Democrats, allowing him to call out a separate militia to reinforce Goebel's claim to the governor's office.<br />
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Now it was the Republicans' turn to cry foul, accusing the Democrats of trying to steal the election from the duly elected candidate. Some even suggested that Goebel was already dead, and that the legislators had given the oath of office to a corpse.<br />
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<i>Militia members, with a Gatling gun, in front of the Kentucky state capitol (<a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=-6fJntaC3EwC&pg=PA63&dq=the+kentucky+campaign+goebel&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjgtb3pqsTQAhWqhFQKHRq9D_kQ6AEIHDAA#v=onepage&q&f=false">Source</a>)</i></div>
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For a time, the state of Kentucky was essentially split between two state governments. Taylor held the Executive Building, refusing to concede the election. Goebel and Beckham held their own claims to the gubernatorial office. The Republican and Democratic legislators were meeting separately, within blocks of each other. Two separate militias faced each other. Observers in other parts of the United States wondered if the situation might devolve into a civil war within the state.<br />
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Three days after he was named governor of Kentucky, Goebel died. Beckham was promptly sworn in to take his place. The dispute continued, with Taylor asserting that he had been elected fairly and that Beckham was "claiming and pretending to be the governor of Kentucky."<br />
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On February 6, three days after Goebel's death, Democratic and Republican leaders met to try to resolve the question over who held the rightful claim to the governor's office. The stated purpose of the summit was to "end the unfortunate condition of political affairs now existent in Kentucky." At first, it seemed like the Democrats had triumphed; the parties agreed that Taylor and his lieutenant governor, John Marshall, would step down.<br />
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But on February 10, Taylor announced that he would not sign the agreement. The matter would have to be decided in the courts.<br />
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<b>Life as a fugitive</b><br />
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The Louisville Circuit Court ruled that Goebel had been the victor in the 1899 election. The decision was sustained after the Republicans appealed it to the Court of Appeals. Taylor managed to have the case heard before the U.S. Supreme Court, but the justices decided on May 21 that the federal government had no jurisdiction in the dispute. As such, the lower court rulings would stand and Beckham would become governor.<br />
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Soon after this decision, Taylor left Kentucky for good. By this time, several people had been charged in the assassination of Goebel. Taylor feared that he would be accused of complicity in the murder.<br />
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The indictments had been handed down in April. Several witnesses had claimed that the fatal bullet was fired from annex of Kentucky secretary of state in the Executive Building. The grand jury named several of the "mountain men" as the principal conspirators in the murder: James and Berry Howard, Henry Youtsey, Harland Whitaker, and Dick Combs.<br />
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A number of other men were charged as accessories before the fact. This group included Caleb Powers, Taylor's secretary of state; Charles Finley, a former secretary of state; Captain John T. Powers, Caleb's brother; William H. Culton, a clerk in the state auditor's building; and F. Wharton Golden. The grand jury named Taylor as an indirect accessory to the crime, along with Green Golden and State House police captain John Davis, but did not indict them.<br />
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Democratic investigators charged that the decision to kill Goebel had been agreed upon by 25 men meeting in the Executive Building. The people named as principals or accessories, they alleged, had been the leaders of the plot.<br />
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<i>Caleb Powers, who went to trial four times for Goebel's murder (<a href="https://archive.org/details/greatspeechofcal01powe">Source</a>)</i></div>
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Many of the men charged in the assassination had no intention of submitting to arrest. Caleb Powers and Davis reportedly disguised themselves as militiamen and boarded a train to Lexington, but their escape attempt was discovered and they were captured when they arrived in the city. Whitaker was arrested soon after Goebel was shot after he ran out of the governor's office, and was found to have several revolvers on him; he was later killed in a mine explosion in Idaho.<br />
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Taylor and Finley had fled north to Indianapolis. Here, they found themselves protected by a series of sympathetic Republican governors. James A. Mount, whose term began in January 1897, refused to let Kentucky officials take either man back across the state line. At one point, Finley was arrested and a Kentucky state police officer tried to take custody of him. He had to be released after Mount refused to approve the extradition.<br />
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Taylor also appealed to William McKinley for a pardon. The President said he sympathized with the ousted governor, but could not grant the request.<br />
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Kentucky returned to relative peace after Beckham was confirmed as governor, and he would stay in office until 1907. During that time, the courts would seek justice for Goebel's murderer. Caleb Powers was convicted, along with Howard. Youtsey confessed to being involved in the assassination and was sentenced to life in prison. However, the verdicts in Powers' and Howard's cases were later overturned.<br />
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Powers would be tried for Goebel's murder a total of four times. He was convicted three times, twice being sentenced to life in prison and once to death; in each case, the result of the trial was overturned. Taylor refused to leave Indiana to testify on his former cabinet official's behalf, despite reassurances that he would have immunity from arrest, on the belief that it would be unwise to return to Kentucky.<br />
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In November 1907, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Samuel W. Hager had said he would not pardon Powers or commute his sentence if he was elected. Powers, preparing for his fourth trial, criticized Hager for making the decision before his case had even been resolved. He also asserted that the charges would have been thrown out long before if pro-Goebel Democrats hadn't comprised the juries, tried unsuccessfully to get his case transferred to federal court, and claimed he knew who had murdered Goebel and that it wasn't Howard.<br />
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Powers' fourth trial ended in a hung jury. Governor Augustus E. Willson, who became the first Republican to hold the office since Taylor after his election in 1907, pardoned Powers in 1908. Powers later wrote a book defending himself against lingering rumors that he had gotten away with murder.<br />
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After Mount left office in Indiana in 1901, his successor continued to shelter Taylor and Finley. Governor Winfield T. Durbin became a close friend of Taylor's, and later said he rejected an attempted $93,000 bribe to turn the former governor over to Kentucky authorities. Charles A. Bookwalter, the mayor of Indianapolis, claimed that the man who had been hired to prosecute the cases against Taylor and his co-defendants, Thomas A. Campbell, offered to give him $25,000 if he allowed Taylor to be kidnapped. Bookwalter said he refused, instead ordering the police to guard Taylor's home for 60 days. Campbell again approached him, offering a higher sum to remove the guard, and the mayor again refused.<br />
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There were worries that vigilantes would try to shanghai the ex-governor across state lines to face criminal charges. In November 1904, Durbin said he was not sure if incoming Governor J. Frank Hanly would continue to refuse requisitions to send Taylor back to Kentucky. Hanly, a Republican, had only said that he would consider the case on its merits before deciding what to do. In the end, he never gave Taylor up to the Kentucky authorities.<br />
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<b>Later years</b><br />
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While living in Indiana, Taylor resumed his work as an attorney. He later became the vice president and general counsel of Empire Life Insurance.<br />
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Willson had been governor of Kentucky for about 16 months before he decided to end Taylor's exile. On April 23, 1909, he pardoned the former governor as well as Finley, John Powers, Whitaker, Davis, and defendant Zach Steele. The governor, who had previously pardoned Caleb Powers and James Howard, said he had looked into Goebel's assassination and come to the conclusion that Youtsey had acted alone. The only evidence that had come up against Taylor was testimony that he had written to Howard inviting him to come to Frankfort to kill Goebel. Since Howard had not been accused of shooting Goebel, Willson considered this accusation irrelevant.<br />
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The governor believed that the decision of Taylor and others to flee the state was not a sign of their guilt, but rather their fear that they would not be able to get a fair trial. Willson also moved to dismiss the charges against the other defendants, leaving Youtsey as the only one to be convicted in Goebel's death.<br />
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"From the fair, impartial study of the reports of all of the trials and from my knowledge of the condition of these times, I believe that Governor William S. Taylor had no guilty knowledge of the murder of William Goebel and that he would never have been indicted but for political excitement and passion," Willson said.<br />
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The identity of Goebel's assassin remains a mystery. Youtsey was the only one to serve a significant prison sentence for the crime, although he did not claim to be the gunman. He remained behind bars until December 1918, when he was paroled.<br />
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Three months after he was pardoned, Taylor made his first visit to Kentucky since Goebel's assassination. However, he said he did not intend to come back to live in the state permanently. He had experienced too much sorrow in the wake of the 1899 election, he said, including the death of his wife and daughter of "broken hearts."<br />
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Taylor returned to his career in Indianapolis and spent the rest of his days in this city. He died of heart disease on August 2, 1928, at the age of 74.<br />
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<b>Sources</b><br />
<br />
National Governors Association, Kentucky Historical Society, "The Four Days Governor" by Ellen Terrell on the Library of Congress website, "Kentucky Has Two Governors" in the <i>Deseret News </i>on Feb. 1 1900, "The Rival Governors" in the <i>Daily Star </i>on Feb. 16 1900, "Ten Kentucky Indictments" in the <i>Boston Evening Transcript</i> on Apr. 18 1900, "Taylor in Bad Health" in the <i>Toledo Blade </i>on Jun. 28 1900, "Governor Taylor in Danger of the Law" in the <i>Nevada Daily Mail </i>on Nov. 18 1904, "Taylor Will Not Testify" in the <i>Boston Evening Transcript </i>on Aug. 2 1907, "Caleb Powers' Strange Case" in the <i>Evening News </i>on Nov. 26 1907, "Pardons in the Goebel Case" in the <i>Boston Evening Transcript </i>on Apr. 24 1909, "Ex-Governor Taylor Returns to Kentucky" in <i>The Daily Star </i>on Aug. 30 1909, "Death Recalls Ancient Feuds of Governors" in the <i>St. Petersburg Times </i>on Aug. 4 1928, "The Late Governor Goebel" in <i>Humanities </i>in August 2013, <i>Kentucky's Governors </i>edited by Lowell H. Harrison, <i>The Encyclopedia of Northern Kentucky </i>edited by Paul A. Tenkotte and James C. Claypool, <i>A New History of Kentucky </i>by Lowell H. Harrison and James C. Klotter, <i>That Kentucky Campaign </i>by R.E. Hughes, F.W. Schaefer, and E.L. Williams, <i>The Independent Vol. 52</i>, <i>Powers v. Commonwealth</i>, <i>Official Proceedings of the Twelfth Republican National Convention</i>Dirk Langeveldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10347292004358347133noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8953541230084203389.post-14224250036820265942016-08-28T16:41:00.002-04:002016-11-19T10:09:38.028-05:00Henry S. Foote: Two-Time Traitor<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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(<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_S._Foote">Source</a>)</div>
<br />
The bitter political rivalry between Henry Stuart Foote and Jefferson Davis was never more apparent than on Christmas Day in 1847. The senators from Mississippi were lodging in the same boardinghouse in Washington, D.C., and a discussion about popular sovereignty grew heated. Although the exchange between the senators is unrecorded, Davis eventually struck Foote after he used language that Davis found offensive.<br />
<br />
Others in the room separated the two men, but tempers flared again after Foote pronounced that Davis had "struck first." Davis denounced Foote as a liar and threatened to beat him to death if he repeated the claim. Foote instead punched Davis, who returned the blow. Davis suggested that the two of them go to a locked room where he kept his pistols, a less than subtle challenge to a duel. The bystanders in the boardinghouse finally succeeded in calming the men, suggesting that it was all a case of "Christmas frolic" and that it should be kept private.<br />
<br />
However, the issue resurfaced a couple of years later. Davis heard that Foote had been boasting that he had struck Davis with impunity. Davis wrote to Foote to ask the rumor was true, and Foote denied it in a lengthy reply. Davis was not wholly satisfied, but his friends convinced him that it was good enough. They also pointed out that a duel between the two would be seen as unfair; Davis had military experience in both the Black Hawk War and the Mexican War, while Foote was a poor enough shot that he had been wounded in three of the four duels he had participated in.<br />
<br />
While the rivalry between Foote and Davis never again rose to violence, they remained bitter rivals even as Davis became president of the Confederacy and Foote reluctantly joined the Confederate Congress. Foote would always have a reputation as a hot-tempered politician who was quick to fight, but also proved to be one of the strongest voices against secession. Yet he would also have the dubious honor of being accused of disloyalty in both the North and the South.<br />
<br />
<b>Early life</b><br />
<br />
Foote was born in Fauquier County, Virginia, on February 28, 1804. He graduated from Washington College (now Washington and Lee University) in 1819. He studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1823, and moved to Alabama two years later to begin a practice in Tuscumbia. He also began editing a weekly newspaper.<br />
<br />
In his youth, Foote became known for his propensity to fight duels. He was a participant in four contests of honor between 1828 and 1837, challenging an opponent twice and getting challenged on the remaining two occasions. He was shot in the shoulder in the first incident, after which he moved to Mississippi and began practicing law in Jackson, Natchez, Raymond, and Vicksburg. A dispute with fellow lawyer Sergeant S. Prentiss occurred between 1832 and 1833, after Foote threw an inkstand at Prentiss; this action led to a duel where he was again wounded in the shoulder. The rivalry was later rekindled, with Foote receiving "an exceedingly dangerous wound" in the right leg. In his last duel, Foote managed to shoot a rival in the hip during an exchange of five shots.<br />
<br />
Not surprisingly, Foote was known for having a short fuse and his quick temper didn't endear him to many people. One Alabama newspaper would compare him to "a high pressure steamboat on fire." He was also well-known for his short stature and bald head. One tongue-in-cheek account described Foote as a "great humbug, perfect gentleman, entire horse, and part alligator."<br />
<br />
Foote briefly left Mississippi in 1839 to journey to the Republic of Texas, which had won independence from Mexico three years earlier. Although the republic's leaders wanted it to be annexed to the United States, concerns over incorporating a new slave state into the nation had kept Texas an independent nation. It would remain so until 1845. Foote would write a book on his experience, <i>Texas and the Texans</i>, and publish it in 1841.<br />
<br />
<b>Senate</b><br />
<br />
In 1839, Foote won his first political race when he was elected to the Mississippi house of representatives. He was later elected as a Democrat to the U.S. Senate, beginning his term on March 4, 1847. He became chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations, an assignment he held throughout his Senate career.<br />
<br />
Foote found few friends among his fellow senators, who dreaded his long-winded speeches. If they became particularly impatient with his rhetoric, some senators would start to hiss or groan to try to get him to finish up. "I know my rights," he shot back at one point, "and will maintain them too, in spite of all the groans that may come from any quarter."<br />
<br />
The tensions of the antebellum era, coupled with Foote's pugnacious streak and unpopularity, all but guaranteed that his Senate career would come with a few bruises. In addition to the fight with Davis, he got into a brawl with Simon Cameron of Pennslyvania on the last night of the 1848 session. The men came to blows after Foote cut Cameron off as he was speaking, saying Cameron had no right to speak in the Senate since his term had ended. In March 1850, he fought with Senator Solon Borland of Arkansas on a street corner after describing Borland as a "servile follower" of John C. Calhoun, a South Carolina senator and former vice president who was strongly in favor of states' rights and the preservation of slavery.<br />
<br />
One senator refused to stoop to violence even in the face of threats from Foote. John P. Hale, a senator from New Hampshire, became known for openly opposing slavery. Though opposed to secession, Foote was a slaveholder and despised abolitionists. At one point, he earned the nickname "Hangman Foote" when he threatened on the floor of the Senate that he would personally help with the lynching of Hale if he ever dared to travel to Mississippi. Hale calmly replied that Foote would receive a kind and warm welcome if he ever wanted to visit New Hampshire.<br />
<br />
<b>Compromise of 1850</b><br />
<br />
Even though he was quick to fight with others, Foote did not want to see the nation descend into war. Among the politicians in the South, he was one of the few to take a staunch position against the idea of secession. Along with Senators Daniel Webster of Massachusetts and Stephen Douglass of Illinois, he became a principal architect of the Compromise of 1850.<br />
<br />
This landmark agreement came about following the Mexican War, when the United States acquired the entire northern half of the Mexican Empire. The issue of whether slavery would be permitted in this territory became more pressing when the gold rush of 1849 led to a rapid increase in the population of California, making it eligible to become a state. With the California delegates unequivocally opposed to slavery, there was a strong possibility that the balance between free and slave states in Congress would be upset - potentially prompting the southern states to secede.<br />
<br />
Several ideas were proposed in Congress to remedy the California question, along with other issues facing the nation. Foote himself offered a bill in January 1850 to provide territorial governments for California, New Mexico, "Deseret" in Utah, and a new state carved out of western Texas called Jacinto. Henry Clay, a longstanding Kentucky senator who had earned the nickname "The Great Compromiser" for his role in negotiating the Missouri Compromise of 1820 and Tariff Compromise of 1833, offered eight resolutions related to the former Mexican territory.<br />
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<i>Henry Clay delivers a speech on his compromise proposals (<a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Henry-Clay/images-videos/In-a-speech-to-the-United-States-Senate-Henry-Clay/52139">Source</a>)</i></div>
<br />
President Zachary Taylor wanted the issue of California's admission as a state to be referred to the Senate Committee on Territories. Foote suggested that it go before a special 13-man committee, along with the other proposals suggested by Clay, so they could be brought before Congress in a single bill. Clay, who had intended to have his proposals considered separately, gave Foote's suggestion what would be a lasting nickname: an "omnibus bill," after the horse-drawn conveyance that was becoming popular for urban transportation. Clay worried that his proposals would be shot down if they were bundled together, declaring that Foote's proposal put into an omnibus "all sorts of things and every kind of passenger, and myself among them."<br />
<br />
Foote, in turn, charged that Clay was "throwing into the hands of his adversaries all the trump cards in the deck." In other words, he considered that Clay's proposals benefited the North while offering little in return to the South. "My allegiance is to this Union and to my state," Clay rebutted, "but if gentlemen suppose they can exact from me an acknowledgement of allegiance to any ideal or future contemplated confederacy of the South, I here declare that I owe no allegiance to it; nor will I, for one, come under any such allegiance if I can avoid it."<br />
<br />
The issues on the table were so weighty that many senators wondered whether the Union could be preserved. Senators like Foote felt that California's admission into the Union would provoke the South into secession, but that it would be possible to preserve the nation if the northern states made a number of concessions in exchange for California statehood. However, many of his constituents in Mississippi and elsewhere in the South were actively calling for secession. Then on March 4, Senator John C. Calhoun expressed his thoughts on the issues facing the nation.<br />
<br />
Calhoun was a much respected member of the Senate. During his long political career, he had served four terms in the House of Representatives, acted as Secretary of War in President James Monroe's Cabinet, and been elected Vice President to President John Quincy Adams. He had served in the Senate since 1832, with a brief hiatus to join President John Tyler's cabinet as Secretary of State.<br />
<br />
By the time the 1850 measures appeared before the Senate, Calhoun was 67 years old suffering from severe illness. He was so weak that he could not deliver his own address (it was read by Senator James M. Mason of Virginia) but there was no mistaking that his words were a rallying cry for southern sectionalism. Calhoun declared that the equilibrium between the North and South had broken down, with the northern states having "exclusive power of controlling the government, which leaves the [South] without any adequate means of protecting itself against its encroachment and oppression."<br />
<br />
Calhoun suggested that the North had excluded the South from newly acquired territories and placed an undue tax burden on the region, appropriating most of the proceeds to northern manufacturing interests. This industry, he argued, made the North a more popular destination for immigrants and consequently increased these states' power in national elections. He said relations between the North and South had been further strained by abolitionists' fervent denunciations of slavery. If the state of affairs continued, he suggested, the South would have no choice but to secede.<br />
<br />
The Senate should not be discussing any sort of compromise, Calhoun concluded. Rather, the North needed to concede equal right to the territories acquired in the Mexican War, work to return fugitive slaves to their owners, "cease the agitation of the slave question," and establish a constitutional amendment to restore the South to equal power in the government.<br />
<br />
"At all events, the responsibility for saving the Union rests on the North, and not the South," Calhoun declared. "The South cannot save it by any act of hers, and the North may save it without any sacrifice whatever, unless to do justice and to perform her duties under the Constitution should be regarded by her as a sacrifice." <br />
<br />
Foote was appalled by the address, believing the course demanded by Calhoun would make secession "almost inevitable." Not only was Calhoun obstructing a compromise, he charged, but he was "heard to denounce the very name of compromise." He also wondered why Calhoun had not consulted with other southern senators before making his speech. "To speak plainly, I almost felt that a noose was put around my neck, while asleep, and without having antecedingly obtained my consent," he complained.<br />
<br />
Calhoun showed little regard for Foote's concerns. About 10 days after his address, he said, "Well sir, I never did consult any man upon any speech I ever made. I make speeches for myself."<br />
<br />
The fiery speech was one of the last ones Calhoun would make. He died on March 31.<br />
<br />
<b>Feud with Benton</b><br />
<br />
By the time of Calhoun's death, Foote had been openly disdainful of <a href="http://downfalldictionary.blogspot.com/2010/08/thomas-h-benton-fury-of-missouri.html">Senator Thomas Hart Benton</a> for several months. A Democrat from Missouri, Benton and Foote agreed on many issues. However, Foote despised what he saw as Benton's pompous attitude. "On meeting him face to face my first unfavorable impressions of him were greatly strengthened,and the excessive vanity and egotism constantly displayed by him, both in conversational scenes and in the Senate, inspired me with feelings of disgust and aversion which I have seldom experienced," he wrote in his autobiography.<br />
<br />
In December 1849, Foote had essentially accused Benton of stealing his proposal for territorial governments in the new lands taken in the Mexican War. He said the Missouri senator had used language "of the coarsest scurrility and envenomed abuse," and insinuated that Benton had inspired slaves to flee Missouri for freedom in Illinois. Benton, a slaveholder himself, had once been prone to violent outbursts but had cooled down considerably after killing a man in a duel in 1817. He responded to Foote's harangue by simply walking out of the chamber.<br />
<br />
It was only the start of a prolonged bullying campaign against Benton. In one particularly fierce rant, Foote accused him of colluding with Senator William Henry Seward, a New York abolitionist who would become President Abraham Lincoln's Secretary of State, to undermine the power of the southern states. He also said Benton had conspired with England to sabotage the peace with Mexico and supported California statehood because his son-in-law John C. Fremont would likely become one of the state's senators. Foote even criticized the "imposing nasality" of Benton's Missouri accent. On February 20, 1850, he accused Benton of being motivated by "an intense self-love" and said the senator wouldn't hesitate to sabotage the Union for personal gain.<br />
<br />
The relationship between the two men was further frayed by Benton's opposition to the omnibus compromise bill, which he dubbed a "monster." When Benton joined the debate on March 28, Foote ridiculed him as "the Caesar, the Napoleon of the Senate." Benton protested that such personal attacks were in violation of the Senate's rules of decorum, but Foote wouldn't let up. He accused Benton of "parading himself as the peculiar friend and champion of California." Referencing the elopement of Benton's daughter Jessie with Fremont, he suggested that the Missouri senator wanted to "drag California into the Union before her wedding garment has been cast about her person." Foote said that if Benton was truly aggrieved by his insults, he could demand satisfaction through a duel.<br />
<br />
"I pronounce it cowardly to give insults where they cannot be chastised. Can I take a cudgel to him here?" Benton responded. "Is a senator to be blackguarded here in the discharge of his duty, and the culprit go unpunished?" Vice President Millard Fillmore, presiding over the Senate session, ignored Foote's attacks and ruled that Benton's remarks were out of order.<br />
<br />
Curiously, Fillmore regretted the lack of civility in the Senate during a funeral held in the chamber for Calhoun just six days later. He said the Vice President was once the only person who could declare a senator out of order for their behavior, but that Calhoun had modified the rules while he was Vice President to allow senators to better police their own behavior. However, Fillmore said he didn't think the Senate had been doing enough to foster a friendly environment. "A slight attack, or even an insinuation, of a personal character, often provokes a more severe retort, which brings out a more disorderly reply, each senator feeling a justification in the previous aggression," he said.<br />
<br />
The remark foresaw the inevitable clash between Benton and Foote. This incident was likely spurred by remarks over the recently departed Calhoun; indeed, Benton had declared that the former Vice President "died with treason in his heart and on his lips," firing up secessionists across the South before passing away. On April 17, the two men got into a heated argument in the Senate, with Foote bringing up the insinuation that Benton had been taking bribes.<br />
<br />
After months of insults, Benton had finally reached a breaking point. He angrily rose from his seat and stormed toward Foote, who immediately retreated into the aisle and drew a pistol. Bedlam erupted in the chamber as other senators tried to prevent any violence. Though Benton's words vary from source to source, their meaning remains constant: he was unarmed, Foote intended to kill him, and he was welcome to commit such a cowardly murder. According to one source, Benton threw open his shirt front and declared, "Let him fire! Stand out of the way! I have no pistols. Let the assassin fire!"<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>Thomas Hart Benton dares Henry S. Foote to shoot him. (<a href="http://www.americanvalues.org/search/item.php?id=2922">Source</a>)</i></div>
<br />
Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed. Foote surrendered the weapon to Senator Daniel Dickinson of New York, who locked it in his desk. Benton continued to shout at Foote, accusing him of making an assassination attempt. Foote denied the charge, saying he had started carrying the pistol for self-defense after being threatened by another senator in a cloakroom a few days earlier.<br />
<br />
Preceding the <a href="http://downfalldictionary.blogspot.com/2009/10/preston-s-brooks-dignity-vs-decorum.html">caning of Senator Charles Sumner by Representative Preston Brooks</a> by six years, the incident was a potent illustration of just how fraught the tensions between the North and South were. Some senators demanded that Foote be expelled, and a resolution was quickly introduced to investigate the incident. When no one wanted to serve on it, Fillmore had to name seven members.<br />
<br />
In July, the committee concluded that the confrontation between Foote and Benton was like nothing that had ever occurred before in the Senate. Although the senators agreed that Foote had "indulged in personalities toward Mr. Benton of the most offensive character, such as were calculated to rouse the fiercest resentment in the human bosom," they also concluded that Foote had been acting in self-defense when he drew a pistol. The committee recommended no further action, hoping the incident would provide "a sufficient rebuke and warning not unheeded in the future."<br />
<br />
<b>Governor of Mississippi</b><br />
<br />
Initially opposed to the omnibus strategy, Clay had announced on April 8 that he would support it. "You may vote against it if you please in toto, because of the bad there is in it, or you may vote for it because you approve of the greater amount of good there is in it," he said.<br />
<br />
Foote continued to support the compromise, denouncing an alternate measure offered by Davis as nothing but "a sort of southern Wilmot Proviso." Davis's proposal called for the federal protection of slavery in the territories, but Foote argued that this measure would actually help undermine slavery. Since those in favor of slavery had traditionally argued that the practice was constitutionally protected everywhere except the free states, he said, it was an accepted notion that Congress had no authority to legislate on slavery issues. He said that if Davis's measure was adopted, it could quickly lead to abolition and "utterly exterminate our favorite domestic institution, and plunge the whole South in hopeless and remediless ruin."<br />
<br />
The omnibus bill called for the admission of California into the Union as a free state and the abolition of the slave trade in Washington, D.C., in exchange for a stronger fugitive slave law and the possible expansion of slavery into the West through popular sovereignty. When this legislation was voted down, Foote tried unsuccessfully to have California divided into two states, one slave and one free. This proposal was voted down with 33 opposed and 23 in favor.<br />
<br />
Despite these failures, the Compromise of 1850 still made it through Congress. Stephen Douglas of Illinois resumed the effort to pass the measures as five separate bills, which covered all of the issues in the omnibus and had Texas surrender its claims on New Mexico territory. Foote frequently visited the House of Representatives after the measures passed the Senate, offering assistance to members there.<br />
<br />
Foote was the only man among all of Mississippi's representatives and senators to support the Compromise of 1850. After the close of the congressional session in September, the state legislature commended Davis and the four congressmen for their opposition to the measures. It also censured Foote for his support.<br />
<br />
Despite this rebuke, there was a fair amount of support in Mississippi for the preservation of the Union. In 1851, Foote was selected as the gubernatorial candidate for the newly formed Union Party to counter pro-secession Democratic candidate John Quitman. The bitter campaign was chiefly focused on whether or not Mississippi should quit the Union; at one campaign stop in Sledgeville, Foote and Quitman came to blows and had to be separated. Quitman delayed his schedule to stop in towns two days after Foote, and Foote subsequently began accusing Quitman of being afraid to meet him face to face.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>John Quitman, who dropped out of the gubernatorial race against Foote (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_A._Quitman">Source</a>)</i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><br /></i></div>
Quitman soon dropped out of the race, and the Democrats chose Davis to take his place. In the general election, Foote squeaked out a narrow victory, earning 999 more votes than Davis out of 57,717 cast. He resigned from the Senate on January 8, 1852, to begin his term as governor.<br />
<br />
Secession was still the main issue of the day, and Foote found little support in the Democratic legislature. These members named a Whig to fill Foote's seat in the Senate and a former Union Democrat to fill the vacancy left by Davis, then postponed the election for a senator who was to start serving in 1854. Foote also tried to get the legislature to formally support the Compromise of 1850, but its members stubbornly refused to do so.<br />
<br />
In 1853, Mississippi voters chose secessionist candidate John J. McRae for governor. Frustrated by the mood in his state, Foote resigned five days before the expiration of his term; state senate president John J. Pettus held the office for these last days. One year later, Foote moved to California.<br />
<br />
<b>Snubbed in California</b><br />
<br />
Although he renounced any political ambition in his new home, Foote soon became strongly involved with the Know Nothing party. At the 1855 state elections, this nativist movement gained a 3-1 majority in the state assembly and a one-vote advantage in the state senate.<br />
<br />
In a June 1855 speech, Foote decried the continuing sectional tensions in the United States as the "most hazardous crisis that had ever risen in our national affairs demanded the serious consideration of the patriot, and every lover of his country." He worried that "fanatics" in both the North and South threatened to tear the country asunder. The best solution, he believed, was to have Whigs and Democrats opposed to Democratic President Franklin Pierce unite in a party dedicated to the good of the entire nation.<br />
<br />
Although he claimed that he was no longer interested in being a politician, Foote was one of the top people considered for the Know Nothings' Senate nomination. However, he was soon dealt a black eye when he engaged in an unnecessary quarrel with the <i>Sacremento Union</i>, a Whig newspaper that had backed the Know Nothings in 1855. When the paper denounced the party's Senate candidates as "gaming politicians" and "migratory partisan quacks," Foote took offense and said the publication shouldn't be speaking in generalities. The Union accepted the challenge, publishing an article outlining the reasons why Foote shouldn't be considered for office. These included his inability to work well with others, "impolitic acts" such as the confrontation with Benton, and his brief time in California.<br />
<br />
The last reason was particularly galling to state senator Wilson G. Flint, a Know Nothing who hated slaveholders and considered Foote a carpetbagger. While the state assembly voted 57-19 on January 11, 1856, to meet four days later to elect a U.S. senator, Flint joined a 17-15 vote to postpone the joint meeting to January 22. When this day arrived, he threw his support behind a motion to postpone the election of a senator indefinitely. These actions negated the Know Nothings' one-vote majority, and the Senate seat remained vacant until the next year.<br />
<br />
Foote remained loyal to the Know Nothings, who supported Filmore for President in the 1856 election. When both the nation and California supported Democratic nominee James Buchanan, the Know Nothing party in California disintegrated. Foote subsequently rejoined the Democrats, but took no active role in the 1857 election.<br />
<br />
In July, Foote announced that he would be traveling to Washington, D.C. in September to attend a session of the Supreme Court. Although the implication was that he would only be there for a brief period, he never came back to California. Instead, he returned to Mississippi and settled near Vicksburg. Critics charged that this action confirmed their suspicions that Foote had only been interested in fulfilling his political ambitions in California.<br />
<br />
Nevertheless, most of Foote's children remained in the state and several became prominent in the West. Henry S. Foote Jr. became a California superior court judge, while another son, W.W. Foote, was a leading candidate for the Democratic nomination to the Senate in 1892. His son-in-law William M. Stewart settled in Nevada, where he was named by the Republicans as one of the first senators from this state.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>William M. Stewart, Foote's son-in-law, riding a mule in Nevada (<a href="http://digital.library.unlv.edu/objects/snv/2522">Source</a>)</i></div>
<br />
<b>The "open assailant"</b><br />
<br />
Foote remained in Mississippi only briefly, opting to move when it became clear that the state was going to secede. He settled near Nashville, Tennessee, and was a delegate to the Southern convention in Knoxville. He supported Northern Democratic candidate Stephen Douglas in the contentious 1860 election, agreeing with the Illinois senator's proposal to preserve the Union through popular sovereignty.<br />
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Even though he had opposed secession throughout his career, Foote supported the Confederacy after Tennessee left the Union in June 1861. The state was one of four to secede after the Confederacy attacked Fort Sumter in April, kicking off the Civil War. By this point, Foote said, to oppose secession in the South was to be labeled a "coward and submissionist" and possibly exposed to intimidation and violence. Moreover, his family supported the cause, with his sons serving in the Confederate military.<br />
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Foote returned to politics, getting elected as a Tennessee representative to the First and Second Confederate Congresses and starting his service in 1862. In his first term, he chaired the Committee on Foreign Affairs as well as a special committee to investigate illegal arrests and losses on the battlefield. In his second term, he chaired another special committee on illegal impressment.<br />
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The relationship between Foote and Davis, now President of the Confederacy, had not improved. Foote became known for his harsh criticism of Davis's administration and his handling of the war. He constantly demanded information on military movements and battles, advocated an offensive rather than defensive war against the Union, and ordered some 30 inquiries into suspected ineptitude and corruption. Foote was particularly suspicious of quartermasters, whom he suspected of reaping private profits through the supply of the Confederate military.<br />
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In addition to his disdain for Davis, Foote held little regard for the members of his administration. He managed to oust <a href="http://downfalldictionary.blogspot.com/2009/01/judah-philip-benjamin-fugitive-from.html">Judah Benjamin</a> as Secretary of War after introducing a vote of no confidence against him in 1862. While this action followed the loss of Roanoke Island in North Carolina as well as losses in the western states of the Confederacy, it was also influenced at least in part by anti-Semitism. At one point, Foote ranted that Jews had "deluged" the Confederacy and taken over important trades; he said that if this alleged shadowy influence continued, they would "probably find nearly all the property of the Confederacy in the hands of Jewish shylocks." He later declared that he would not support the creation of a Confederate Supreme Court as long as Benjamin "shall continue to pollute the ears of majesty Davis with his insidious counsels."<br />
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Benjamin wasn't Foote's only target. He claimed that his critiques of Confederate Secretary of the Treasury Christopher Memminger and Secretary of War James Seddon, along with his call for them to be removed from office, had influenced the men's resignations. He called Commissary General Lucius B. Northrop "a curse to the country" after learning that Northern prisoners of war were not getting enough food. At one point, Foote introduced an amendment to limit Davis's presidential powers but it failed with 45 against and 14 in favor.<br />
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Foote's opposition to Davis became so protracted that the Confederate president described him as his "only open assailant in Congress." Foote was against secret sessions of the Confederate Congress, conscription efforts and, the suspension of habeas corpus (unless the enemy was within sight of Richmond). He opposed the continuation of the war after Lincoln offered peace terms in 1863 and 1864, and tried unsuccessfully to introduce his own measures to stop the conflict.<br />
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Not surprisingly, Foote was as unpopular in the Confederate Congress as he had been in the U.S. Senate. One newspaper commented that he was a "verbose talker, a loose and inaccurate thinker" who "talks about every thing; and to little purpose." In one incident, Representative Edmund S. Dargan of Alabama attacked him with a Bowie knife during a debate after Foote called him a "damned rascal." When others stopped Dargan and took the knife away, Foote, perhaps recalling Benton's words, proclaimed, "I defy the steel of the assassin!"<br />
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Foote also got into a scuffle with Northrop and Representative Thomas B. Hanly of Missouri after laughing at Hanly's testimony during a committee hearing. John Mitchell, an Irish patriot and exile who had joined the staff of the<i> Richmond Examiner</i>, was so incensed by Foote's disrespect that he sent William G. Swan of Tennessee to deliver a duel challenge. When Foote responded that he would not accept the challenge because Swan was no gentleman, Swan responded by striking him with an umbrella, leaving a gash on Foote's head.<br />
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<b>Expulsion</b><br />
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On Christmas Eve, 1864, Foote wrote to the Speaker of the House to say that he intended to resign at the end of the year. Shortly thereafter, he departed for the United States with his wife Rachel. He was reportedly heading for Washington, D.C., on an unauthorized trip to present a peace plan to Lincoln. Foote never completed the journey; he was arrested on January 10, 1865, although Rachel was allowed to proceed since her passport was in order.<br />
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Some of Foote's fellow representatives, perhaps tired of Foote's antics in the Confederate Congress, urged Davis to allow him to leave the South. Instead, a special committee was set up and decided by one vote to return Foote to Richmond. He spoke in his own defense on January 19, arguing that the arrest had violated his rights.<br />
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The Committee on Elections took up the issue, and recommended that Foote be thrown out of the Confederate Congress. Its report stated that he had tried to go to the U.S. capital without permission, intended to resign but withdrew his letter after his failed mission, and was "guilty of conduct incompatible with his duty and station as a member of the Congress of the Confederate States." The committee's minority report suggested that he had an honest motive, but that his actions were still "highly reprehensible" and deserving of censure.<br />
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The vote taken on January 24 was 51-25 in favor of Foote's expulsion. While this was more than two-thirds of the congressmen present, there were 33 members who were absent. Since the Confederate Constitution held that a congressman could only be expelled by a two-thirds vote of the entire membership, the motion failed. Instead, the Confederate Congress voted 64-6 to adopt the minority report and censure Foote.<br />
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Just one week later, Foote was arrested again. This time, he had made it to the United States and sheltered with his son-in-law William M. Stewart, the senator from Nevada. U.S. authorities gave Foote the option of returning to the South or going abroad. He chose the latter, leaving for England in February 1865. While there, he issued a manifesto calling on the Tennessee delegation to secede from the Confederacy and rejoin the Union.<br />
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Foote's actions earned him the nickname "Vallandingham of the South," a reference to the deportation of Clement Vallandigham, a Democratic congressman from Ohio, to the Confederacy after his vocal opposition to the Civil War. On February 27, the Confederate Congress again took up the question of whether to expel Foote. Declaring that his actions had indicated a disavowal of the Confederacy and a renunciation of his duties as a congressmen, the vote was 73-0 in favor.<br />
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After just six weeks in London, Foote returned to the United States. He was again taken into custody and held in New York City. On May 1, Foote wrote to President Andrew Johnson and asked that he be allowed to go to the Pacific coast, to be with his family and "spend the evening of his days in quietude and repose." Johnson was unsympathetic; he ordered Foote to leave the United States within 48 hours or be charged with treason.<br />
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Foote went abroad once more, this time to Montreal. But on May 15, he said he was willing to come back to the United States and face whatever jury trial Johnson deemed fit. He reminded Johnson of how they have served together in Congress and noted his longstanding opposition to secession before the Civil War. "It has been my fate to be grossly misjudged and misrepresented by men of extreme views, both in the North and in the South," he complained.<br />
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On June 30, Foote asked for a presidential pardon. Johnson was not amenable to this request, but on August 26 he allowed Foote to return to the U.S. Rather than face criminal charges, he would simply have to take an oath and give his parole of honor. Foote arrived in New York City in December.<br />
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<b>Later years</b><br />
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After settling in Nashville, Foote moved to Washington, D.C. and began practicing law. He also started writing for a newspaper and completed more books, including <i>Bar of the South and the Southwest</i> and an autobiography entitled <i>Casket of Reminiscences</i>.<br />
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While praising President Ulysses S. Grant's inaugural address in 1869, Foote supported his opponent Horace Greeley (the candidate of the Democrats and Liberal Republicans) in 1872. Foote transitioned to the Republicans in 1876, supporting candidate Rutherford B. Hayes.<br />
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Foote was subject to political restrictions under the Fourteenth Amendment, which barred those who had served in the U.S. government and then joined the Confederacy from seeking office. However, his privileges were restored in 1869. After Hayes became President, he appointed Foote as superintendent of the U.S. Mint at New Orleans. Foote held this post from 1878 until his death on May 20, 1880.<br />
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Sources: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, National Governors Association, Mississippi Department of Archives and History, "Clay's Last Compromise" on Senate.gov, "Bitter Feelings in the Senate Chamber" on Senate.gov, "Henry S. Foote's Duels" in the <i>Chicago Tribune</i> on Aug. 31 1873, <i>The Overland Monthly</i>, <i>Foote Family and Genealogy </i>by Abram W. Foote, <i>Biographical Register of the Confederate Congress</i>, <i>Confederate Incognito: The Civil War Reports of "Long Grabs" a.k.a. Murdoch John McSween 26th and 35th North Carolina Infantry</i> edited by E.B. Munson, <i>At the Edge of Precipice: Henry Clay and the Compromise that Saved the Union</i> by Robert V. Remini, <i>America's Great Debate: Henry Clay, Stephen Douglas, and the Compromise that Preserved the Union </i>by Fergus M. Bordewich, <i>Jefferson Davis, American</i> by William J. Cooper Jr., <i>On the Brink of Civil War: The Compromise of 1850 and How It Changed the Course of American History </i>by John C. Waugh, <i>The California Gold Rush and the Coming of the Civil War</i> by Leonard L. Richards, <i>The American Senate: An Insider's History</i> by Neil MacNeil and Richard A. Baker, <i>Dixie Betrayed: How the South Really Lost the Civil War</i> by David J. Eicher, <i>Leaders of the American Civil War: A Biographical and Historiographical Dictionary</i> edited by Charles F. Ritter and Jon L. Wakelyn, <i>Scalawags: Southern Dissenters in the Civil War and Reconstruction</i> by James Alex Baggett, <i>The Confederate States of America 1861-1865: A History of the South </i>by E. Merton Coulter, <i>The Confederate Congress</i> by Wildred Buck Yearns, <i>Encyclopedia of Mississippi</i> by Nancy Capace, <i>The Journal of Southern History Vol. 9</i>, <i>Journal of the Congress of the Confederate States of America Vol. VII</i>, <i>The Papers of Andrew Johnson</i>, <i>The Papers of Jefferson Davis</i>, <i>Letters of Warren Akin: Confederate Congressman</i>, <i>Arkansas: A Narrative History</i> by Jeannie M. Wayne, <i>Casket of Reminiscences</i> by Henry S. FooteDirk Langeveldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10347292004358347133noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8953541230084203389.post-35201714190434132632016-06-24T12:01:00.001-04:002016-08-21T16:29:10.163-04:00West Virginia Governor Arch Moore Jr.: Infrastructure, Floods, and Extortion<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jduVCV9Hwqs/V2r75E1rCzI/AAAAAAAABjg/gUd0DxjHkY4jGPerWimSTjoqBZb1B6s2QCLcB/s1600/moore3.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a>
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(<a href="http://www.wvva.com/story/27787464/2015/01/07/former-west-virginia-gov-arch-moore-dies-at-91">Source</a>)<br />
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Barely halfway through his first term as governor of West Virginia, Arch Alfred Moore, Jr., found himself in the crosshairs of syndicated newspaper columnist Jack Anderson. The "Washington Merry-Go-Round" column was the last place a politician wanted to see their name. If anyone knew of any unscrupulous behavior by an elected official, tipping off Anderson or predecessor Drew Pearson would all but guarantee that the malfeasance would be exposed to a national audience. The allegations raised in the column were often an early indicator that a politician would be criminally charged.</div>
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In July 1970, Anderson wrote that Moore was under investigation for possible wrongdoing related to his campaign funds. The governor was suspected of stashing away $80,000 in contributions for his own personal use. Anderson suggested that such behavior would suit Moore, since he had been known for his lavish lifestyle while serving in the House of Representatives, such as keeping a posh home on the Potomac and frequently offering to pick up the check at expensive restaurants. The column also noted that the governor's chief purchasing agent, John Bell, had been indicted for bribery and that Moore's campaign finance reports openly admitted that he had accepted money from corporations - an illegal practice under West Virginia law.<br />
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Moore refused to comment, but after the column ran he denounced it as a "despicable lie." Anderson, standing behind his charges, challenged the governor to a televised debate. When Moore refused, Anderson ran a follow-up column outlining several instances of wrongdoing. He said the governor had employed creative accounting, including wrongful tax deductions for a plane and pilot's salary used while he was in Congress. He cited conflict of interest, saying Moore had continued to receive income from his law firm as it defended the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company and simultaneously defended the company on the floor of Congress. Anderson accused Moore of pocketing hundreds of shares of stock that a client's will had requested be donated to charity. In a separate column, he criticized the "thin-skinned" governor for pressuring United Press International to replace a state capitol reporter whose stories exposed wasteful spending.<br />
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All told, Anderson calculated that Moore had reported only $45,000 in income to the IRS between 1962 and 1966 when he had actually earned $176,000. In September 1970, the columnist wrote that Moore was "frantically pulling political strings to keep from being indicted for alleged income tax violations."<br />
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If the governor was trying to avert an indictment, he was successful; he was never indicted for tax fraud during this period. Anderson mentioned the matter again in 1975, in a column accusing President Richard Nixon of appointing district attorneys who focused their efforts on indicting and unseating Democratic governors. These officials could easily have charged Moore, he suggested, but they were "so eager to prosecute Democrats" that they "let Moore off the hook."<br />
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Rumors of corruption would plague Moore for much of his political career, contributing to his polarizing legacy. He invested in a number of initiatives that sought to benefit the public as a whole in West Virginia, and was popular enough that he won an unprecedented third term in office. But two decades after Anderson first suggested that Moore was corrupt, a prosecutor would say that the governor had committed an unprecedented level of election fraud as well.<br />
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<b>Early life</b><br />
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Moore was born in Moundsville, West Virginia, on April 16, 1923. Politics ran in the family; his grandfather had served as mayor of the town, and his uncle as the minority leader for the Republicans in the state house of delegates. In his senior year of high school, Moore began working an eight-hour night shift at a factory to save up money for college. He began attending Lafayette College in Pennsylvania, but cut his studies short when he was drafted into the military in 1943.<br />
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Moore quickly rose to the rank of combat sergeant in the Army during World War II. He very nearly didn't make it out of the war alive. In November 1944, while leading a platoon near Aachen, Germany, Moore and his men came under machine gun fire. Thirty-three of the 36 soldiers in the platoon did not survive the day. Moore was grievously wounded when a bullet passed through his cheek and nearly severed his tongue. Left for dead in a beet field, he was found and rescued eight hours later. After several surgeries and 13 months of therapy, he regained the ability to speak.<br />
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For his service, Moore received the Bronze Star, Combat Infantryman's Badge, and European Campaign Ribbon with three battle stars. He was discharged from the Army in 1946 and returned to his studies, this time staying closer to home. He studied political science at West Virginia University in Morgantown, earning a bachelor's degree in 1948. Moore was also active in political affairs during this time, writing the student constitution and lobbying for the construction of the state's first medical school. He stayed at the university to earn his law degree in 1951 and opened a private practice with his uncle.<br />
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<b>Political beginnings</b><br />
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Following in his uncle's footsteps, Moore ran for the state house of delegates and served there from 1953 to 1955. He ran as a Republican for the House of Representatives in 1954, but lost to Democratic incumbent Robert H. Mollohan. Two years later, Moore was elected to Congress; at only 33 years old, he was the youngest representative at the time. He won the next five elections as well, serving through January 1969.<br />
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<i>Moore shakes hands with President Dwight Eisenhower in 1960 (<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/arch-moore-jr-charismatic-wva-governor-convicted-of-corruption-dies-at-91/2015/01/08/e5857798-974d-11e4-927a-4fa2638cd1b0_story.html">Source</a>)</i></div>
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Moore became known as a strong supporter of public works initiatives and civil rights measures. He was among the representatives from south of the Mason-Dixon Line to support the Civil Rights Act of 1964. While some members argued that only a moderate bill would have a prayer of passing muster with Southern senators, Moore argued for a bill that provided strong civil rights guarantees. If they sent the Senate a "water bill," he suggested, they would return a "water-water bill." He was also active in shaping American policy toward Vietnam, making several trips to the country.<br />
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In 1968, Moore decided to run in the West Virginia gubernatorial election instead of seeking re-election to Congress. He managed to defeat former Governor Cecil H. Underwood for the Republican nomination, moving on to face Democratic candidate Jim Sprouse in the general election. Although the Democratic Party was powerful in the state, certain factors conspired to favor Moore. He became well-liked for his friendly, backslapping bravado and ability to remember the name of just about anybody he met. In February 1968, the party was dealt a blow when W.W. "Wally" Barron, the Democratic governor who had served between 1961 and 1965, was indicted along with five others for bribery and conspiracy related to state contracts. Barron escaped the charges, but was later convicted of tampering with the jury that had acquitted him.<br />
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An incident that occurred just two days before the election likely caused many voters to sympathize with Moore. He was arriving by helicopter at a rally at a high school football field in Hamlin when the chopper struck a flagpole and plummeted 30 feet to the ground. All four people on the helicopter survived, but Moore suffered broken ribs as a result of the crash. Nevertheless, he briefly spoke to the assembled crowd before agreeing to go to the hospital.<br />
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This resilience impressed many people, and may have caused a large number of undecided voters to support Moore. On Election Day, he defeated Sprouse by a mere 12,875 votes out of nearly 744,000 cast.<br />
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<b>Governor of West Virginia</b><br />
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The governor's role in state politics was newly strengthened when Moore arrived in office. The legislature had passed the Modern Budget Amendment, which broadened the governor's budgetary powers. While the West Virginia budget had formerly been delegated to a collective of state officials, the governor now had the ability to estimate revenues and propose spending. The office was strengthened again in 1970, when the legislature passed the Governor's Succession Amendment. Governors had been forbidden to run for re-election after a single term, but the new rule allowed them to seek re-election and serve two consecutive terms.<br />
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Moore took advantage of the change in the 1972 election, becoming the first West Virginia governor to succeed himself in a century. Democrats continued to outnumber Republicans in the state by a factor of two to one, and he faced West Virginia secretary of state John "Jay" Rockefeller IV. Though Rockefeller was considered a rising star in the Democratic Party, his opposition to surface mining made him an unpopular figure among the state's powerful coal lobby. Moore was able to leverage this suspicion by accusing Rockefeller, a native New Yorker, of being an outsider who wanted to cripple the state's coal industry to benefit his wealthy family's oil interests. In his re-election bid, Moore won by a more comfortable margin of about 73,000 votes.<br />
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In his first two terms as governor of West Virginia, Moore placed heavy focus on infrastructure investment. A $350 million bond for road and bridge building projects was approved in 1968, and Moore's terms saw the completion of 182 miles of interstate highway, 184 miles of other highways, and 9,000 miles of secondary roads. He also oversaw the establishment of 44 vocational schools, 44 libraries, three community colleges, a cultural center, and the addition of gold leaf to the dome of the state capitol.<br />
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One span started during Moore's time in office was the iconic New River Gorge Bridge. The Appalachian Regional Commission, a partnership of 13 states dedicated to economic development initiatives in Appalachia, rotated its chairmanship among the member states' governors. When Moore's turn was up, he found that the commission had accumulated a substantial amount of money with no plans for its use. He proposed the construction of the bridge near Fayetteville, with an open top design to let drivers see "nothing but the sky and the world." The 3,030-foot bridge, completed in 1977 at a cost of $37 million, provided a stunning alternative to the 40-minute detour or treacherous mountain roads that had once greeted drivers who sought to cross the river. The crossing, currently the third highest bridge in the United States, was featured on the West Virginia state quarter design in 2005. <br />
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<i>The New River Gorge Bridge under construction (<a href="http://www.wvculture.org/history/timetrl/ttoct.html#1022">Source</a>)</i></div>
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Several of Moore's initiatives sought to improve benefits for the state's workers. He aimed to increase employment in West Virginia's coal mines while simultaneously supporting safety improvements and advocating for black lung disease to be classified as a mining disability. At one point, he helped negotiate a settlement to end a national coal strike. He established a free kindergarten program and supported $1,500 raises for about 17,000 teachers. He looked to improve benefits for welfare recipients, and during his administration benefits increased for about 20,000 families. About 13,000 more blind, elderly, and disabled people were also granted benefits.<br />
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In 1973, a riot broke out at the West Virginia State Penitentiary in Moundsville and five guards were taken hostage. An administrative assistant of Moore's negotiated with the prisoners and agreed to 20 of their 22 demands. The governor then visited the prison to give approval to the compromise and personally greet the hostages as they were released.<br />
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Of course, Moore's first two terms were not without controversy. Just two months into his tenure in 1969, approximately 2,600 state highway and transit workers went on strike to seek union recognition. Moore maintained that the workers did not have a right to unionize and that their action was illegal. When they failed to return to work after heavy March snows, Moore fired the striking workers so he could hire replacements to clear the roads. Many residents sympathized with the employees, and the mass termination appalled them. The governor defended himself by saying he had "no choice but to act with decisiveness." The action was appealed all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which upheld it. <br />
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Throughout his time in office, Moore was dogged by rumors of corruption. He was suspected of taking bribes from coal companies, although he was never formally charged with such behavior. He was criticized for giving a state contract for license plate manufacturing to an Arkansas company headed by a person who had been convicted of taking bribes, and for allegedly accepting $23,000 in illegal campaign contributions from the Ashland Oil Company. <br />
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There were further suspicions about Moore's campaign activities when his liquor commissioner, Richard Barber, was convicted on charges of racketeering, extortion, and mail fraud. Though Moore wasn't charged in the scheme, Barber was accused of using his official permission to goad liquor salesmen into donating to Moore's campaign; prosecutors also said that Barber had taken liquor from a state warehouse and sent it to the governor's mansion.<br />
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<b>Indictment in 1975</b><br />
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The suspicions against Moore reached a crescendo in December 1975, when the governor and his 1972 campaign manager were indicted on federal extortion charges. It marked the first time that a sitting West Virginia governor had been charged with a crime.<br />
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Six months prior to the indictment, a grand jury had indicted two officials of the Diversified Mountaineer Corporation on charges of fraud related to the bank's fundraising activities. Both president Theodore Price and controller Roger Baird agreed to plead to lesser charges and receive reduced sentences if they gave evidence against Moore and his campaign manager, William H. Loy. The officials said that when they sought a state charter for the bank, Moore and Loy said they would only grant it if they received $25,000 from the Diversified Mountaineer Corporation. The charter was never granted, and the bank later went into receivership.<br />
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Moore maintained his innocence and accused U.S. Attorney John Field III of waging a "personal vendetta" against him. The indictment came down not long before the governor was scheduled to announce his bid for an unprecedented third term, so he decided to make this announcement early. At a press conference, Moore denied any wrongdoing and declared his candidacy, saying, "I am announcing formally to you today that I will file, that I will run, that I will be successful."<br />
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The trial added to the rumors that Moore had engaged in shady practices when it came to his campaign. It was alleged that he kept $180,000 in cash in a drawer, having never reported it with his political contributions. Price suggested that he delivered money to Moore on three visits in September and October of 1972, but Moore's defense attorney questioned how trustworthy the former bank president was. The attorney described Price as a "felon, thief, and liar," accusing him of siphoning money from the bank and giving it to Moore as a political contribution. Both Moore and Loy took the stand to testify in their own defense; they were acquitted in May 1976.<br />
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<b>Disaster at Buffalo Creek</b><br />
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One of Moore's most controversial actions, taking place during the last days of his second term, was related to a disaster that had occurred in 1972. For 15 years prior to that time, the Buffalo Mining Company, a subsidiary of the Pittston Coal Company, had been using mining waste to create dams on Buffalo Creek. By 1972, three of these dams were in place on the waterway. Pittston, the largest independent coal producer in the nation, had developed an infamous record on safety. The company was cited for more than 5,000 violations in its 1971 operations alone.<br />
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In February 1972, officials with the Buffalo Mining Company grew concerned about the integrity of the dams as rain fell continuously for several days. The company informed a Pittston official about the potential danger, but no residents were warned. On the morning of February 26, the largest dam on Buffalo Creek gave way. A torrent of some 130 million gallons of water rushed downstream, obliterating the other two dams and sweeping through 16 small mining communities. The flood killed 125 people, injured another 1,100, and left about 4,000 homeless. Property damage was estimated at $50 million, with another $15 million in damage to roads in the area.<br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-J0G0Qra6PPk/V2xGU_VtNoI/AAAAAAAABj4/7kpMiLsME-sj_F2TSHnO3zJsb_wA9Sd6gCLcB/s1600/flood.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-J0G0Qra6PPk/V2xGU_VtNoI/AAAAAAAABj4/7kpMiLsME-sj_F2TSHnO3zJsb_wA9Sd6gCLcB/s320/flood.jpg" /></a></div>
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<i>The aftermath of the Buffalo Creek flood (<a href="http://www.wvgazettemail.com/news/201202250090">Source</a>)</i></div>
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Jack Anderson would later accuse Moore of monopolizing three National Guard helicopters to make a grandstanding entrance to the disaster zone. The columnist said the governor commandeered two choppers for himself and other VIPs; another helicopter was reserved for the press and sent in advance so that TV crews could capture the governor's arrival. Anderson said the National Guard was left with only two choppers for essential disaster relief work; the pilots of the other three were so frustrated at having to wait for the return of the governor's party that they left to complete a few supply runs while Moore was touring Buffalo Creek by car. Moore maintained that the helicopters were used for essential personnel, and that he brought along the reporters as an afterthought.<br />
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This cordial treatment toward the press did not last long. Moore was irritated by the tone of the news reports about the flood, since he believed that they were casting aspersions on the state as a whole. In response, he temporarily barred journalists from the disaster area. Moore would also make the rather callous statement that "the state of West Virginia took a terrible beating which far overshadowed the beating which the individuals who lost their lives took, and I consider this an even greater tragedy than the accident itself." <br />
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The Pittston Coal Company argued that it was not to blame in the disaster, claiming it was an "act of God." The company said the torrential rainfall had caused the flood, since the dam had been "incapable of holding the water God poured into it." Skeptical survivors replied that they had never witnessed the Lord Almighty driving the heavy equipment used to build up the dam.<br />
<br />
Due to Moore's cozy relationship with the state's coal industry, many residents doubted that he would be able to assign responsibility for the flood without bias. In the days after the disaster, he argued that the Buffalo Creek dams were "logical and constructive." When the governor formed a state commission to investigate the cause of the dam collapse, all of its appointees either had connections to coal mining or were sympathetic to these companies. After Moore refused calls to diversify the commission with people such as environmentalists, coal miners, or survivors of the flood, a group of citizens formed their own commission.<br />
<br />
Surprisingly, there was general consent between the federal, state, and citizens' commissions. All three groups agreed that the Pittston Coal Company bore responsibility for the flood due to its disregard for safety practices. Moore's commission concluded that the company had been piling up the mining waste "without utilizing technology developed for earthen dams and without using or consulting with professional persons qualified to design and build such a structure." It added that since the rainfall that preceded the collapse was not abnormal, there was no evidence for the "act of God" claimed by Pittston officials. The citizens' commission report was much angrier, accusing the company of murdering the flood victims through "gross negligence" and "incomprehensible callousness."<br />
<br />
The Pittston Coal Company was subsequently hit with a trio of civil suits. One, filed on behalf of 625 adult survivors and family members of the victims, demanded $64 million. Another suit represented 348 juvenile survivors of the disaster. The state of West Virginia sought $100 million, more than enough to cover the property damage wrought by the deluge.<br />
<br />
By this point, Moore's attempt to run for a third term had been stopped in its tracks. Another Republican gubernatorial hopeful, Melton M. Maloney, argued that Moore could not be on the ballot. The Governor's Succession Amendment allowed a governor to be re-elected, but limited the number of consecutive terms to two; under this rule, Moore could not run in 1976 and would only be able to enter the race again in 1980. Moore argued that this provision was unconstitutional since it violated the rights of voters who would want to re-elect him, but to no avail. In a 3-2 decision, the state supreme court ruled that Moore was ineligible as a candidate in the 1976 election. Maloney lost the GOP primary to Cecil Underwood, who was defeated by Jay Rockefeller in the general election.<br />
<br />
In his final days in office in January 1977, Moore approved a settlement of the state's claim in the Buffalo Creek flood. The Pittston Coal Company would only be required to pay a fraction of the original demand: $1 million. The paltry sum wasn't even enough to cover the cleanup costs assessed to the company by the Army Corps of Engineers. Responsibility for this debt was tied up in court until 1988, when West Virginia taxpayers were ordered to pay the $9.5 million tab owed to the federal government for cleanup costs, plus interest.<br />
<br />
The settlement with Pittston was heavily criticized, with some residents denouncing it as an example of Moore favoring the state's business interests over people who had been harmed by the coal industry's shoddy practices. The plaintiffs in the private civil suits fared little better. Pittston agreed to pay $13.5 million to the adult survivors of the flood and their family members and $4.8 million to the juvenile survivors. After legal costs, each victim got about $13,000.<br />
<br />
Moore later denied that he had personally negotiated the inadequate settlement of the state's lawsuit. He blamed the West Virginia state legislature, saying they had directed state attorney general Chauncey Browning to resolve the case. He said Browning visited him to request his signature, and that he later regretted giving his approval to the agreement after learning how little money Pittston would pay the state. "I had nothing to do with the lawsuit," Moore claimed. "The legislature directed the attorney general to direct the lawsuit. I wasn't asked about the amount sued for. I had nothing to do with the pleadings. My office never saw any of that."<br />
<br />
<b>Third term as governor</b><br />
<br />
In 1978, Moore made a bid for the U.S. Senate. The incumbent candidate, Democratic Senator Jennings Randolph, spent about five times as much on his campaign as Moore. He was able to keep his seat, but won by less than 5,000 votes. Observers suggested that a significant number of Moore's supporters may have withheld their votes in this campaign so he would be able to run for governor again in 1980.<br />
<br />
Sure enough, Moore launched a bid for a third term when this gubernatorial election came around. Once again, he was vastly outspent by his opponent, raising only $1 million for the race. Rockefeller's campaign poured $11.6 million into the race, with most of this funding coming from the governor's personal fortune. Moore's supporters began sporting bumper stickers with the slogan, "Make him spend it all, Arch." Rockefeller was re-elected with 54.5 percent of the vote.<br />
<br />
Four years later, Moore again tried for another term as governor. Since term limits prohibited Rockefeller from running again, he instead made a bid for the Senate; he would be successful and keep his seat for the next 30 years. Moore faced off against Democratic candidate Clyde M. See, Jr., who was then the speaker of the state house of delegates. Moore was victorious in the 1984 election, making him the first and so far only West Virginia governor to serve three terms.<br />
<br />
Moore immediately faced challenges during this term. West Virginia was suffering economically due to a slump in the coal industry, and the state had the highest unemployment rate in the nation. The governor frequently clashed with the Democratic legislature in his efforts to bolster the state's business environment. He instituted corporate tax credits to try to attract new businesses, said he would approve a casino gambling bill if one was passed by the legislature, and cut the amount of money employers were required to pay into worker's compensation by 30 percent. This action, a reversal of his earlier policy to encourage an increase in worker's compensation funds by up to 75 percent, led to a major deficit in the program. At one point, he delayed income tax returns to thousands of residents as part of the financial crunch.<br />
<br />
Another riot broke out at the West Virginia State Penitentiary in January 1986. In response to more restrictive visitation policies and poor living conditions, such as deteriorating plumbing and overcrowding, inmates seized several areas of the prison and took more than a dozen hostages. The rioters demanded to speak with Moore, who was on vacation in Florida. He refused to consider the meeting until all of the hostages had been released.<br />
<br />
Eventually, the hostages were freed and Moore returned to hear the prisoners' grievances. The incident hadn't ended as peacefully as the 1973 riot, though. Over the course of the crisis, the inmates put on mock trials for three prisoners accused of being informants. After they were summarily found guilty, the men were slaughtered.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-f2arxsSmWTo/V21HLq4XFiI/AAAAAAAABkc/6oEPUZmsvfcCAwVzQ8oOLo8_S_xUSQIowCLcB/s1600/moore4.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-f2arxsSmWTo/V21HLq4XFiI/AAAAAAAABkc/6oEPUZmsvfcCAwVzQ8oOLo8_S_xUSQIowCLcB/s320/moore4.jpg" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>Moore escorts a freed hostage to an ambulance after the 1986 prison riot in Moundsville (<a href="http://www.theintelligencer.net/news/top-headlines/2008/04/1986-prison-riot-killer-to-remain-behind-bars/">Source</a>)</i></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
The riot and prisoner deaths led to a war of words between Moore and his predecessor. Moore blamed the murders on informant policies implemented by Rockefeller, an accusation which Rockefeller decried as "cowardly and contemptible." He in turn criticized the governor for being conspicuously absent for three days of the crisis, choosing instead to "leave the hard negotiating in Moundsville to his press secretary." Moore replied that he thought cutting his vacation short would only worsen the situation, so he had instead opted to stay in touch with state officials via telephone.<br />
<br />
There were increasing suspicions about corruption in the state government. Moore was criticized for refusing to release his income tax returns in 1986. He also said he would not address renewed allegations of unethical behavior during his first two terms, calling the attacks "vicious and ugly."<br />
<br />
One accusation nearly cost Moore his shot at re-election. In 1985, federal investigators planted a listening device in Moore's office. This was thought to be part of a federal investigation into corruption in Mingo County. Prosecutors eventually convicted county political boss and former sheriff Johnie Owens, who was charged with accepting a $100,000 bribe to influence the sheriff's race in 1982. Owens soon accused Moore of trying to give him a $12,000 bribe to influence his re-election bid in 1972. The governor responded by calling Owens a "convicted felon and an experienced liar," saying there was "not an ounce of truth in anything he says."<br />
<br />
Nevertheless, the suspicions against Moore were strong enough that he only garnered 53 percent of the Republican primary vote in the 1988 gubernatorial race. It was enough to defeat John Raese, a millionaire from Morgantown, but a poor sign for the general election. In November, Democratic candidate Gaston Caperton won by a healthy majority of 58.9 percent.<br />
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<b>Extortion, fraud, and obstruction of justice</b><br />
<b><br /></b></div>
<div>
Two years later, Moore made a startling admission. Federal officials announced on April 12, 1990, that the former West Virginia governor had been indicted on charges of extortion, mail fraud, tax fraud, and obstruction of justice. They also announced that Moore had agreed to plead guilty to all charges. The indictment revealed that Moore had engaged in illegal campaign activities during the 1984 and 1988 elections, corruption during his third term in office, and attempts to hinder the grand jury investigation by falsifying documents, lying to federal investigators, and trying to convince witnesses to give false testimony.<br />
<br />
Since Moore had vigorously denied charges of corruption for so many years, the admission of guilt came as a surprise to many residents. Rather than fighting the indictment as he had in 1975, he was simply giving in. "This news will be greeted with a great joy by some in the state of West Virginia. There will be others who will be sincerely grieved by reason of their devotion to me and my family," said Moore. "I know I have their understanding and love. For that, I shall be ever grateful."<br />
<br />
Caperton was quick to criticize his predecessor, proclaiming, "I am confident that West Virginians will realize that not only did I inherit a government that was financially bankrupt, but ethically bankrupt as well." Edgar Heiskell, the state GOP chairman, described Moore's admission of corruption as "a great tragedy for the state and its good people." He cautioned residents not to consider the indictment an act of political vengeance, noting how the case had been handled by a Republican prosecutor and the Justice Department in a Republican presidential administration.<br />
<br />
The investigation into Moore was part of a larger probe into corruption in West Virginia's state government. Prosecutors would also win convictions against five legislators, three lobbyists, two state government workers, and a state senate aide.<br />
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Federal prosecutors had used a colleague of Moore's to secure some damning evidence against the former governor. In January, Moore had met with his 1988 campaign manager, John Leaberry, to discuss the finances of that race. During the conversation, he noted how he had accepted illegal contributions and discussed strategies for how he and Leaberry could deny wrongdoing. Unbeknownst to Moore, Leaberry was wearing a wire. Investigators had already confronted him with charges of filing a false tax return in 1988; as part of his own plea agreement, he had agreed to record the conversation to expose Moore. When investigators met with Moore, they played the tape to convince him not to contest the charges.<br />
<br />
Moore was also accused of directing $100,000 in illegal contributions into his gubernatorial campaign in 1984. Other charges held that he had filed false tax returns in 1984 and 1985 by failing to report $72,500 he had received from lobbyists and corporations.<br />
<br />
The most serious charge against Moore related to West Virginia's black lung fund, which coal companies paid into to support claims by the state's miners. When H. Paul Kizer, the operator of the Maben Energy Corporation, asked for Moore's assistance in getting a $2.3 million reimbursement from the fund, the governor agreed to help out. However, Moore also wanted a 25 percent kickback. Kizer agreed to pay him $573,721.47, and the governor drew up falsified backdated documents to create the illusion that this payment was a legitimate contingency fee.<br />
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Kizer also suggested that Moore had demanded money in exchange for freeing the coal operator from a murder charge. This charge stemmed from a strange series of events, starting in March 1986 when a man named Jimmy Vickers caught Kizer in bed with his girlfriend and assaulted them both. Kizer allegedly went to one of his employees, James Bonham, for help in seeking retribution against Vickers. Bonham hired two men to confront Vickers at his trailer and one, James Davis, shot and killed Kizer's assailant.<br />
<br />
Both Kizer and Bonham were arrested and went to trial in 1988. Kizer later claimed that Moore solicited a $50,000 donation, laundered through a Republican National Committee account, to assist with his campaign. In exchange, Moore promised to pardon Kizer if he was convicted. While Bonham was found guilty of voluntary manslaughter and conspiracy to commit malicious wounding, Kizer was acquitted.<br />
<br />
Moore was never charged for this alleged extortion, but prosecutors said the federal judge would be made aware of other crimes they believed Moore had committed. As part of his agreement to plead guilty, they would not pursue these charges. Moore dutifully pleaded to a five-count indictment on May 8. He faced a maximum sentence of 36 years in prison and a $1.2 million fine.<br />
<br />
On June 28, less than two weeks before his sentencing date, Moore tried to withdraw his plea. He claimed that the original plea had only been an attempt by his lawyer to test how strong the prosecution's case was. He also complained that he had been forced into the plea, saying he had been given only one day to review the agreement. He accused the prosecution of threatening to file more than 20 counts against him, including federal racketeering charges, if he declined. The judge refused to let him back out of the agreement.<br />
<br />
Moore's sentencing went ahead as planned on July 10. Assistant U.S. Attorney John Campbell described Moore's acts as "a scheme to run the election outside the limit of the law." Another prosecutor, Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Savage, said Moore had committed election fraud on an unprecedented scale and shown no remorse for his actions. "It is hard not to admire the intellect, determination, resilience, the sheer endurance and force of personality that is Arch A. Moore, Jr.," he said. "But it is likewise impossible not to loathe the duplicity, the greed, and unparalleled corruption perpetrated by this same man." <br />
<br />
The sentencing also revealed more petty instances of corruption. Savage said that Moore had taken a vehicle on a test drive in 1984 and never brought it back to the dealership. He said Moore had only paid the business in 1990 after he came under investigation.<br />
<br />
Moore's defense attorney, William Hundley, denied that Moore had been uncooperative with prosecutors. He also said the campaign financing corruption committed by the former governor was a less serious offense than the direct embezzlement of state funds. "I submit he served well and honorably."<br />
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Moore was sentenced to five years and 10 months in prison as well as a $170,000 fine. Under federal guidelines, he was required to serve at least two-and-a-half years behind bars before he could be considered for parole. He was also forbidden from seeking public office again. "It's a landmark case," said U.S. Attorney Michael Carey. "I think it sends a very clear message. If you violate the public trust, you go to jail."<br />
<br />
Later in the year, the state of West Virginia sued Moore for damages related to his misconduct. He settled in 1996 for $750,000, but didn't admit fault. In October 1991, he was disbarred. After two years and eight months in prison, he was transferred to home confinement to serve the last four months of his sentence before his release. He subsequently began working as a consultant.<br />
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<b>Final years</b><br />
<br />
For the rest of his life, Moore would try to vacate his conviction and get his law license restored. He argued that he was factually or legally innocent of the charges against him, and that he had received poor legal advice from his defense counsel. The Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected his attempts in 1991, and the Supreme Court did so as well in 1995.<br />
<br />
Moore's attempts to regain his law license extended into the 21st century. At one point, he declared, "I want to die a lawyer." The West Virginia Supreme Court issued a particularly strong rebuke against him in 2003, denying his request and accusing him of a "lack of candor" and "pattern of deception" in his post-conviction appeals. In comparing the transcript of his recorded conversation with Leaberry with his testimony before the court, the justices noted that he "was not only willing to conspire to fabricate testimony when facing indictment in 1990, but, sadly, that he was just as willing to provide disingenuous testimony in this proceeding in the hope of reinstating his law license." The court accused him of "a willingness - on a sustained and knowing basis - to be dishonest, to deceive, to conceal the truth and to bend, manipulate and violate the law, for personal and professional gain."<br />
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The denial of wrongdoing, which the court described as a continued unwillingness to accept responsibility for his actions, continued into Moore's later years. While promoting his biography <i>Arch </i>in 2008, Moore told a country club audience that he had considered apologizing for his criminal conviction but decided that he could not do it. "I cannot do that today or any other day," he said. "I am sorry for what my family went through. I am sorry for what my fellow West Virginians went through, but I cannot apologize."<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vw4tYRTE7uk/V21X-4PrTkI/AAAAAAAABk8/Wxa-32w45ZU0UNP3RAD4DFlzARm-2DqlQCLcB/s1600/moore6.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vw4tYRTE7uk/V21X-4PrTkI/AAAAAAAABk8/Wxa-32w45ZU0UNP3RAD4DFlzARm-2DqlQCLcB/s320/moore6.jpg" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>Moore with daughter Shelley Moore Capito on his 90th birthday in 2013 (<a href="http://www.wvgazettemail.com/News/201304150180">Source</a>)</i></div>
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One of Moore's children, Shelley Moore Capito, followed in her father's footsteps and pursued a political career. She was elected to the House of Representatives in 2000 and remained there for seven terms before winning a seat in the Senate. Moore died in Charleston on January 7, 2015, one day after his daughter was sworn into her new position.<br />
<br />
<b>Sources</b><br />
<br />
National Governors Association, The Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, The West Virginia Encyclopedia, The West Virginia Division of Culture and History, "Arch Moore Hurt in W.Va. Copter Crash" in the <i>Pittsburgh Post-Gazette</i> on Nov. 4 1968, "West Virginia Governor Stands Accused" in the <i>Lewiston Daily Sun</i> on Jul. 24 1970, "Anderson Challenges Moore" in the <i>Prescott Evening Courier</i> on Aug. 9 1970, "Reveals Scandal, Loses Job" in the <i>Free Lance-Star</i> on Aug. 25 1970, "U.S. Quietly Plans Extensive Aid to Israel" in the <i>Victoria Advocate</i> on Sep. 24 1970, "Moore Commandeers 'Copters During Flood" in the <i>Spokane Daily Chronicle</i> on Jun. 6 1972, "Bare Nixon Plot Against Governors" in the <i>Lewiston Daily Sun</i> on Dec. 1 1975, "Governor of West Virginia Pleads Innocent to Extortion" in the <i>Eugene Register-Guard</i> on Dec. 19 1975, "Moore, Aide Acquitted of Extortion" in the <i>Observer-Reporter</i> on May 6 1976, "Hard Work, Uphill Fights Nothing New for Gov. Arch Moore" in the <i>West Virginia Mountain Messenger</i> on Sep. 1 1980, "Arch Moore Confident of Gubernatorial Victory" in the <i>Grant County Press</i> on Oct. 29 1980, "Another Comeback for Arch Moore?" in the <i>Pittsburgh Post-Gazette</i> on May 28 1984, "Moore Makes West Virginia Race" in the <i>Lawrence Journal-World</i> on Sep. 25 1984, "13 Hostages Are Held in Prison Riot" in the <i>Evening Independent</i> on Jan. 2 1986, "Prison Riot Ignites Name Calling" in the <i>Ludington Daily News</i> on Jan. 3 1986, "Prison Riot Inflames Moore, Rockefeller Feud" in the <i>Gainesville Sun</i> on Jan. 5 1986, "Riot-Torn Prison Said Nightmare For All" in the <i>Gadsden Times</i> on Jan. 5 1986, "Incumbents Fare Well in Primaries" on UPI on May 11 1988, "Ex-West Virginia Governor Admits Corruption Schemes" in the <i>New York Times</i> on Apr. 13 1990, "W.Va.'s Ex-Gov. Moore Facing 36 Years in Kickback Admission" in the <i>Pittsburgh Press</i> on Apr. 13 1990, "Turbulence Runs with Arch Moore" in the <i>Pittsburgh Post-Gazette</i> on Apr. 17 1990, "Former West Virginia Governor Pleads Guilty to Felony Counts" on May 8 1990, "Former W.Va. Governor Pleads Guilty to Felonies" in the <i>Observer-Reporter</i> on May 9 1990, "GOP Committee Laundering of $50,000 Alleged" in the <i>Washington Post</i> on Jun. 1 1990, "Arch Moore Withdraws Guilty Pleas" in the<i> Observer-Reporter</i> on Jun. 29 1990, "Former West Virginia Governor is Sentenced to 5 Years For Graft" in the <i>New York Times</i> on Jul. 11 1990, "Moore Gets Jail Term, Fined $170,000" in the <i>Observer-Reporter </i>on Jul. 11 1990, "W.Va.'s Moore Jail Sentence is Almost 6 Years" in the <i>Pittsburgh Post-Gazette</i> on Jul. 11 1990, "Gorge Bridge Turns 30 Today" in the <i>Register Herald</i> on Oct. 21 2007, "A Deeper Look at the Politicians Who Passed the Civil Rights Bill of 1964" in <i>Smithsonian </i>on Jun. 30 2014, "Former Gov. Arch Moore Dies at 91" in the <i>Charleston Gazette-Mail </i>on Jan. 7 2015, "Arch Moore Left Dynamic, Controversial Legacy" on MetroNews on Jan. 7 2015, "Arch Moore, Trailblazing West Virginia Governor, Dies at 91" in the <i>New York Times</i> on Jan. 8 2015, "Arch Moore, Charismatic W.Va. Governor Convicted of Corruption, Dies at 91" in the <i>Washington Post </i>on Jan. 8 2015, <i>The Encyclopedia of Strikes in American History</i> edited by Aaron Brenner and Benjamin Day and Immanuel Ness, <i>States of Siege: U.S. Prison Riots 1970-1986</i> by Bert Useem and Peter Kimball, <i>Encyclopedia of White-Collar Crime</i> edited by Jurg Gerber and Eric L. Jensen, State v. Bonham, Lawyer Disciplinary Board v. Arch A. Moore Jr.</div>
Dirk Langeveldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10347292004358347133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8953541230084203389.post-9611978768695095032016-04-16T12:52:00.002-04:002016-07-01T11:10:37.910-04:00Jim Traficant: beamed out<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<img alt="Former U.S. Rep. James Traficant, seen here during a House Ethics Committee hearing in 2002, served seven years in prison on federal bribery and racketeering charges. Traficant died on Saturday. He was 73." src="http://media.npr.org/assets/img/2014/09/27/traficant_jim_wide-9575d64c4f8fb400c7aeb25d76fe238348d2ee90-s800-c85.jpg" height="225" width="400" /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>Jim Traficant appears before the House Ethics Committee after his criminal conviction in 2002</i></div>
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(<a href="http://www.npr.org/2014/09/27/352038271/why-youngstown-ohio-loved-jimbo-traficant">Source</a>)</div>
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The cult of personality that has grown around Donald Trump, the current front-runner for the Republican nomination for President in this year's election, has left many people wondering why he holds any appeal at all. Trump's supporters hold him up as someone who can boost the American economy, and whose frankness will prove a welcome challenge to political correctness and "politics as usual" in the nation's capital. Opponents see a narcissistic blowhard who offers an authoritarian and impractical solution to illegal immigration while failing to denounce support from white supremacists.<br />
<br />
It all must seem like deja vu to the voters of Youngstown, Ohio. For nearly 20 years, their representative in Congress was a brash man with an awful toupee and a consistent record of irritating his colleagues.<br />
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But while James A. Traficant Jr. was largely despised in the House of Representatives, he enjoyed plenty of support at home. Over the years, he built up a reputation as a person who sought to fight government waste and bring economic development to a chronically depressed district in the Rust Belt. Even after his career ended ignominiously, with a conviction on corruption charges and expulsion from Congress, he enjoyed plenty of support at home.<br />
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Jim Traficant was born in Youngstown on May 8, 1941. He graduated from Cardinal Mooney High School in 1959 and went on to attend the University of Pittsburgh, where he earned a bachelor of science degree in 1963. While at the school, Traficant became quarterback of the football team and played alongside Mike Ditka, who would go on to become a renowned coach for the Chicago Bears. Traficant was a late round pick for the Pittsburgh Steelers, but didn't make the team. He also tried unsuccessfully to play with the Oakland Raiders.<br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2oUP3u_gMt8/VxFZk9bdbTI/AAAAAAAABd8/vUO-1oR_M2sfl_TsWTe11BcQqG4oToPdQCLcB/s1600/traf1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2oUP3u_gMt8/VxFZk9bdbTI/AAAAAAAABd8/vUO-1oR_M2sfl_TsWTe11BcQqG4oToPdQCLcB/s320/traf1.jpg" width="256" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
(<a href="http://photos.cleveland.com/plain-dealer/2009/09/james_traficant.html">Source</a>)</div>
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Even at this stage in his life, Traficant earned a reputation for speaking his mind. While still attending the University of Pittsburgh, he made headlines for insulting the school in an interview. He had made two mistakes so far in his life, he claimed: "Coming to Pitt was the first. Staying at Pitt was the second." After he graduated, he spent some time working for insurance companies before becoming the consumer finance coordinator for the Youngstown Area Community Action Council in February 1967.<br />
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By this time, Youngstown had fallen on hard times. The city had been a center of steel production for decades, and its population had swelled to 130,000 in 1930. Mills provided work for thousands of people, and demand for steel boomed during World War II. But increased globalization and a decline in the steel industry caused Youngstown's economy to stagnate. Organized crime seized the opportunity to take control of city and county government posts, with mobsters from Cleveland and Pittsburgh battling for influence. Higher poverty and the prevalence of illegal drugs added to the persistent problems in the region.<br />
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Traficant turned his attention to the drug problem in 1972, becoming the coordinator for Mahoning County Drug Programs. He later became executive director of the organization. He returned to the University of Pittsburgh and earned a master's degree in administration in 1973. He got a second master's degree, this one in counseling, from Youngstown State University in 1976. In November 1977, Traficant became the chairman of the Mahoning County Welfare Advisory Board.<br />
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Traficant tried his hand at politics in 1980, when he ran for the Democratic nomination for sheriff of Mahoning County. He managed to defeat incumbent George D. Tablack in the primary, and won the general election despite the party's decision not to endorse him. Among the changes Traficant made while in office was the decision to institute 10-hour work shifts for deputies and end the use of county cars and credit cards.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LO102qmjf1U/VxFc-V0zAsI/AAAAAAAABec/9hWZIVDcL2UZyZfK7k5NtvmRGAfTJcNMACLcB/s1600/traf4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LO102qmjf1U/VxFc-V0zAsI/AAAAAAAABec/9hWZIVDcL2UZyZfK7k5NtvmRGAfTJcNMACLcB/s320/traf4.jpg" width="216" /></a></div>
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(<a href="http://www.panoramio.com/photo/53785677">Source</a>)</div>
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In October 1981, a Mahoning County reserve deputy was murdered. While transporting a dangerous prisoner, John Litch Jr.'s vehicle was rear-ended by a vehicle driven by the prisoner's half-brother. When Litch got out to investigate, the driver shot and killed him. Both the prisoner and his half-brother managed to escape, but were later apprehended. Litch was the first Youngstown area law enforcement officer to be killed in the line of duty since 1952, although four other police officers had been shot during the year. Traficant said he accepted responsibility for Litch's death, but came under investigation after it was reported that the sheriff's office had been tipped off about the possibility of an ambush and not taken any action. A grand jury decided not to charge him with any malfeasance.<br />
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One incident which helped give Traficant a folk hero reputation occurred in 1983. By law, the sheriff was required to sign foreclosure deeds after a property was sold at auction. When a court presented Traficant with 10 foreclosure notices for the residences of unemployed mill workers, he refused to sign them until he knew "the disposition of those people displaced from their homes." In February, he was found in contempt of court and ordered to spend 100 days in jail.<br />
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Admirers would thereafter remember Traficant as a sheriff who was unwilling to carry out foreclosures on the downtrodden. However, he was imprisoned for only three days before agreeing to serve the notices, after which he was released. Still, Traficant continued to show sympathy for those who were about to lose their homes. In December 1987, while serving in Congress, he successfully created a $3.5 million program to provide counseling for people who were facing foreclosure.<br />
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By the time Traficant did his brief stint behind bars, he was facing a much longer prison sentence. Although the Pittsburgh and Cleveland crime families were locked in a violent power struggle for control of Youngstown, they collaborated when it came to keeping local political figures in their pocket. Federal investigators had built a case that Traficant had received $163,000 in campaign contributions from both mob factions in exchange for turning a blind eye to their criminal activities.<br />
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As Traficant told it, Cleveland mob boss Charles Carrabia contributed $103,000 toward his primary campaign. Carrabia also took him to meet with James Prato, a leader in the Pittsburgh crime syndicate, a few days before the primary. Prato handed Traficant an envelope stuffed with $55,000 to add to the campaign. However, Traficant soon gave the money to Carrabia with instructions to return it to Prato. He didn't think he was going to win the primary anyway, and he wasn't keen on getting mixed up with the area's criminal syndicates.<br />
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After his unexpected victory in the primary, Traficant claimed, he planned on using Carrabia's support to help end Prato's criminal activities in Youngstown. He met with Carrabia on several occasions after the primary, promising to have the sheriff's office hassle the Pittsburgh faction. Unbeknownst to him, Carrabia was having several of the meetings recorded. And when other meetings with Prato failed to materialize, Traficant suspected that Carrabia was the weaker of the two mobsters.<br />
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Soon after Traficant won the general election, Carrabia and his brother scheduled a meeting with the sheriff to play one of the tapes. Carrabia threatened to turn over the incriminating evidence to the FBI if the new sheriff did not cooperate with him. Traficant claims that he was defiant, telling Carrabia's brother to "shove that tape right up his fucking ass." Though the recording would have implicated Carrabia, it also had the potential to bring down both Traficant and Prato.<br />
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But in December 1980, Carrabia disappeared and was never heard from again. Traficant took office in January 1981, and within three months the mobster who had recorded the meeting (Joe DeRose) was also missing. Both men were presumed dead.<br />
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The FBI still got wind of the recordings, finding some of the audio tapes during a search of DeRose's home. Agents confronted Traficant on June 15, 1981, playing one of the recordings for him. He confirmed that the voice of the person meeting with Carrabia, and discussing the exchange of money, was his own. He also drew up a statement about how he had accepted campaign funds from Carrabia and taken (and returned) additional money from Prato.<br />
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Both the tapes and the document would prove to be controversial. The FBI referred to it as a confession, saying it confirmed that Traficant had colluded with the mob and taken bribes to favor one faction in the war for Youngstown. They offered to grant Traficant immunity if he assisted in an investigation to crack down on organized crime in the region, but said he would have to resign as sheriff to accept the deal. Traficant met several times with the FBI, trying unsuccessfully to negotiate an alternate arrangement where he could offer assistance in the investigation while staying in his elected role; the FBI refused. In addition to this fundamental disagreement, Traficant was worried what would happen to him if he became a key witness against the mob; he had started carrying a .38-caliber handgun on him at all times after Carrabia and DeRose vanished.<br />
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In August 1982, a grand jury indicted Traficant for tax evasion as well as bribery conspiracy under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, which had been passed in 1970 to target organized criminal enterprises. Several organizations and officials had been calling for him to step down as sheriff prior to the indictment, including the judges of the Court of Common Pleas. Traficant refused, saying at one point, "To all those politicians who want me to resign: go fuck yourselves."<br />
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Though an attorney represented Traficant for the early stages of the case, the relationship eventually grew strained. Ignoring the legal advice to keep quiet before the trial, Traficant frequently ranted to the press about the FBI and IRS. He accused several public officials of having ties to organized crime, alleging that mobsters were working with the prosecutors to take him down. He also accused the FBI of forging his confession and doctoring the recordings. The head of the Mahoning County Democratic Party, who happened to be Prato's lawyer, petitioned unsuccessfully to have Traficant sent to an insane asylum.<br />
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When the case went to trial in May 1983, Traficant would act as his own lawyer. The sheriff had no experience in the courtroom, and later admitted that he first thought RICO referred to a crime family. If convicted, he faced up to 23 years in prison. Traficant made several unsuccessful attempts to have the trial moved from Cleveland to Mahoning County, saying the case was unique to that area. The judge refused to grant Traficant's request to have the jury made up entirely of Youngstown residents, although three people from the city were ultimately selected as jurors.<br />
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During the seven-week trial, the prosecution relied on the recordings, Traficant's signed statement, and testimony from several witnesses who said they were aware of the sheriff's links to the mob. The testimony included a Mahoning County deputy who said Traficant asked him at least five times to give him a superficial gunshot wound to make it seem like the sheriff had been targeted in a mob hit. Traficant admitted to the jury that he had taken money from both the Cleveland and Pittsburgh mob families. However, he said it was part of a sting operation to infiltrate the organizations and entrap the mobsters. He claimed that the statement to the FBI had been coerced, and that he didn't tell agents about his activities because he did not trust them.<br />
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He also brought up his background in helping crack down on drug abuse in Mahoning County, saying he wouldn't have gone from this profession to helping mobsters involved in the narcotics trade. Indeed, Traficant declared during his first campaign for the House of Representatives that he would seek to impose the death penalty for certain drug offenses. He kept his promise, proposing such a measure in March 1985.<br />
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On June 15, 1983, the jury acquitted Traficant of all charges. Jurors said they had discounted both the confession and the audio recordings since they couldn't be sure of their authenticity. It was an astonishing result that only added to Traficant's reputation. Stephen Jigger, head of the prosecution team, said he thought the sheriff's guilt had been proven without a doubt, but that Traficant had managed to direct the jury's attention to irrelevant points. He described Traficant as "an intelligent, articulate, and aggressive defendant" as well as a "skilled politician."<br />
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Indeed, the acquittal would prove to be a springboard that brought Traficant to national office. In 1984, he defeated six other candidates for the Democratic nomination for his House of Representatives district. He went on to defeat the incumbent Republican congressman, Lyle Williams, by almost 20,000 votes. Once again, he managed the victory even though his party declined to endorse him.<br />
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The corruption trial also resulted in another curious outcome. In August 1984, the IRS informed Traficant that he owed taxes on the $163,000 he had admitted to taking from the crime families. When he hadn't paid by the middle of 1985, they pressed the issue. The trial was delayed until after the 1986 election, when Traficant was re-elected to the House.<br />
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The victory at the criminal trial had made Traficant confident that he would be able to represent himself once again. The four-day trial took place in the U.S. Tax Court in Cleveland in November 1986. Traficant claimed that he had only accepted the money so it could not be used against him in the 1980 sheriff's race, and had returned it after the election. The signed statement and audio tapes were once again introduced as evidence.<br />
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Traficant did not have as much luck in these proceedings, and he held out slim hope for victory. "This is America. Even though this is the IRS, you never know," he said. "This stumbling jackass may pull it off."<br />
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He didn't; in September 1987, the court found in favor of the federal government. Traficant was ordered to pay back taxes on $108,000 in mob contributions that he had failed to report, plus interest and penalties. He challenged the decision soon after, but an appeals court upheld the verdict in August 1989. Four months later, he failed to meet a deadline to bring the matter before the Supreme Court.<br />
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Traficant would target the IRS at several points during his career. Anticipating his defeat in the tax case, he introduced legislation in April 1987 to protect the taxpayer from an "overzealous IRS." He later proposed legislation to limit the ability of the IRS to seize property from people charged with tax evasion, and his suggestions were folded into a tax reform bill approved by President Bill Clinton in 1998. Traficant was also pleased with the "Taxpayer Bill of Rights" passed by Congress in April 1996.<br />
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The <i>Washington Post</i> would describe Traficant as "one of the most deliberately outrageous members of Congress in history." He was known for a terribly unfashionable wardrobe, including polyester or denim suits, skinny ties, and cowboy boots. His ridiculous appearance was further enhanced by an enormous mound of perpetually mussed-up hair. "He looked less smart then he was," recalled Charles Straub, Traficant's former press secretary. "It put people off guard. It was part of his mystique as just an average citizen. But he was a very shrewd politician."<br />
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Traficant also became famous for a series of rambling, sometimes profane speeches on the floor of Congress. Representatives have the ability to speak on any subject, provided the remarks do not go longer than one minute. Traficant capitalized on this privilege to take numerous potshots at what he considered to be overreach, inefficiency, or foolishness on the part of the federal government.<br />
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The rants were often related to an obscure topic. In 2001, in between one-minute speeches by congressmen who advocated a United Nations war crimes tribunal for Saddam Hussein and a balanced energy plan for California, Traficant used his time to comment on a St. Louis alderwoman who had urinated in a trash can so she wouldn't have to yield the floor during a filibuster. He typically ended the speeches by shaking his head in dismay and making a Star Trek reference by declaring, "Beam me up, Mr. Speaker."<br />
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Criticizing foreign aid to the Soviet Union on one occasion, Traficant said, "Russia gets $15 billion in foreign aid from Uncle Sam. In exchange, Uncle Sam gets nuclear missiles pointed at our cities, two tape decks, and three cases of vodka." At another point, he said, "The Lord's Prayer is 66 words, the Gettysburg Address is 286 words, the Declaration of Independence is 1,322 words. U.S. regulation on the sale of cabbage—that is right, cabbage—is 27,000 words. Now if that is not enough to give Hulk Hogan's dictionary a hernia, check this out. Regulatory red tape in America costs taxpayers $400 billion every year, over $4,000 each year, every year, year in, year out, for every family. Beam me up."<br />
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Traficant's fellow congressmen were particularly irked in October 1990, when he made a remark about "political prostitutes" in Congress. He subsequently apologized "to all the hookers of American for associating them with the United States Congress."<br />
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These insults and scattershot criticisms did little to endear Traficant to other members of Congress, but they earned him a good deal of popularity in his home district. He would be re-elected to another eight terms after 1984, with his constituents praising what they saw as brutal honesty and an effort to shake up the nation's capital.<br />
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"We don't have much hope right now, and things are getting more dismal by the day. But one of the few things we still have faith in is that guy over there, Jim Traficant," said an unemployed ironworker who visited Traficant in Washington in 1985. "We know he'll fight for us. He is our blessing." Tim Ryan, who worked as an aide to Traficant, recalled the congressman by saying, "He was always rooting for the underdog, and was willing to spend his time and energy trying to help people that nobody else would listen to. There wasn't a guy who had more charisma, or more of an ability to make someone feel special and part of the fun that was going on." Supporters gave him the affectionate nickname Jimbo.<br />
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Although his outlandish appearance and statements dominated Traficant's personality, he also developed a substantial record of bringing federal assistance to his district. He succeeded in bringing a Saturn automotive plant to the Mahoning Valley and traveled to Japan to try to convince Mitsubishi to set up a similar facility in the region. He revived a proposal to build a canal between Lake Erie and the Ohio River. He also managed to get federal funding for the construction of two federal courthouses, a VA clinic, and a convocation center in Youngstown during his time in office. In May 1998, he secured $46 million for local road projects.<br />
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Although he worked to get federal spending directed to his home district, Traficant called for reduction in expenditures in other areas. He was particularly opposed to foreign aid, and also called for less government regulation on businesses. He called for "Buy American" provisions in spending bills and expressed opposition to free trade agreements. Traficant also supported tough measures against illegal immigration, calling for the deportation of anyone who entered the country unlawfully; he also wanted American soldiers stationed on the border with Mexico to stop anyone trying to sneak into the United States.<br />
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Traficant occasionally flirted with the idea of running for a different office. He formed a committee to explore a presidential bid in April 1987, and managed to get enough votes to send a single delegate to the Democratic National Convention. He ended this effort a year later, pledging the delegate to support Governor Michael Dukakis of Massachusetts. After winning a fourth term to the House of Representatives in 1994, he said he was considering whether to run in Ohio's gubernatorial or Senate race in 1998.<br />
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Traficant earned plenty of criticism in the late 1980s and early 1990s when he came to the defense of two men accused of war crimes during World War II. He first offered a vocal defense of John Demjanjuk, a Ukrainian-born retired Ohio autoworker. Demjanjuk was accused of being a notoriously cruel guard, nicknamed "Ivan the Terrible," at the Treblinka death camp. Extradited to Israel in 1986, he was convicted two years later and sentenced to death. The Israeli Supreme Court overturned his conviction in 1993 after determining that there was insufficient evidence to convict Demjanjuk, and Traficant claimed his appeal had led to the reexamination of the case. He flew to Israel to accompany Demjanjuk back to the United States. Demjanjuk's case would persist for almost another 20 years; he was later deported to Germany, convicted of war crimes, and died in 2012 while the case was under appeal.<br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IWwQ3m5hRZ0/VxFc-Ue_MhI/AAAAAAAABeY/Fa5aKQrzkdo9LMGY3lsswAiBXU8Vu30UwCKgB/s1600/traf2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IWwQ3m5hRZ0/VxFc-Ue_MhI/AAAAAAAABeY/Fa5aKQrzkdo9LMGY3lsswAiBXU8Vu30UwCKgB/s320/traf2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i>Traficant with John Demjanjuk on a flight back to the United States in 1993</i></div>
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(<a href="http://photos.cleveland.com/plain-dealer/2009/09/w23john.html">Source</a>)</div>
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Arthur Rudolph also earned Traficant's sympathy. Rudolph had also been accused of abusing prisoners while working as a Nazi rocket scientist, although he was later admitted into the United States and worked with NASA on the Apollo program. In 1984, he surrendered his citizenship and left the country as part of an agreement with the U.S. government, ultimately ending up in West Germany. In May 1990, Traficant angered the Jewish community when he said that Rudolph should be allowed to return to the United States and that a "powerful Jewish lobby" was trying to intimidate government officials.<br />
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Traficant's contentious relationship with the Democrats continued in Congress. A January 1998 analysis of his voting record found that he had gone against his own party 77 percent of the time. He voted against Clinton's budget in May 1993, but did not support impeachment of the President in 1998. Traficant also held pro-life views and was in favor of organized prayer in public schools. After the massacre at Columbine High School in 1998, he called for an end to the constitutional ban on school prayer, saying, "People who pray together are not likely to kill one another."<br />
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The Democrats tolerated Traficant's maverick ways until early 2001. The elections of 2000 had demonstrated just how divided the nation was in terms of political opinions. In addition to the controversial presidential election, where Republican candidate George W. Bush was sent to the White House after a Supreme Court decision to end a ballot recount in Florida, both chambers of Congress were split almost evenly between the major political parties. The Republicans continued to hold a majority, although it had dwindled to seven seats.<br />
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On January 3, 2001, the members of the House of Representatives cast their votes for Speaker of the House. The Republicans put forth Dennis Hastert of Illinois while the Democrats backed Dick Gephardt of Missouri. Traficant broke from his party and supported Hastert, earning him a standing ovation from the Republican representatives. He was the only Democrat to support Hastert, who was chosen as Speaker with 221 votes.<br />
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Angered by Traficant's apostasy, the Democratic leadership kicked him out of the party caucus, stripped him of his seniority, and removed all of his committee assignments. The punishment made him the first rank-and-file congressman to serve without a committee assignment in almost a century. There was some speculation that Traficant would defect to the other side of the aisle, but he never did so. House Majority Leader Dick Armey later said that the GOP never offered Traficant a place in their caucus, and Traficant never requested one. "I have told Jim myself, and told him some time ago, it would not be in his best interest to join the Republican Party," Armey said in May 2001. "He doesn't get his mile of slack if he's a Republican, and Jim needs a mile of slack."<br />
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The Republicans may also have been reluctant to extend an invitation to a congressman who seemed to be on the verge of a criminal indictment. Several of Traficant's associates had been convicted in a far-ranging investigation in eastern Ohio, and observers suggested that it would only be a matter of time before they charged him.<br />
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Organized crime had once again provided the impetus for the investigation. Paul Gains, a newly elected prosecutor in Mahoning County who had ousted an incumbent with mob ties, was shot three times at his home and left for dead on Christmas Eve of 1996. Investigators began unraveling a web of corrupt activities, with the first indictments coming down in December 1997. More than 70 people would ultimately be convicted, including the former Mahoning County prosecutor, a sheriff, and several local businessmen. The FBI subpoenaed Traficant's payroll records and other information in December 1999, and began questioning people about possible unpaid perks offered to the congressman two months later.<br />
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As a result of the looming charges, Traficant had faced a tougher than expected challenge in the 2000 election. Robert Hagan, a state senator and one of the challengers in the Democratic primary, mounted an especially spirited offense. He accused Traficant of alienating people with his off-color behavior, driving businesses out of Youngstown, and failing to adequately represent his district. Hagan also happened to be the brother-in-law of Kate Mulgrew, an actress on <i>Star Trek: Voyager</i>. He capitalized on this coincidence by recruiting her for his TV ads to play on Traficant's catchphrase. Democratic voters in Youngstown were urged by Captain Janeway herself to "beam out" Traficant.<br />
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Traficant had triumphed in the March primary, but only came away with 51 percent of the vote. He had won the general election by a similarly tight margin, with about 50 percent of the voters favoring him in a three-way race.<br />
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These victories were all the more remarkable in that they occurred as several of Traficant's associates were being convicted. Two of his former aides, George M. Alexander and Charles O'Nesti, pleaded guilty shortly before the primary to racketeering conspiracy related to former Youngstown mob boss Lenine Strollo. Traficant, realizing that a case was likely forming against him, accused the federal government of targeting him because he had a pending bill supporting an investigation of the FBI's botched raid on the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas. In August 2000, he ignored a court order to turn over pertinent information.<br />
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In October, contractor A. David Sugar was convicted of perjury, obstruction of justice, and witness tampering after admitting to lying to a federal grand jury. Sugar had told his secretary to lie about fake invoices related to work done at Traficant's Ohio farm. Another person who had done work at this site, Clarence T. Broad, pleaded guilty in November to trying to influence a federal witness.<br />
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Traficant was indicted on May 4, 2001, on 10 counts. The charges, unrelated to the assassination attempt on Gains, included bribery, fraud, racketeering, and tax evasion. Prosecutors charged that the congressman had demanded monthly kickbacks of as much as $2,500 from his employees in order for them to keep their jobs. Staffers had also been ordered to do personal work for Traficant, including baling hay at his farm and doing upkeep on a Potomac River houseboat where the congressman had formerly lived while in Washington, D.C. In addition, he was accused of promising favors for businessmen who gave him free items and services, including the use of a Corvette and Avanti luxury car and the construction of a pole barn on his farm. In one instance, Traficant had helped businessman John J. Cafaro win approval from the Federal Aviation Administration for a laser guidance technology developed by Cafaro's company; Cafaro had rewarded him with a gift of thousands of dollars to pay off and repair Traficant's houseboat.<br />
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<i>Traficant's mugshot, dated May 11, 2001, following his indictment</i></div>
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(<a href="http://www.vindy.com/photos/2009/aug/13/17599/">Source</a>)</div>
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The case went to trial in February 2002 in Cleveland. Once again, Traficant opted to represent himself instead of hiring professional counsel, and the courtroom was not immune from the bizarre behavior he often exhibited in Congress. After an FBI agent said none of Traficant's associates was asked to wear a hidden microphone because the congressman often hugged them and slapped them on the back, Traficant asked almost every witness, "Did I ever hug you?" He repeated other questions dozens of times, described the prosecution as having "the testicles of an ant," directly accused one witness of lying under oath, and objected to any IRS testimony since they represented "thieves who prey upon the American people." Traficant said he engaged in these antics because he considered the courtroom a "theater," but later chalked it up to inexperience; he was not a lawyer, he pointed out, but rather the "son of a truck driver."<br />
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On April 12, after 10 weeks of testimony, Traficant was convicted on all counts. He quickly blamed the trial process, complaining about the jurors from the Cleveland area. He had tried unsuccessfully for a change of venue or to get a jury of only Youngstown residents. "Very few people on this jury really knew Jim Traficant or had an understanding of Jim Traficant. I think that would have made a big difference," he declared. Indeed, Traficant continued to enjoy a great deal of support at home. Youngstown area radio show host Dan Ryan fielded several calls from residents after the conviction, many of whom defended the congressman; one said that plenty of other politicians took bribes, and that Traficant's misbehavior was paltry by comparison.<br />
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Five days after the verdict, the House Committee on Standards and Official Conduct met to determine a punishment for the convicted congressman. Traficant asked committee chairman Joel Hefley, a Colorado Republican, to "go light." But he also put his typical devil-may-care attitude on display. He complained that there was no coffee available at the hearings, threatened to call for the expulsion of all committee members, and said he'd like to kick his prosecutors in the crotch. The committee found Traficant guilty of nine ethics violation and, on July 18, 2002, made the unanimous recommendation that he be expelled.<br />
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In Ohio, both political parties welcomed the news. A Democratic spokeswoman said the party had had nothing to do with Traficant for the past two years. Jason Mauk, speaking for the state's Republican Party, declared, "It's embarrassing to think that Jim Traficant is the national face of Ohio politics right now."<br />
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Typically, congressmen subject to a criminal conviction or other scandal decide to resign before Congress can take any punitive action. Only four congressmen had been expelled from the House of Representatives prior to the recommended action against Traficant. Three had been thrown out during the Civil War, for fighting on behalf of the Confederacy while representing border states of the Union. The fourth, Democratic Representative Michael Myers of Pennsylvania, was expelled after his conviction in the Abscam scandal in 1980.<br />
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Even when faced with prison time and joining this none-too-appealing club, Traficant remained jocular. He suggested that he would go to the proceedings in a denim suit and show off his impression of Michael Jackson's moonwalk on the floor of Congress.<br />
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On July 24, the House took up the expulsion measure. Anticipating a harangue from Traficant, Speaker Hastert opened the proceedings by reminding members about the rules against abusive language. The warning did little to temper the rambling statement offered by Traficant. He claimed that the witnesses had a grudge against him, but also accused the government into coercing their testimony, crying, "I'll go to jail. But I'll be damned if I'll be pressured by a government that pressured these witnesses to death." Traficant suggested that the federal judge at his trial had been hostile and that Attorney General Janet Reno, whom he had accused of treason in August 2000, was trying to oust him. He also referenced his infamous hair, saying he cut it with a weed whacker.<br />
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Representative Steven C. LaTourette, an Ohio Republican, suggested that the motion on Traficant's expulsion should be delayed until September. He said this action would allow for Traficant's sentencing to take place and for his legal motions on the matter to be heard. The suggestion won a fair amount of support, mostly from Republicans, but was defeated in a 146-285 vote.<br />
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When it came to Traficant's arguments, his fellow congressmen had little sympathy. Those who made statements denounced him for bringing dishonor to the House, and suggested that to believe his defense was to put credence in an absurd conspiracy that involved the IRS, FBI, U.S. Attorney's Office, and a federal judge all colluding to bring him down.<br />
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A two-thirds majority was needed for expulsion, but the final tally was nearly unanimous. A total of 420 representatives voted in favor of Traficant's expulsion, with only one congressman opposed. The lone dissenter was Gary Condit of California, who was embroiled in a scandal of his own. Condit had admitted to an affair with Chandra Levy, a young intern from his district, but only after repeated questioning related to her disappearance in May 2001; Levy's body had been found in May 2002, and her death was ruled a homicide. Condit was a lame duck congressman by the time of Traficant's expulsion, having lost the Democratic primary in March.<br />
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Six days after he was thrown out of Congress, Traficant was sentenced to eight years in prison. At the time, it was the longest sentence ever imposed on a congressman, extending nine months longer than the minimum sentence recommended by prosecutors. Judge Lesley Brooks Wells said she added the extra time because Traficant had undermined the respect for his office and shown himself to be dishonest. She also ordered him to pay more than $250,000 in penalties, including a $150,000 fine, the forfeiture of $96,000 of unreported income from staffer kickbacks, and a $1,000 special assessment.<br />
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Wells referenced Traficant's congressional record at the sentencing, declaring, "You've done a lot of good in your years in Congress...The good you have done does not excuse you of the crime you were convicted of." Referring to Traficant's frequent promises that he would fight the charges like a "junkyard dog," Wells declared, "The truth, sir, is rarely in you. You were howling that you were going to fight like a junkyard dog in the eye of a hurricane, and you did fight that way, to protect a junkyard full of deceit and corruption and greed."<br />
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Since the judge refused to let Traficant remain free on bail while he appealed his case, he immediately began his time behind bars. "I committed no crime. I regret nothing I said," he declared, saying he intended to run for re-election in the 2002 race while incarcerated. It was only when he reported to prison that his famous hairdo was revealed to be a toupee. Traficant had to remove the hairpiece during a routine inmate search, and was informed that he wouldn't be able to wear it while in federal prison.<br />
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As promised, Traficant entered the 2002 race as an independent candidate. He managed to get 15 percent of the vote, but lost to Democratic candidate Tim Ryan, a state senator and former aide to Traficant. Despite his conviction, Traficant was able to start collecting an annual pension of about $40,000 after turning 62 in 2003. In June 2008, a federal judge ordered $250 to be deducted from his $1,037.79 a month state pension to go toward his fine. Traficant started his sentence at the Allenwood Federal Correctional Complex in Pennsylvania, then served the remainder at the Federal Medical Center in Rochester, Minnesota, after he was transferred due to an undisclosed medical or mental health issue.<br />
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An appeals court upheld Traficant's conviction in March 2004. The Supreme Court refused to hear his case in January 2005. Traficant took up painting and began creating scenes of horses and barns. At one point, he allegedly wrote a letter which renewed his claim that the federal government had sought retribution against him. He claimed that his conviction was punishment for his appeal on Demjanjuk's defense and because he "[knew] the facts" about the FBI sieges at Waco and Ruby Ridge, the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, and the disappearance of union leader Jimmy Hoffa.<br />
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The letter surfaced on the website of David Duke, a white nationalist and former KKK grand wizard. Traficant had won the affection of white nationalists for his defense of Demjanjuk and Rudolph, and Duke appealed to his followers to send monetary donations to Traficant's wife, Tish, or his prison canteen fund. Tish downplayed Duke's appeal, saying her husband had no control over where his letter was circulating. Michael Collins Piper, a conspiracy theorist who first posted the letter and contribution information, also denied that Traficant represented the views of white nationalists. "There's stuff I've written about Traficant that's showing up in places I don't even know," he said. "It's like six degrees of separation with the Internet now." After Traficant's death, Duke would post a "Tribute to Jim Traficant and his Opposition to Jewish Supremacism."<br />
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In September 2009, after serving seven years of his sentence, Traficant was freed. He received a warm welcome in his hometown. An appreciation dinner was scheduled, and the theme of the local minor league baseball team's next game was "Traficant Release Night." Traficant remained on probation for the next three years. In January 2010, he got a part-time gig as a talk show host on the AM radio station WTAM.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<img alt="James A. Traficant Jr." src="http://www.trbimg.com/img-542718cd/turbine/lat-traficant-wre0022428772-20090906/1300/1300x731" height="223" width="400" /></div>
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<i>Traficant and wife Tish at an appreciation dinner held after his release from prison</i></div>
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(<a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/lat-traficant-wre0022428772-20090906-photo.html">Source</a>)</div>
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Traficant continued to maintain his innocence. At one point, referring to himself in the third person, he declared, "Seven people said they bribed him. They never had no crime against Traficant. They taped every phone call he ever made, probably. Since 1983." He was vocal in his disdain for both the Democrats and Republicans and also sounded off against targets such as the IRS, Justice Department, Socialists, and illegal immigrants. These diatribes caught the attention of the Tea Party, the conservative movement that formed after the election of President Barack Obama in 2008, and Traficant was invited to speak at several of their events around Youngstown.<br />
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In May 2010, Traficant announced that he would try to recapture his seat in Congress in the year's election. Since his imprisonment, his district had been split in half. Ryan continued to serve in one, while the other seat was filled by Democrat John Boccieri. Traficant opted to challenge Ryan as an independent candidate, with a platform that largely sought to restrict government power. He said he would attempt to repeal the 16th Amendment, which allows Congress to levy an income tax; abolish the IRS, Department of Energy, Department of Education, and Social Security; eliminate corporation and Medicare taxes; deport all illegal immigrants and station troops at the Mexican border; and free all prisoners convicted of non-violent crimes.<br />
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Traficant managed to get his name on the ballot for the general election. He again garnered a significant but insufficient portion of the vote, with 16 percent of the electorate favoring him. Ryan won re-election and continues to serve in the House of Representatives to this day. After the loss, Traficant seemed content to stay out of the spotlight.<br />
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On September 23, 2014, Traficant was driving a vintage tractor into a pole barn at his daughter's farm in Greenford, Ohio, when it struck an obstacle and overturned on top of him. There were suggestions that he had suffered a heart attack before the accident, but a pathologist later determined that the weight of the tractor had restricted Traficant's ability to breathe. He died on September 27 in a hospital in Poland, Ohio.<br />
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Traficant remains a polarizing figure. In February 2006, more than 300 people attended a town hall style debate in Youngstown to discuss whether he had been good or bad for the region. Traficant's supporters lauded his ability to challenge the Washington norms, while his opponents saw him as a corrupt and clownish figure who had impeded progress in his district. "His passing is obviously the passing of a political icon in Mahoning Valley," said Robert Hagan, Traficant's former political opponent. "Good, bad, or indifferent, he had an incredible amount of charisma."<br />
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Sources: The Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, "Sheriff's Slaying Tip-Off Probed" in the Pittsburgh Press on Oct. 24 1981, "Prisoner Kills Deputy Near Youngstown" in the Daily Kent Stater on Oct. 29 1981, "Sheriff Who Failed to Act in Foreclosures Sentenced" in the Toledo Blade on Feb. 17 1983, "Lashing Out" in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Jun. 2 1983, "In Fighting Form" in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Jul. 2 1983, "The Mafia and the Congressman" in the Washington Weekly on Apr. 19 1985, "Rep. James Traficant, D-Ohio, Facing Federal Charges of Tax Evasion," reported by UPI on Nov. 13 1986, "Congressman Defending Scientist Who is Suspected in War Crimes" in the New York Times on May 15 1990, "Traficant Relishes Bad Boy Role" in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Mar. 1 2000, "Rep. James Traficant Indicted on Racketeering" in The Item on May 4 2001, "U.S. Charges Traficant, Colorful Ohio Congressman, With Taking Bribes" in the New York Times on May 5 2001, "Armey: GOP Doesn't Want Traficant" in the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal on May 8 2001, "Now Playing: Traficant Probe 2001, The Sequel" in the Youngstown Vindicator on May 23 2001, "Traficant Guilt OK to Some Voters" in the Star-News on Apr. 15 2002, "Panel Says Traficant Violated Ethics Rules" in the Daily News on Jul. 18 2002, "House Panel Votes to Expel Maverick Congressman" in the Spokesman-Review on Jul. 19 2002, "House Votes, With Lone Dissent From Condit, to Expel Traficant From Ranks" in the New York Times on Jul. 25 2002, "Traficant Begins Eight-Year Sentence; Expects Re-Election to House From Jail" in the Boca Raton News on Jul. 30 2002, "Bad Hair Day For Traficant" in the Associated Press on Oct. 29 2002, "'Welcome Home, Jimbo' Countdown" in the Youngstown Vindicator on Aug. 9 2009, "White Nationalists, Conspiracy Theorists Join Traficant Cause" on TribToday.com on Aug. 30 2009, "The Life and Trials of James A. Traficant Jr." in The Vindicator on Sep. 2 2009, "Traficant Lands a Part-Time Job on Radio" in the Youngstown Vindicator on Jan. 5 2010, "Tea Party Hero Jim Traficant: Could Ex-Con Return to Congress?" in the Cleveland Plain Dealer on May 2 2010, "America's Fastest Shrinking City: The Story of Youngstown, Ohio," published by The Hampton Institute on Jun. 18 2013, "Ex. Rep. Jim Traficant is Seriously Injured in Tractor Accident" in the Cleveland Plain Dealer on Sep. 24 2014, "James A. Traficant Jr., Colorful Ohio Congressman Expelled by House, Dies at 73" in the Washington Post on Sep. 27 2014, "James Traficant Jr., Expelled From Congress in 2002, Dies at 73" in the Los Angeles Times on Sep. 27 2014, "James Traficant Jr., Cast Out by Congress in Bribery Case, Dies at 73" in the New York Times on Sep. 27 2014, "Jim Traficant Dies at 73" in Politico on Sep. 27 2014, "Ex-Congressman Jim Traficant Dies of Injuries Suffered From a Tractor Accident at Daughter's Farm" in the Cleveland Plains Dealer on Sep. 27 2014, "Former Rep. Traficant Didn't Have Heart Attack, Seizure Before Tractor Death, Pathologist Says" in the Cleveland Plains Dealer on Sep. 30 2014, Remembering the Cruelest Month: The Network, Labor, and Haunting of the Memories of Columbine by Stephanie Jean Stillman, Political Scandals: The Consequences of Temporary Gratification by La Trice M. Washington</div>
Dirk Langeveldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10347292004358347133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8953541230084203389.post-38415887825889799702016-03-05T12:26:00.000-05:002016-03-05T12:28:30.768-05:00James F. Hastings: skimming off the top<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VkDh8TKBuKU/VtjreAP0HNI/AAAAAAAABdA/ZepEpOhhgCk/s1600/hastings.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VkDh8TKBuKU/VtjreAP0HNI/AAAAAAAABdA/ZepEpOhhgCk/s1600/hastings.jpg" /></a></div>
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<i>Source: bioguide.congress.gov</i></div>
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<br /><br />Political gridlock was one of the reasons James Fred Hastings cited for his decision to resign from the House of Representatives at the beginning of 1976. As a moderate Republican from a small city in western New York, he felt that he had not been able to make much of a mark on national politics. Moreover, he didn't believe that Congress had made much meaningful progress toward resolving the most pressing issues of the day.<br /><br />"I came up to age 49 without having a great deal to show for it," Hastings said. "Taking a look at the next 12 to 14 years of productive life, I decided I couldn't spend it here under the circumstances and frustrations I see in this legislative body."<br /><br />Another reason for his resignation, Hastings admitted, had to do with his finances. Between maintaining his home in New York and serving in Washington, he said he had run up $19,000 in debt. He would be moving on to a job as president of Associated Industries, an Albany-based lobbying organization representing more than 2,000 businesses in the state. The post came with a higher salary than he was earning as a congressman.<br /><br />Before the year was over, a federal court would charge Hastings with an entirely different type of financial trouble. He had hardly had difficulty with his accounts while in Congress, prosecutors accused. Rather, he had skimmed money from his employees for personal luxuries.<br /><br />Hastings was born on April 10, 1926, in Olean, New York. He joined the Navy during World War II, becoming part of flight squadrons between 1943 and 1946. After the war, he worked as a union carpenter from 1947 to 1950, then as a sales representative for Proctor and Gamble for two years. He joined the radio station WHDL as sales manager in 1952, and served as station manager from 1959 to 1966. Hastings also dabbled in real estate as a partner in the firm Hastings & Jewell and held the job of national advertising manager at the Olean Times Herald from 1964 to 1966.<br /><br />During most of his career in radio, Hastings also held local and state political posts. He was a member of the Allegany Town Board from 1953 to 1962, and served as a village justice during the same period. He was then elected to the New York state assembly, serving from 1963 to 1965, before transferring to the state senate and serving through 1968.<br /><br />Hastings' move to national politics was prompted by the death of Senator Robert F. Kennedy. At the time of his death, Kennedy was running for the Democratic nomination for President. Following his victory in the California primary on June 5, 1968, Kennedy was shot three times by an assassin; he died the next day. Governor Nelson Rockefeller appointed Representative Charles Goodell, a Republican, to fill Kennedy's vacant Senate seat. Hastings was chosen as the Republican nominee for the open House of Representatives seat left by Goodell's appointment, and defeated Democratic candidate Wilbur White in the year's general election.<br /><br />The district was happy enough with Hastings' service that it sent him back to Washington in the next three elections. However, as he mentioned in his remarks about his decision to resign, he never truly distinguished himself. The Milwaukee Journal commented that he had established himself as "a hard worker and an expert on such important - if unglamorous - issues as health, transportation, and the environment." One of his more noticeable actions involved the co-sponsorship of a bill to repeal the earnings limitation on the Social Security Act.<br /><br />Following his resignation, the remainder of Hastings' term was put to a special election. Stanley Ludine, the mayor of the nearby city of Jamestown, earned 54,743 votes to GOP candidate John T. Calkins' total of 34,491. Ludine was the first Democrat from the Olean area to be sent to Congress in 106 years. He would go on to serve 10 years in the House before becoming lieutenant governor to Mario Cuomo.<br /><br />Hastings quickly began to weigh in on state proposals. One month after his resignation, he announced Associated Industries' opposition to an attempt to increase New York unemployment benefits. The proposal was unrealistic, Hastings charged, and would cause businesses to leave the state. The Empire State Chamber of Commerce, Council of Merchants, and New York Chamber of Commerce and Industry joined him in opposition.<br /><br />Only a few months later, the news broke that Hastings was under investigation. In June, a Justice Department source confirmed that it was looking into payroll records related to four people who had worked for Hastings while he was in Congress. Since the investigation was taking place at the same time that <a href="http://downfalldictionary.blogspot.com/2009/07/wayne-l-hays-money-for-nothing.html">Wayne Hays</a> was under scrutiny for accusations that his secretary was essentially paid to be his mistress, the source assured the press that Hastings' case did "not involve girls."<br /><br />On September 21, Hastings was indicted on 26 counts of of mail fraud and nine counts of making false statements to the House Finance office. Hastings was accused of manipulating the salaries of three employees while in Congress, giving them salary increases but ordering them to transfer this extra cash to his own account. The case went to trial in December.<br /><br />The prosecution's case rested chiefly on the testimony of Claire Bradley, who had worked as Hastings' executive secretary during his time in the House. Bradley said that Hastings had increased her salary by $360 a month, starting in May 1969. At the same time, however, he wanted Bradley to give back this amount so he could pay into a New York state retirement fund. Bradley testified that the congressman told her this kind of arrangement was common between members of Congress and their employees. She complied for more than a year, considering it to be a loan, but eventually realized that Hastings was running a kickback scheme. She stopped deferring part of her salary to Hastings after August 1971, although she agreed to make a $1,736 tuition payment for his sons' college education in August 1972.<br /><br />After Hastings announced he was resigning, Bradley sought to get her money back. She outlined the payments she had made to her boss over the years and calculated that he owed her about $12,000. When Hastings did not respond, she consulted with an attorney. Bradley said that Hastings apologized to her on January 19, his second to last day in office, but told her that he would not be giving back any of the money he had taken from her. He also allegedly threatened to ruin her employment prospects if she sought legal action against him, saying, "I can fix all this tomorrow by not recommending you for any other job."<br /><br />Investigators had also determined that Hastings had received personal benefits from Leonard Jones, an auto dealer and part-time district representative for Hastings, as well as a chauffeur named David Walden. Jones had returned more than $6,000 in payments Hastings made on cars purchased at his dealership. Walden said he used the approximately $9,000 in extra payments received from Hastings to pay the congressman's bills at a marina on Rushford Lake in New York. Joseph Hirsch, manager of RK Marina, said Hastings had purchased three boats and two snowmobiles from him.<br /><br />During the trial, Hastings' defense argued that the payments to Hastings had been loans rather than kickbacks. They also called five character witnesses, including Republican Senator Lowell Weicker of Connecticut.<br /><br />The jury was not convinced. On December 17, they found Hastings guilty of 20 counts of mail fraud and eight counts of making false statements. He declined to appeal the verdict and resigned from Associated Industries.<br /><br />At his sentencing on January 31, 1977, Hastings asked that the court take his productive life into consideration. Assistant U.S. Attorney John Kotelly asked the court to disregard this consideration, saying Hastings should not get special treatment simply because of his position. "We feel a double standard should not exist where a person who commits a street crime gets a heavy sentence while a person who commits a white collar crime gets a light sentence," said Kotelly.<br /><br />U.S. District Court Judge June L. Green said she had received several letters from constituents who praised Hastings' work. However, he was also irked by those who believed kickback schemes were a common practice among congressmen, and that Hastings should not be punished harshly. She said such justifications were an affront to all honest officials, and that Hastings' sentence should "put on notice" anyone who was engaged in similar behavior. "You were elected to a position with grave national responsibilities," said Green. "The conduct for which you have been found guilty constituted a violation of that public trust." <br /><br />Hastings was ordered to serve between 20 months and five years in prison. He was released after 14 months, and retired to Belleair Beach, Florida. After living there for 21 years, Hastings returned to New York to be closer to his family. He died on October 24, 2014, in Allegany.<br /><br /><div>
Sources: The Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, "Hastings Nominated" in the Evening News on Sep. 23 1968, "Accent on the News" in the Milwaukee Journal on Jan. 7 1976, "Worker Benefits Plan Criticized" in the Evening News on Feb. 24 1976, "Defeat" in the Lakeland Ledger on Mar. 3 1976, "Former Congressman's Records To Be Released" in the Spokesman-Review on Jun. 10 1976, "Jurors Indict Former Legislator" in the Bangor Daily News on Sept. 22 1976, "Prosecution of Hastings is Completed" in the Observer-Reporter on Dec. 16 1976, "Secretary to Hastings Testifies To A Kickback" in the New York Times on Dec. 16 1976, "Deliberations Begin at Kickbacks Trial" in the Bangor Daily News on Dec. 17 1976, "Former N.Y. Congressman is Convicted by Jury" in the Bryan Times on Dec. 18 1976, "Ex-Solon May Face Jail Time" in the Spokane Daily Chronicle on Dec. 18 1976, "Hastings Convicted, Quits Post" in the Observer-Reporter on Dec. 20 1976, "Ex-Congressman Sentenced for Taking Kickbacks" in the Observer-Reporter on Feb. 1 1977, "James F. Hastings Obituary" in the Olean Times Herald on Oct. 27 2014, "Former Rep. James F. Hastings Remembered as Good Public Servant" in the Olean Times Herald on Oct. 28 2014</div>
Dirk Langeveldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10347292004358347133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8953541230084203389.post-86390253483728241992016-01-03T12:51:00.003-05:002016-07-01T10:48:20.680-04:00Jack C. Walton: general incompetence versus Invisible Empire<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mTvjs-iJECM/VoVwHlo9HUI/AAAAAAAABYc/L1_QXizGs9M/s1600/walton.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mTvjs-iJECM/VoVwHlo9HUI/AAAAAAAABYc/L1_QXizGs9M/s320/walton.jpg" width="250" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
(<a href="http://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=WA014">Source</a>)</div>
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On the surface, Governor John Calloway Walton's term as governor of Oklahoma bears a strong resemblance to that of former <a href="http://downfalldictionary.blogspot.com/2012/04/william-woods-holden-divided-legacy.html">North Carolina Governor William Woods Holden</a>. Both men tried to stop the violent depredations of the Ku Klux Klan in their state. Both men used martial law as a potent weapon against the masked vigilantes. And both Walton and Holden were accused of abusing their power and thrown out of office.<br />
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But while Holden was pardoned by the North Carolina legislature 140 years after his impeachment, it is unlikely that Walton will ever enjoy a similar posthumous vindication. His fight against the Klan was seen both at the time and through the lens of history as a politically rather than morally motivated action. Walton even had some personal ties to the organization. Moreover, the effort to expel him from office ultimately focused on malfeasance that was unconnected to his campaign against the Klan.<br />
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Walton was born in Indianapolis on March 6, 1881. As a child, he moved with his family to Lincoln, Nebraska, and later to Arkansas. Details on his early life are somewhat scarce; even the Oklahoma Historical Society describes them as "sketchy and convoluted." He traveled extensively as a young man, reportedly working as a railroad employee, electrical engineer, and traveling salesman. Walton also served in the Army's field artillery during the Spanish-American War, graduated from the Fort Smith Commercial College in Arkansas, and spent some time living in Mexico and studying engineering.<br />
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In 1903, Walton moved to Oklahoma City and began working as a civil engineer and contractor. He formed the McIntosh and Walton Engineering Company with a partner in 1913, and served as a colonel in the Engineering Corps during World War I.<br />
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Walton's political career began when he was elected to serve as a public works commissioner of Oklahoma City. He held this post from 1917 to 1919. He won the 1919 mayoral election in Oklahoma City by 50,000 votes, the largest majority in the state's history at the time. He was a supporter of progressive ideals such as women's suffrage, a 40-hour work week, and public ownership of utilities. Walton was even rumored to be so liberal on the issue of race relations that he was a regular at black jazz clubs.<br />
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The city's police proved to be a significant obstacle to Walton, so he became actively involved in their work. When the police chief said he wouldn't enforce the Prohibition laws, Walton personally led raids against speakeasies and other illegal establishments. He forbade police officers from joining the Ku Klux Klan and, in one remarkable case, ordered a 10-year-old boy to be whipped for disrespecting a 13-year-old black girl.<br />
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Walton's actions as mayor caught the attention of the Farmer-Labor Reconstruction League, which was formed in September 1921. This political party generally worked as a progressive force within the Democratic Party, although many members were former Republicans and Socialists. The party was particularly impressed when Walton actively supported a strike by a meat packers' union, providing them with food and refusing to extend police protection to the owners of the packing plants.<br />
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This stance put him on the wrong side of the local chamber of commerce, especially after the lynching of a black man named Jake Brooks in January 1922. After crossing a picket line during the meat packers' strike, Brooks was dragged from his home, shot, and hanged. The chamber of commerce demanded a declaration of martial law to prevent further unrest; Walton opposed such an action, declaring that the organization was "killing the city by their promotion of labor strife, and wanting to finish the job by declaring martial law." Though the murder had been made to look like the work of the KKK, responsibility was soon fixed on several members of the meat packers' union; the Klan even offered to help break the strike and remove Walton from office.<br />
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As the 1922 election approached, the Farmer-Labor Reconstruction League chose Walton as their nominee for the Democratic Party's gubernatorial candidate. He faced two more conservative men for the nomination: Thomas H. Owen, a former chief justice of the state supreme court, and Robert H. Wilson, the state superintendent of public instruction. The Klan favored either Owen or Wilson to Walton, and ultimately endorsed Wilson. But in the Democratic primary, Walton earned 119,504 votes to Wilson's 84,569 and Owen's 64,229.<br />
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The results caused a rift among Democratic voters, as the more conservative members could not stomach the idea of supporting Walton's more progressive ideas. These voters threw their support behind John Fields, the Republican candidate for governor and editor of the <i>Oklahoma Farmer</i>, in a coalition dubbed the Constitutional Democratic Club. Many Klansmen undoubtedly backed Fields over Walton, but a large number likely opted to support the Democratic candidate after Wilson endorsed Walton.<br />
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Walton gained popularity with a lively campaign across the state in which he promised to advocate for the working man. He was a gifted orator, and turned heads by taking a black jazz band along to play at his events. "Jazz Band Jack" was one of several nicknames Walton earned in his life, along with "Iron Jack" and "Our Jack." In the general election, Walton triumphed with 280,206 votes to Fields' 230,469. The margin of victory was the largest one in a governor's race in Oklahoma up to that point.<br />
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During his campaign, Walton had vowed that the entire state's population would be invited to an enormous barbecue celebration if he won the election. His critics would say this was the only campaign promise Walton managed to keep. On his inauguration day on January 9, 1923, so many people took part in the parade to the ceremony that the procession stretched on for 16 miles. The Oklahoma State Fairgrounds became the seat of a massive feast. A vast selection of food—beef, chicken, turkey, deer, even three bears and 134 opossums—were cooked on roasting pits that covered more than a mile. The Oklahoma City Fire Department brought out its fire engines to supply the water needed to brew 8,000 gallons of coffee. An estimated 300,000 people attended the event.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fSj010VFsK8/Vobi5VHQSzI/AAAAAAAABYw/sAGQYt5JoME/s1600/bbq.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fSj010VFsK8/Vobi5VHQSzI/AAAAAAAABYw/sAGQYt5JoME/s320/bbq.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i><i>An overhead view of the barbecue celebrating Walton's inauguration (<a href="http://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=BA017">Source</a>)</i></i></div>
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Walton favored a Farmer-Labor Reconstruction League program, but had little chance of getting these initiatives approved. The majority of the state legislature was conservative, and Walton's major goals—including a state bank, state insurance system, and a soldiers' bonus—never came to pass. Walton was credited with overseeing a more modest set of reforms such as the expansion of a farm cooperative program, the establishment of licenses for farmers' community market associations, improvements to welfare and Workman's Compensation benefits, strengthened laws for the inspection of warehouses, stronger laws for banking violation, a free textbook law, and $1 million in school aid.<br />
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In order to curry more favor with the conservative legislators, many of whom were members of the KKK, Walton met with several prominent members of the organization. Shortly after his inauguration, the governor was designated as a "Klansman at Large." This title was given to public officials who wanted their membership in the organization to be kept secret. Walton's attempts to satisfy both the progressive and conservative members of the legislature contributed to his downfall, as neither side was won over by his actions. There was speculation that Walton was already looking ahead to a Senate run or even a presidential campaign in 1924, and that he was moving away from his more radical stances to try to appeal to a broader pool of voters.<br />
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Several other actions also led to criticism of Walton's handling of the state's affairs. He was strongly opposed to the death penalty, and vowed that no prisoner would be executed while he was in office. The governor's critics were especially alarmed by his liberal use of pardons and paroles. Between his inauguration and October 1923, Walton racked up 253 acts of executive clemency. Twenty-nine of the prisoners benefiting from these actions were convicted murderers, and one was pardoned after Walton asked a state fair crowd if he thought the man had been punished enough for his crime. There were suspicions that bribes were aiding Walton's actions, though he was never officially charged with this malfeasance.<br />
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Walton was heavily criticized for pursuing the appointment of friends and allies to state posts. He pressured Dr. Stratton Brooks to resign as president of the University of Oklahoma, removing five regents at the school and replacing them with his supporters after Brooks left for the University of Missouri. In one of his more notorious acts of patronage, Walton ousted Dr. James B. Eskridge from his presidency at the Oklahoma A&M College in Stillwater and replaced him with George Wilson. The action was so unpopular that Wilson had to be escorted onto the campus under National Guard protection amidst protests by angry students and faculty. Wilson was the head of the Farmer-Labor Reconstruction League and had served as one of Walton's advisers, but he didn't even hold a bachelor's degree. Walton would ultimately remove Wilson from his new position before his term was up.<br />
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The purchase of a mansion in Oklahoma City also caused many to question whether Walton was trading his official influence for favors. The governor had purchased the property with the assistance of Ernest W. Marland, a wealthy oil man. Walton paid $18,000 in cash to the home's owner, Walter D. Caldwell, along with six $5,000 notes. Caldwell sold these notes to Marland, an action which critics said left the mayor obligated to Marland's oil interests.<br />
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Walton charged that the Ku Klux Klan was behind the hostility towards him, and he would go to war with the organization just six months into his term. Given his earlier meetings with KKK officials, this decision was likely influenced at least in part by political expediency; by taking on the masked vigilantes, Walton could regain his popularity and perhaps ride the ensuing wave of support to higher office. <span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Gw8-5DsTFNk/Vob9Vioo7aI/AAAAAAAABZE/dwuAblFUEpY/s1600/kkkok.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Gw8-5DsTFNk/Vob9Vioo7aI/AAAAAAAABZE/dwuAblFUEpY/s320/kkkok.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i>Ku Klux Klan members gather in Drumright, Oklahoma, in 1922 (<a href="http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/7/19/survivors-of-infamous1921tulsaraceriotstillhopeforjustice.html">Source</a>)</i></div>
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The KKK had become more prominent in several areas of the nation after World War I, and it had a particularly strong presence in Oklahoma. In the early 1920s, membership in the state was estimated to be between 90,000 and 200,000, or as many as one in every 20 residents. Klansmen were influential members in many communities around the state, including the police departments and local governments. David Mark Chalmers, author of the book <i>Hooded Americanism: The History of the Ku Klux Klan</i>, says the Klan in Oklahoma was "less concerned with crime than personal behavior and, many said, personal vengeance." Chalmers says most victims were white Protestants, including young men and women caught riding in cars together, bootleggers, a man opposed to a school bond issue they apparently favored, and both a man who had deserted his wife and the woman he ran off with.<br />
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Klansmen typically kidnapped a person, took them to a remote location, and whipped them. The Klan would also tar and feather, mutilate, assault, and sometimes murder their victims. Those subjected to these abuses rarely reported them; they were either afraid of reprisals or certain that the local officials were themselves part of the KKK. When a case did get to court, the juries usually acquitted anyone charged with the vigilante behavior.<br />
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A horrific race riot in 1921 provided another boost to Klan membership. The inciting incident occurred on a Tulsa elevator on May 30 between a teenage black shoe shiner named Dick Rowland and a white female elevator operator named Sarah Page. Rowland accidentally stepped on Page's foot or grabbed her arm after tripping, causing her to scream. Police arrested Rowland after he fled the elevator, and rumors alleged that he had tried to rape Page. The <i>Tulsa Tribune</i> ran an inflammatory editorial entitled "To Lynch a Negro Tonight" on May 31; an armed mob of white citizens assembled to try to kidnap Rowland from the courthouse, where he was under police protection. Black citizens, also armed, also went to the courthouse to defend Rowland against the lynch mob. Shots were fired, and the riot began.<br />
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The violence lasted only 24 hours, but it had a profound effect. White rioters targeted the Greenwood District, a successful black residential neighborhood and business district in Tulsa nicknamed "Black Wall Street." Buildings were looted and burned, reducing the thriving neighborhood to ruins and leaving most of Tulsa's black residents homeless. There were reports that the attackers used a machine gun and dynamite thrown from airplanes to add to the bloodshed. Initial estimates held that as few as 36 people died in the riot, but historians now estimate that the death toll was closer to 300. <br />
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Even if his fight against the Klan had a political edge to it, Walton was likely sincere in his desire to stop the violent acts by the organization. He had already clashed with the Klan during his time as Oklahoma City's mayor, and as governor he learned the full extent of the KKK's brutality. His executive secretary, Aldrich Blake, estimated that there were 2,500 "whipping parties" operating in the state in 1922.<br />
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Walton first turned his sights on Okmulgee County, which he claimed had been the site of repeated mob incidents. On June 26, 1923, he placed the county under martial law and warned that he might take the same action in other counties. The county's sheriff, John Russell, considered Walton's action to be retaliation, since he had recently arrested two intoxicated men with state commissions from the governor. After only three days and a handful of arrests, the state of martial law ended.<br />
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After a quiet July, Walton surprised Tulsa County by placing this region under martial law on August 14. The governor took this action after learning that a Jewish man suspected of selling drugs had been severely beaten by Klansmen. The residents of the city of Tulsa were particularly incensed by Walton's order; martial law might be appropriate for a backwater region like Okmulgee County, they argued, but not for a sophisticated city like Tulsa.<br />
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This reasoning conveniently ignored the recent Tulsa race riot, as well as the prominence of the KKK in the city. Shortly after the riot, the Klan completed its "Klavern," an enormous assembly hall capable of holding up to 3,000 people; it was nicknamed "Beno Hall" by locals who joked that members wishing to join had to "Be no nigger, be no Jew, be no Catholic, be no immigrant." Of the 131 officially recorded incidents of Klan violence in Oklahoma between 1921 and 1924, 74 were in Tulsa County while only 20 were in Okmulgee County.<br />
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When the <i>Tulsa World</i> printed an advertisement calling on Klansmen to resist Walton's order, the governor stationed a censor at the newspaper. After hearing that a suspected black car thief had been brazenly kidnapped less than a block away from the military's headquarters in Tulsa, Walton declared absolute martial law in the county on August 20. Under absolute martial law, the National Guard's authority completely superseded that of the local officials. This action included a suspension of the right of habeas corpus, in violation of the state constitution.<br />
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Seeking to publicize the KKK's crimes, Walton convened a military court of inquiry to look into mob violence in Oklahoma. Hundreds of people offered testimony about the abuses they had suffered at the hands of Klansmen, mostly in incidents in 1922. A married couple, Joe and Annie Pike, said masked men had taken them from their Broken Bow home and flogged them for brewing a strong alcoholic beverage known as "Choctaw beer." They reported the incident to the police, but no one was ever punished.<br />
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An Oklahoma City laundry driver named Ellis R. Merriman testified that he had been kidnapped on March 7, 1922, by two men posing as police officers. He had been driven to a large gathering of Klansmen, accused of immorality with a young women, beaten with a rope, and told to leave town. Merriman returned to the city a month later and gave the names of 18 suspected attackers to the county attorney, who did nothing with the information. His employer also threatened to fire him if he did not leave the matter alone.<br />
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Merriman's testimony led to the arrest of KKK grand dragon N. Clay Jewett on September 21, 1923. One cohort testified that Jewett had been present at the gathering and personally assaulted Merriman. The arrest followed Jewett's boast that Walton and his allies would "never be able to break the power of the Ku Klux Klan in Oklahoma." Walton would not be able to bag Jewett, at any rate; the grand dragon's case was dismissed after he provided an alibi.<br />
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In one particularly gruesome case, a black deputy sheriff named John Smitherman told how he had been kidnapped from Tulsa on March 10, 1922. Smitherman said the mob accused him of registering black voters to cast their ballots against the city administration, as well as "ungentlemanly" conduct toward a white woman. After tying him to a tree, the Klansmen beat him severely and ordered him to leave the state. One of the men cut Smitherman's ear off and tried to force him to eat it.<br />
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"This is only one of the hundreds of such crimes committed, which the civil authorities of this state refused to cooperate," Walton said. "I ask the people of the civilized world, in the presence of this testimony, if I was not justified in proclaiming martial law in the city of Tulsa?"<br />
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Walton was clearly feeling confident in his offensive against the KKK. He claimed to have the ability to suspend habeas corpus under an 1871 law specifically designed to combat the Klan. He welcomed a federal probe into his actions, saying it would put a national spotlight on the KKK's outrages. Walton even encouraged Oklahoma's residents to use lethal force to defend themselves against the Klan if necessary. Referring to the Klavern, Walton declared, "I don't care if you burst right into them with a double-barreled shotgun. I'll promise you a pardon in advance."<br />
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Such statements did little to win supporters to Walton's cause, especially since most residents regarded the governor's actions as heavy-handed and dictatorial. The <i>Oklahoma News</i> issued an editorial saying that the state wanted "neither Klan nor king." There were rumors that Walton's war on the KKK was motivated mostly by his ambition to seek national office in 1924. The <i>Daily Oklahoman</i> suggested that Walton might even run for President, and dubbed his actions "a libel against the whole state." Walton said he believed vigilante violence would be an issue in the next national election, but declined to say whether he would run for the U.S. Senate on an anti-Klan platform.<br />
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The KKK remained nonplussed by the governor's actions. G.S. Long, a state representative from Tulsa and admitted member of the Klan, mocked the effectiveness of the martial law declaration by saying that 90 percent of the National Guardsmen were members of the organization. Long alleged that Jewett could order the soldiers to stand down, but that the grand dragon would take no such action. "The Klan oath is a re-dedication of man's loyalty to the constitution of Oklahoma, the constitution of the United States, the government of Oklahoma, the government of the United States," said Long. "And so long as Governor Walton exercises his authority as governor of Oklahoma, Klan members of the order will remain loyal to the orders of their commander-in-chief."<br />
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On September 15, 1923, Walton placed the entire state of Oklahoma under martial law and declared that he had full control of the state capitol buildings in Oklahoma City. Ostensibly, this action came after local officials failed to comply with an ultimatum. Walton had demanded the resignation of W.R. Sampson, the cyclops of the Muskogee KKK, as well as the resignation of Sampson's secretary. He also wanted the sheriff, police commissioner, and three members of the county jury commission in Tulsa County to step down. However, a grand jury was investigating Walton by this point and the declaration of statewide martial law also had the effect of preventing them from issuing an indictment.<br />
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Calls for the governor's impeachment intensified. His plummeting popularity was no doubt harmed even more when he announced that he was canceling the Oklahoma State Fair, since he felt it would interfere with the work of the National Guard. But the state legislature had little room to maneuver; there was no regular session scheduled, and the state constitution held that the legislators could only assemble for a special session while martial law was in effect if the governor asked them to do so.<br />
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On September 26, the state house of representatives tried to assemble anyway. Walton responded with a show of force. A machine gun was set up on the rooftop of a nearby building, its barrel pointed at the entrance to the state capitol; armed guards were posted at the doors. The governor, accusing the house of representatives of having 68 members who were part of the Klan, threatened to arrest any legislator who tried to assemble under martial law; it was even reported that he ordered the National Guard to "shoot to kill" any representative who defied his authority.<br />
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In a tense episode at the capitol, 66 members of the house of representatives squared off against the National Guard. Representative Wesley E. Disney, the chairman of the house's legal committee, called the body to order. The National Guard commander ordered them to disperse, and the representatives eventually departed. They continued to meet unofficially, trying to come up with a way to challenge Walton. Ten members of the state senate also held meetings at an Oklahoma City hotel, declaring that they would not make a decision on whether they would try to assemble until the courts made a ruling on whether the house of representatives could meet.<br />
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The legislators came up with an ingenious solution to get around the rules of assembly. A special election had already been scheduled for October 2 to allow Oklahoma's voters to weigh in on the veterans' bonus championed by Walton. A petition added a rider to the ballot, seeking a public decision on whether the legislature should be allowed to hold a special session. Walton tried to stop the balloting, and some election officials complied with his order to do so. Many voters likely stayed home to avoid potential violence at the polls. Nevertheless, nearly 300,000 people cast a ballot. They overwhelmingly authorized the special legislative session in a 209,452 to 70,638 vote. As an added rebuke to Walton, voters turned down the veterans' bonus. Martial law ended on October 5.<br />
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With impeachment looking almost certain, Walton made a last-ditch effort to achieve victory in his fight against the KKK. He called for a special session of the legislature on October 11, saying the purpose of the meeting should be to draft strong laws against the organization. If such legislation was passed, Walton offered, he would approve it and resign. The legislature refused to consider this proposal, though they promised that they would take action against the Klan after they had completed their work of investigating the governor.<br />
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On October 17, the house of representatives drafted 22 articles of impeachment against Walton. Six of them related to the governor's actions against the KKK, and Walton said he was prepared to introduce witnesses to testify about the Klan's terrorism. The house opted to simply drop those charges so the proceedings would focus more on other misconduct.<br />
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A rumor spread that Walton would take some drastic action before he was likely thrown out of office. Some worried that he would pardon the entire prison population at the state penitentiary at McAlester. On October 23, the house of representatives quickly voted to impeach Walton on two of the charges. The state senate concurred in a 36-1 vote, and Walton was suspended from office. The Oklahoma State Supreme Court upheld his removal in a 5-4 vote two days later.<br />
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Lieutenant Governor Martin E. Trapp assumed the duties of governor of Oklahoma. Ironically, he had faced impeachment proceedings of his own in 1921 due to allegations of corrupt bond contracts with Seminole County. Trapp had remained in office after the senate voted 27-16 to quash the charges.<br />
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Walton considered the impeachment proceedings to be little more than a kangaroo court, and made no effort to defend himself against the charges. On November 16, he appeared before the state senate and declared, "I don't wish to criticize any of these honorable members; some of them no doubt want to have a fair trial. But I have reached the conclusion that I cannot have a fair trial in this court. Knowing that, I am withdrawing from this room. I don't care to withstand this humiliation any longer for myself, my family, or my honorable attorneys. You may proceed as you see best."<br />
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The state senate needed to impeach Walton on only one of the 16 charges sent to them by the house of representatives to remove him from office, so the action was all but guaranteed. The senate voted to convict Walton on 11 issues. In some of them, all 41 senators present for the proceedings voted unanimously to convict. Walton was charged with illegally collecting excess campaign funds, padding the public payroll, putting his personal chauffeur on the state health department's payroll, using the National Guard to prevent the meeting of a grand jury, excessive use of pardons and paroles, illegal suspension of habeas corpus, issuing a deficiency certificate for the state health department when no deficiency existed, obstructing the legislature, and general incompetence. The five charges that were dismissed included accusations that Walton corruptly purchased his home, abrogated the death penalty, and appointed irresponsible people to the state police.<br />
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Walton was formally removed from office on November 19. He remains the shortest serving governor in Oklahoma, with only 10 months separating his inauguration and impeachment. Walton was also the first governor to be impeached after Oklahoma achieved statehood in 1907, though four of the five previous state governors had gone through impeachment proceedings and escaped conviction.<br />
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The impeachment sealed Walton's defeat in his fight to end Klan violence. He continued to blame the organization for his troubles and announced that he was forming an anti-Klan organization known as the National Society of American Freemen. The military courts assembled to investigate the floggings and other vigilante acts ended up arresting about 40 people, and four entered pleas and received prison sentences before Walton was impeached. Only one person, a Broken Bow constable named William Finley, ever did any time behind bars; he was later pardoned by Trapp. The other three had their sentences vacated in 1924 and were fined $25 apiece for assault and battery.<br />
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However, the tense standoff between Walton, the state legislature, and the KKK did result in some modest efforts to stem the Klan's activities. Disney, concerned that Walton could plausibly accuse the legislature of being dominated by the Klan and leverage these allegations in future political campaigns, asked the legislators to pass a "Klan bill with teeth." Despite this plea, the resulting legislation was fairly weak. It barred the wearing of Klan regalia in public and slightly increased the penalties for crimes committed while masked. The heavily publicized incidents of KKK violence helped spur the formation of a number of anti-Klan organizations, and internal disputes also helped weaken the KKK's power in Oklahoma; by the end of the decade, their influence had all but disappeared.<br />
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The graft accusations against Walton soon resulted in criminal charges against the ex-governor. The legislature had accused Walton of working with his state health commissioner, A.E. Davenport, to divert funds to pay the salary of Walton's personal chauffeur, T.P. Edwards. On April 10, 1924, the Oklahoma County state attorney filed five felony counts against the three men. Davenport managed a $15,000 fund to prevent and cure venereal diseases, and the state attorney said the trio had been skimming money to pay Edwards' salary when he was not involved with the health department in any way. <br />
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The case against Walton collapsed eight days later on a technicality. His attorneys moved to dismiss the charges, saying the state had accused him of directly participating in the scheme but had shown no evidence to back up the claim. It could have charged the former governor with aiding and abetting the diversion of funds, but it had failed to do so; moreover, the court had not authorized the state attorney to file new charges in the state. The charges were dismissed, and the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals upheld the decision in 1925 after the state appealed it.<br />
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Surprisingly, Walton was able to stage another political campaign just one year after his impeachment. Following the retirement of Robert L. Owen, who had been a U.S. senator since Oklahoma became a state, Walton ran for the Democratic nomination for the office. He was the only candidate to publicly denounce the KKK, which may have helped him win the nomination. <br />
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However, historians have also suggested that the Klan itself sought to manipulate the election so that Walton would win the nomination. The organization endorsed the front-runner, a strategy which hurt his support and elevated the relatively unpopular Walton to the top of the ticket. In the general election, the KKK threw its support behind Republican candidate William B. Pine. Walton repeatedly accused Pine of being a Klansman himself, a charge which Pine denied. <br />
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Walton remained unpopular enough that several members of his own party refused to endorse him. In a speech in Maine on August 23, 1924, Republican vice presidential candidate Charles Dawes directly referenced Walton's bungling anti-Klan offensive. Dawes declared that secret organizations had no place in a political campaign and denounced the prejudices advanced by such groups, but also suggested that most of their members were seeking to support law and order. Dawes suggested that Walton's actions, including the pardoning of "hardened criminals," helped enhance the KKK's appeal. "If there could be an excuse for law-abiding citizens to band themselves together in secret organizations for law enforcement, it existed in Oklahoma and the Klan became a powerful organization," he said. Dawes accused Walton of nearly causing a civil war in the state by declaring martial law, since it created a situation where citizens who thought they were supporting law and order as part of the Klan had to face off against the authority of the state; he said bloodshed had been avoided "only by a few clear-headed men."<br />
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Some of Walton's fiery statements did him no favors at the polls. He suggested that 95 percent of Protestant ministers in Oklahoma were KKK members and "lower than skunks," a statement which brought him plenty of Protestant opposition. He was quoted as accusing one resident of being "one of this dirty Klux crowd who would steal the pennies off St. Peter's eyes and ravish the Virgin Mary." Walton denied that he had said this phrase and offered to donate $500 to charity if someone could prove that he had uttered it; the <i>Daily Oklahoman </i>subsequently collected 100 sworn affidavits from witnesses who said Walton had made the statement.<br />
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With Walton's antics fresh in their memory, Oklahoma voters had no desire to see him represent them again. Though the Democrats performed well in several state races, Pine triumphed in the Senate race with 339,646 votes to Walton's 196,417.<br />
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After his defeat, Walton moved to Houston, Texas, to work in the oil industry. His enemies celebrated the departure, thinking they may have run him out of Oklahoma for good. But Walton returned to Oklahoma a few years later and would make a number of bids for political office. He ran for the Senate in 1930, but withdrew before the election. A year later, he made an unsuccessful bid to again become mayor of Oklahoma City.<br />
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Walton was one of 19 people indicted by a federal grand jury in January 1931 for mail fraud related to the promotion of the defunct business Universal Oil and Gas in Oklahoma City. In December, he and 11 others were acquitted due to insufficient evidence.<br />
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In 1932, Walton was returned to political office when he was elected to the Oklahoma Corporation Commission. This body was charged with regulating the state's oil production, and Walton defeated 14 other candidates—including Huey Long's brother, George S. Long—for the post. He served on the commission until 1939.<br />
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Walton's repeated bids for office were regarded as an overarching attempt at political redemption, but he was evidently not satisfied that voters trusted him enough to elect him to the Oklahoma Corporation Commission. He continued to seek higher office during the 1930s. He ran in the Democratic primary for governor in 1934, finishing third behind Ernest W. Marland and Tom Anglin. He made another unsuccessful bid for the nomination in 1938, losing to Leon Phillips. Walton would also make a bid for county sheriff, again without success. He began practicing law in 1944.<br />
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On November 4, 1949, Walton was partially paralyzed after suffering a stroke on an Oklahoma City bus. He started to recover, but died on November 25. <br />
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Sources: The National Governors Association, The Oklahoma Department of Libraries, The Oklahoma Historical Society, "2500 Whippings Roil Governor" in the Spokesman-Review on Jul. 2 1923, "Further Moves by Governor Walton" in the Lawrence Journal-World on Sep. 14 1923, "Governor Walton Calls Off Oklahoma State Fair to Avoid Interference with Plans to Disband Kluxers" in the Victoria Advocate on Sep. 18 1923, "Oklahoma Governor May Be Ousted by Impeachment as a Result of His Fight on Klan" in the Prescott Evening Courier on Sep. 19 1923, "Grand Dragon of the KKK Under Arrest" in the Schenectady Gazette on Sep. 22 1923, "Walton Welcomes Federal Probe" in the Milwaukee Sentinel on Sep. 24 1923, "Floggers Tried to Make Man Eat His Own Ear, Walton Says" in the Milwaukee Sentinel on Sep. 24 1923, "Declares Klan Could Stop Martial Law in Oklahoma" in the Lewiston Daily Sun on Sep. 25 1923, "Walton's Soldiers Disperse Legislators Who Assembled in Defiance of His Decree" in the Meriden Morning Record on Sep. 27 1923, "Klan Fight is Considered as Walton Boost" in the Prescott Evening Courier on Oct. 2 1923, "Walton Aims to Strengthen His Situation" in the Schenectady Gazette on Oct. 5 1923, "World History in the Making" in the Toledo Blade on Oct. 11 1923, "Oklahoma Legislator Wants Lots of Action" in the Nevada Daily Mail on Oct. 20 1923, "Walton Suspended is Decision of Supreme Court" in the Schenectady Gazette on Oct. 25 1923, "Klan Mention Stricken From Walton Record" in the Schenectady Gazette on Nov. 12 1923, "Governor Walton Quits His Trial" in the Spokane Daily Chronicle on Nov. 17 1923, "Impeachment Court Unanimously Ousts Walton as Governor of Oklahoma; Will Continue Fight" in the Prescott Evening Courier on Nov. 20 1923, "Walton Out as Governor of Oklahoma" in the Southeast Missourian on Nov. 20 1920, "Walton Faces Felony Charge in Oklahoma" in the Preston Evening Courier on Nov. 23 1923, "Walton Says Klan Plotted His Removal" in the Lewiston Daily Sun on Dec. 11 1923, "Dawes Discusses Klan Against Advice Party Men at Island Park Meeting" in the Lewiston Daily Sun on Aug. 25 1924, "Walton in Oklahoma Beaten by Unfitness" in the Sunday Morning Star on Nov. 9 1924, "'Jack' Walton Stages Lively Comeback" in the Sunday Morning Star on Aug. 1 1926, "Indict Ousted Governor of Oklahoma for Fraud" in the Herald-Journal on Jan. 29 1931, "'Iron Jack' Walton Freed in Mail Fraud" in the Pittsburgh Press on Dec. 19 1931, "Walton Pushes Oklahoma Race for State Head" in the Berkeley Daily Gazette on Dec. 25 1933, "Fiery Ex-Governor Dies; Was Klan Enemy" in the Evening Independent on Nov. 25 1949, Oklahoma v. Walton, "Oklahoma's 'Iron Jack' Walton Dies" in the Pittsburgh Press on Nov. 25 1949, "Governor Declares Martial Law in Okmulgee County" in the Tulsa World on June 27 2005, "Beno Hall: Tulsa's Den of Terror" in This Land on Sep. 3 2011, "Butchers: 'What Can Be Done' vs. 'What Is Done'" on OKC.net on Oct. 31 2013, Hooded Americanism: The History of the Ku Klux Klan by David Mark Chalmers, Oklahoma Justice: The Oklahoma City Police by Ron Owens, The Ku Klux Klan in the Southwest by Charles C. Alexander, Oklahoma: A History of Five Centuries by Arrell Morgan Gibson, Encyclopedia of Oklahoma </div>
Dirk Langeveldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10347292004358347133noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8953541230084203389.post-72465114445661769402015-11-14T16:15:00.002-05:002019-02-01T17:09:23.159-05:00Ted Stevens: you wouldn't like him when he's angry<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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(<a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/news/senator-charged-with-lying-about-gifts-29-07-2008/">Source</a>)</div>
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The crash of a Learjet as it attempted to land in Anchorage, Alaska, would link to many important parts of Senator Ted Stevens' life. Stevens was one of two people to survive the accident, which occurred on December 4, 1978. The jet lost control in crosswind conditions as it arrived from Juneau, breaking apart as it came down between two runways.<br />
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Stevens' wife of 26 years, Ann Cherrington, and four others were killed in the crash. As he recovered, Stevens said the incident would not discourage him from flying. He had served in the Army Air Corps during World War II, continued to hold a commercial pilot's license, and occasionally flew "just for the hell of it" (though he wasn't piloting the plane in the Anchorage crash). Stevens even parlayed the incident into a pitch for more funding at the airport, saying it was the second such crash in the past year and that a crosswinds runway was necessary at Anchorage.<br />
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Despite his nonchalant statements after the near-death experience, including the remark that frequent flying was necessary to get between Alaska and Washington, D.C., some of Stevens' colleagues in the United States Senate said he had been worried about this mode of travel. He had mentioned a premonition that he might die in a plane crash, and made frequent references to the 1972 disappearance of a plane traveling from Anchorage to Juneau, the opposite flight path of the ill-fated Learjet. Representative Nick Begich of Alaska, House Majority Leader Hale Boggs of Louisiana, and two others had presumably been killed when the plane went down in the remote wilderness, although the plane and its occupants were never found.<br />
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Two years after the crash, Stevens would marry Catherine Chandler, a lawyer from a well-known Democratic family. The airport where he lost his first wife would be renamed in his honor in 2000, the same year the state legislature named him the "Alaskan of the Century." He would face Nick Begich's son in a tight race in 2008, defined largely by questionable home renovations which he said his second wife had overseen. And while his premonition would not hold true in 1978, it would be fulfilled more than three decades later.<br />
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Stevens was born Theodore Fulton Stevens in Indianapolis on November 18, 1923. Early in his childhood, he moved with his family to Chicago. In the wake of the stock market crash of 1929, Stevens' father lost his job as an accountant. Stevens subsequently took a job as a newsboy to help support his parents and three siblings. Following the divorce of his parents and the death of his father, he moved to Manhattan Beach, California, to live with an aunt.<br />
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After graduating from high school, Stevens began attending Oregon State College. He was there for only one semester, in 1942, before deciding to join the war effort. He enrolled at Montana State College for cadet training in the Army Air Corps in 1943, and began flying supply missions the next year. Stevens was part of the "Flying Tigers," piloting C-46 and C-47 planes over the Himalayas from India to China. When he concluded his service in 1946, he had been awarded two Distinguished Flying Crosses, two Air Medals, and the Yuan Hai Medal from the Republic of China.<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span>
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<i>Ted Stevens during his service in World War II (<a href="http://www.nationalww2museum.org/in-memory-of-senator-stevens.html">Source</a>)</i></div>
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After the war, Stevens returned to college. He graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1947 with a degree in political science. After a stint as a research assistant with the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of California, he attended Harvard Law School and graduated in 1950. He was admitted to the bar in California in the same year, but got the his first job at a law firm in Washington, D.C. <br />
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Stevens' long association with Alaska began in 1953, when he drove across the country to take a job at a law firm in Fairbanks. He became the U.S. Attorney in the city a year later. Stevens would later recall that two newspaper publishers were responsible for his first foray into politics, encouraging him to return to the nation's capital to work in the Eisenhower Administration and push for Alaska statehood. He became the legislative counsel for the Department of the Interior in 1956, working his way up to Assistant to the Secretary of the Interior in 1958 and Solicitor of the department in 1960. Alaska became a state in January 1959.<br />
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Stevens again returned to Alaska, opening a law firm in Anchorage in 1961. He would soon make another stab at national politics, earning the Republican nomination for Senate in 1962. He lost the race to the incumbent, Ernest Gruening. However, he was successful in a 1964 bid for the state house of representatives and was reelected two years later, serving as the speaker pro tempore and majority leader. Another attempt at the U.S. Senate in 1968 also fell short as Stevens lost the GOP primary to Anchorage mayor Elmer Rasmuson; Rasmuson subsequently lost the general election to Democratic candidate Mike Gravel. <br />
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But just months after this election, Stevens learned he would be going to the Senate after all. One of Alaska's seats in the Senate became vacant on December 11, 1968, when Democratic Senator E.L. Bartlett died during heart surgery. Governor Walter Hickel, a Republican, appointed Stevens to the post on Christmas Eve. In a special election in November of 1970, Stevens was elected in his own right to serve the remaining two years of Bartlett's term.<br />
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Stevens would remain in the Senate for almost four more decades, winning seven general elections. He chaired his first committee during the Ninety-fourth Congress, leading the Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee between 1975 and 1977. He would serve as the chairman of five additional committees during his career, including those related to appropriations, ethics, governmental affairs, and commerce, science, and transportation.<br />
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Between 1977 and 1985, Stevens held the position of Republican whip, or leader of the party within the Senate. He sought to become the majority leader in 1984, but lost to Bob Dole of Kansas by three votes. Stevens was president pro tempore of the Senate from 2003 to 2007, the third person in the line of presidential succession behind the Vice President and Speaker of the House.<br />
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Throughout his career, Stevens became well-known in Alaska for his efforts to improve the state's standing in the nation. He fought for Hickel's appointment as Secretary of the Interior in 1969; the former governor's new role made him the first Alaskan to serve in a presidential cabinet. He backed the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act in 1971 to resolve land claims by indigenous residents in Alaska, many of which had not been addressed since Alaska became a state. This legislation also helped clear some barriers to the construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, an 800-mile project completed in 1977 to carry oil from the Prudhoe Bay fields to the port of Valdez.<br />
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The Trans-Alaska Pipeline met with plenty of objection from environmentalists, and Stevens had a mixed record when it came to the issue of conservation. He expressed opposition to "extreme environmentalists" and supported proposals to drill for oil in the Artic National Wildlife Refuge, but he was particularly committed to marine environmental efforts. He co-authored the Magnuson-Stevens Act in 1976 to set a 200-mile economic exclusion zone from U.S. shores to regulate foreign fishing vessels and protect fisheries in this area. Stevens kept a close eye on this legislation in the ensuing years, contributing to the amendments and follow-ups made to it over the years. After the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Prince William Sound, Stevens led efforts to improve oil tanker designs to prevent a similar incident. In 2006, he voted against a proposed open pit mine to extract gold, molybdenum, and copper on the grounds that it would potentially threaten the salmon population in Bristol Bay.<br />
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Although formerly critical of the idea that human activities were a significant contributor to climate change, Stevens surprised environmentalists in February of 2007 by introducing a bill to improve fuel efficiency in new vehicles. Stevens said he still considered that other factors had more of an impact on the climate than humans, but he was now convinced that human activity was part of the problem. He said the altered climate was particularly noticeable in Alaska in the erosion of shorelines from rising sea levels, the disruption of salmon spawning grounds due to warmer waters, melting permafrost, and shrinking hunting grounds for polar bears and walruses.<br />
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Stevens was generally conservative in his positions, but he also had a record of more centrist or bipartisan positions as well. In June of 1971, he sponsored a bill to withdraw American troops from Vietnam within nine months; the Senate approved it on the condition that North Vietnam first free all remaining U.S. prisoners of war. He helped develop the Amateur Sports Act in 1978, which established the United States Olympic Committee as the national representative agency for the competition and set up national governing bodies and protections for individual athletes in each sport. Stevens was pro-choice in the sense that he did not believe government should intervene in the subject of abortion, saying in 1979 that it was a decision to be made by the couple and their doctor rather than "something 99 men fight over 30 times a year." Stevens also supported a ban on smoking in federal buildings, supported federal spending for public radio and Title IX legislation giving women equal opportunities in places receiving federal aid, and questioned the level of President Ronald Reagan's military spending.<br />
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The last objection was somewhat ironic, as Stevens' ability to funnel vast amounts of federal funding to Alaska became legendary. These allocations went to a variety of projects, from infrastructure to military bases to small businesses. His supporters in the state nicknamed him "Uncle Ted" for his ability to bring this money to Alaska, while critics charged him with wasting huge sums on pork-barrel projects. One out of every three jobs in Alaska was said to rely on federal funding in 2008. Taxpayers for Common Sense charged that Stevens directly sponsored or had a role in earmarks to legislation that directed $3.2 billion in federal funding to his home state between 2004 and 2008, resulting in a per capita total of $4,872 per resident of Alaska - more than 18 times the national average.<br />
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Stevens offered several defenses for his efforts to bring federal monies to Alaska. He said much of the state was federally owned anyway, and that it needed to catch up with the rest of the nation since it was one of the newer states and had spent many years as an impoverished territory. He also argued that Alaska deserved more funding due to its harsh weather, the presence of natural resources such as oil and gas, and the state's strategic importance due to its proximity to Russia.<br />
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More than any other project, Stevens was ridiculed for his commitment to a pair of transportation initiatives in 2005. A highway bill in this year requested $452 million to go toward two bridges in Alaska. One proposal, the Knik Arm Bridge, sought to link Anchorage with rural Port MacKenzie, which had a single tenant and almost no population; the final price tag of the bridge was estimated to be nearly $2 billion. The more infamous proposal would connect the small community of Ketchikan with Gravina Island, which included the local airport but was home to only 50 residents. The proposed span would have to be taller than the Brooklyn Bridge to allow cruise ships to pass under it, measure only 20 feet shorter than the Golden Gate Bridge, require a convoluted detour to access, and replace a short and reliable ferry ride. Supporters argued that the projects would help spur economic development and improve domestic security, but the request for costly crossings to benefit a handful of citizens was quickly denounced as a "Bridge to Nowhere." Taxpayers for Common Sense gave the proposal the dubious honor of the Golden Fleece Award, presented to proposals considered to be a major waste of taxpayers' money.<br />
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Stevens vehemently opposed efforts to block funding for the projects. The bill came up for consideration not long after Hurricane Katrina had devastated the Gulf Coast, and Senator Tom Coburn of Louisiana (a Republican) sought to divert funding for the Alaska bridges to repair roads damaged by the storm. Stevens threatened to end his Senate career in protest if the amendment passed.<br />
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"I will put the Senate on notice, and I don't kid people: if the Senate decides to discriminate against our state, to take money only from our state, I'll resign from this body," he warned. "This is not the Senate I came to. This is not the Senate I've devoted 37 years to, if one senator can decide he'll take all the money from one state to solve the problem of another."<br />
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Coburn's proposal was voted down, with 82 senators opposed and 15 in favor. The compromise, struck a month later, removed the earmark which dedicated the money specifically to the bridges, but still allocated the money to Alaska for use on transportation projects. This stipulation meant the funding could still potentially be used for the bridges. The envisioned spans remained controversial, however, as the "Bridge to Nowhere" came to symbolize uncontrolled federal spending and spurred efforts to rein in earmarks. While the Knik Arm Bridge remains under consideration, the Gravina Island proposal was recently scrapped. Lew Williams III, the mayor of Ketchikan, said it was more economically feasible to improve the ferry services and terminals than to build and maintain a bridge.<br />
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The debate over the bridges gave national exposure to Stevens' rancorous temper, but he had been regarded as a curmudgeon for many years by his colleagues in the Senate. "I am a mean, miserable S.O.B.," he once declared. However, Stevens still showed a sense of humor and camaraderie. He considered Daniel Inouye, the long-serving Democratic senator from the other young state of Hawaii, to be a close friend and the two worked together on a number of bipartisan efforts. Whenever he expected a tough fight on a bill, Stevens donned an Incredible Hulk tie.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zLFyyEEm7sE/VkKagyH1O_I/AAAAAAAABOE/mcRPFEIHH4w/s1600/hulk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="207" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zLFyyEEm7sE/VkKagyH1O_I/AAAAAAAABOE/mcRPFEIHH4w/s320/hulk.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i>Stevens, wearing an Incredible Hulk tie, poses with a figure of the superhero in 2003 (<a href="http://hoh.rollcall.com/murkowski-tells-alaskans-to-show-their-inner-ted/">Source</a>)</i></div>
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Stevens' cantankerous nature helped make him in inadvertent Internet meme after remarks he made before the Commerce Committee, which he chaired. Arguing against an amendment to prohibit Internet service providers from charging higher fees to companies that generated more traffic, Stevens said, "The Internet is not something you just dump something on. It's not a big truck; it's a series of tubes. And if you don't understand, those tubes can be filled, and if they're filled, when you put your message in, it gets in line, it's going to be delayed by anyone that puts into that tube enormous amounts of material." Stevens also referred to an e-mail sent by his staff as "an Internet" and complained that it had been delayed by getting "tangled up with all these things going on the Internet commercially."<br />
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The description of the Internet as a "series of tubes" soon became the subject of a number of parodies. Some commentaries suggested that the remarks exposed the 82-year-old Stevens as being hopelessly out of touch with the subject of net neutrality, despite being the head of the committee charged with overseeing the issue. Stevens' defenders argued that he had been speaking metaphorically in trying to illustrate his concerns.<br />
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Not long after these remarks, Stevens became the longest serving Republican in the Senate. He reached this milestone in April of 2007 and was lauded by his fellow senators for his service and bipartisanship. Inouye nicknamed him "The Strom Thurmond of the Arctic Circle," a reference to the fact that Thurmond would have held the honor if he hadn't spent two terms as a Democrat before switching parties. Stevens thanked his family and staff for their support, noting how he once flew back and forth between Alaska and the nation's capital 35 times in a single year. "I am surrounded by friends on both sides of the aisle, and I am still very honored to be here," he said.<br />
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By this time, Stevens had been accused of a number of conflicts of interest during his many years in office. He was criticized for advocating a lease deal with Boeing after they hired his wife's law firm in 2003, and for helping groups that hired his son Ben as a consultant. Investigators would later look into federal funding that had been directed to Ben's company to promote efforts to trim Alaska's crab and salmon fishing fleets as well as monies that supported the Alaska Fisheries Marketing Board, of which Ben was the first chairman. There had even been calls for Stevens to resign after the <i>Los Angeles Times</i> detailed how he had become a millionaire by investing in companies after he had secured government contracts for them. Stevens responded, "If they think I'm going to resign because of a story in the newspaper, they're crazy."<br />
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The FBI opened "Operation Polar Pen," the investigation which would eventually lead to criminal charges against Stevens, in 2004. Two years later, Governor Frank Murkowski announced that negotiations with Alaska's three main oil producers had resulted in an agreement for these companies to build a gas pipeline if the state would modify the way the producers were taxed. The VECO Corporation, an oil services engineering and construction company which was also a major financial supporter of Republican candidates in Alaska, stood to make hundreds of millions of dollars from this pipeline. Stevens was an associate of VECO's founder and chief executive officer, Bill Allen. The two men sometimes dined together, and they were part of a group of investors who owned a racehorse named So Long Birdie.<br />
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The investigation targeted VECO for its scheme to influence state legislators and other Alaska officials on matters related to the pipeline. The company sought to bribe legislators with incentives such as cash, services, and promises of future employment in exchange for votes on legislation favorable to VECO, including the construction of the pipeline, the adoption of its favored oil tax formula, and the rejection of efforts to increase this tax. Several VECO executives and Alaska legislators were charged with involvement in this corruption, and the FBI began making arrests in the spring of 2007.<br />
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In May, Allen and VECO vice president Rick Smith pleaded guilty to bribing state legislators. Allen agreed to testify against other defendants in the probe. He admitted that he had paid $243,250 to Ben Stevens, then the president of the Alaska state senate, between 2002 and 2006. Allen said the payments were ostensibly for consulting work, but were actually meant for "giving advice, lobbying colleagues, and taking official acts in matters before the Legislature." Several other witnesses said Ben had received illegal payments from Allen, but the senator's son was never charged with a crime.<br />
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At the September trial of Pete Kott, the former speaker of the Alaska house of representatives, Allen directly implicated Stevens. He testified that he had used more than $400,000 to bribe state legislators and do favors for Stevens over the years. By this point, the FBI had already started to scrutinize Stevens' finances. Several people were called before a federal grand jury in the spring and summer of 2007, including Stevens' neighbor, a financial clerk of the Commerce Committee, and a businessman who was an associate of the senator. In July, Stevens filed a financial disclosure form after getting an extension to fix what he said were technical errors. At the end of the month, FBI agents raided his home in Girdwood.<br />
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On July 29, 2008, the federal grand jury indicted Stevens on seven felony counts of violating the Ethics in Government Act by making false statements on financial disclosure forms between 1999 and 2006. Prosecutors charged that he failed to report about $250,000 in favors provided by VECO and others. It was the first time a sitting senator had been indicted in 15 years, and the charges were handed down before the Republican primary. Stevens won the party's nomination despite the indictment. He had the option of stepping down to let the Republican State Central Committee choose a candidate, but opted not to do so.<br />
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<i>Stevens' mugshot following his indictment (<a href="http://www.thesmokinggun.com/mugshots/celebrity/politics/ted-stevens">Source</a>)</i></div>
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The bulk of the charges against Stevens stemmed from his relationship to Allen. In the year 2000, Stevens' home went through extensive renovations which more than doubled the size of the original two-bedroom structure. The house was put up on stilts to add a new first floor, and contractors also put in a sauna, wine cellar, and wraparound porch. The workers said they billed Allen for the work and received checks from Stevens. The senator had expressed concerns about the renovations in a phone call to Allen which was recorded by the FBI, but reassured himself, "[T]he worst that can happen to us is we round up a bunch of legal fees and might lose and we might have to pay a fine, might have to serve a little jail time."<br />
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Allen had given Stevens several gifts including a Land Rover, furniture, tools, a generator, and a gas grill. None of the gifts had been reported on his financial disclosure forms. He had also received a $2,695 massage chair, $3,200 stained glass window, and husky puppy from his friend Bob Penney without reporting them. The Kenai River Sport Fishing Association had given him a bronze fish statue valued at $29,000.<br />
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The indictment was issued a little more than three months away from Election Day, which was shaping up to be a pivotal contest. The Democrats had regained majorities in both the House of Representatives and Senate in 2006. In the 2008 election, they had the potential to pursue a robust legislative agenda if they managed to recapture the White House and get enough seats in the Senate for a filibuster-proof majority. Hoping to be tried and acquitted before Election Day, Stevens asked for a speedy trial. This request was granted, but he was unable to get the proceedings transferred from Washington, D.C., to Alaska.<br />
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During the lengthy trial, Stevens spent three days on the stand. He said his wife was in charge of the renovations at the Girdwood home and that he was unaware that Allen had aided the project in any way. Stevens said they had paid every bill they received with their own money, and that he assumed the $160,000 in expenditures had covered all costs. He did express some irritation with the billing process, saying he had sometimes never received an invoice even after requesting it. "Catherine paid for the work that was done at our house," he concluded. "She paid the bills, and that's all there is to it."<br />
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The prosecution and defense had different interpretations of an October 2002 letter Stevens wrote to Allen, asking for a bill. "When I think of the many ways in which you make my life easier and more enjoyable, I lose count!" the letter read. "Thanks for all the work on the Chalet. You owe me a bill - remember Torricelli, my friend. Friendship is one thing - compliance with the ethics rules entirely different. I asked Bob P to talk to you about this, so don't get PO'd at him - it's [<i>sic</i>] just has to be done right." In referencing Torricelli, Stevens was recalling a former colleague, Democratic Senator Robert Torricelli of New Jersey, whom the Senate had admonished for receiving illicit gifts from a campaign donor three months before the letter was written. Torricelli had been re-nominated by the party after the scandal, but dropped out of his race in September.<br />
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Allen alleged that the letter was simply a way for Stevens to cover his tracks, and that a friend of the senator had even urged him to ignore the request for a bill. During one exchange, Stevens testily asked prosecutor Brenda Morris, "If it was a gift, why did I ask for a bill?" Morris replied, "To cover your butt." Stevens' lawyers argued that the letter was nothing more than a friendly communication and effort to account for all costs related to the renovations.<br />
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Catherine also took the stand and testified that she had paid $160,000 to contractors other than VECO employees for the work. When it came to the unreported gifts, Stevens said he had never asked for them. The fish statue was supposedly destined for a library that would one day honor the senator. Stevens' daughter said that Allen sometimes used the Girdwood home when Stevens was in Washington, and that some of the gifts were for his own personal use as well. She also avowed that VECO had not unfairly rewarded the family; her son had been hired by the company, but subsequently fired for using drugs. Several witnesses called by the defense spoke to Stevens' character, including Inouye, Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah, and former Secretary of State Colin Powell.<br />
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On October 27, 2008, the jury found Stevens guilty of all seven charges against him. The verdict came down just eight days before the election, too late for the GOP to take him off the ballot and replace him with another candidate. However, Stevens was under no obligation to resign or withdraw from the race. Since there was no rule against convicted felons serving in Congress, he would be able to take his seat if he won another term and could only be removed by a two-thirds vote of the Senate.<br />
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Calls for Stevens' resignation came down from both major parties. John McCain, the Republican presidential candidate, declared, "It is clear that Senator Stevens has broken his trust with the American people and that he should now step down." Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama also asked for Stevens to resign. Sarah Palin, governor of Alaska and McCain's running mate, did not specifically ask Stevens to step down but said she was confident he would "do the right thing for the state of Alaska." She suggested that if he decided to stay in the race and won, he should resign so a new candidate could be selected in a special election.<br />
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Had Stevens decided to resign after his conviction, Alaska rules would have required a special election to take place 60 to 90 days after he vacated his seat. But Stevens remained defiant, vowing to "fight this unjust verdict with every ounce of energy I have." He also said he was determined to remain in the race against Democratic candidate Mark Begich, the mayor of Anchorage. "I am not stepping down," Stevens said. "I'm going to run through and I'm going to win this election."<br />
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While Stevens had won easy victories against Democratic opponents in his previous races, his conviction appeared to have a significant impact on the election. Stevens was popular enough to win a large share of the nearly 300,000 votes cast in the Senate race. Nevertheless, he would be ousted in the contest; Begich won the seat by less than 1 percent, or about 2,300 votes. In a farewell speech on November 30, Stevens declared, "Working to help Alaska achieve its potential has been and will continue to be my life's work." He left the Senate on January 3, 2009, with his conviction still under appeal.<br />
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The Democratic victory in Alaska would contribute to a major shift of power in the nation's capital. In addition to winning the White House, the party took five Senate seats away from Republican incumbents. After Democratic candidate Al Franken was sworn in as the winner in a close race in Minnesota and Republican Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania switched parties in April of 2009, the Democrats had a filibuster-proof share of 60 seats in the Senate. This supermajority would only last until January of 2010, when Republican candidate Scott Brown won an upset victory in a special election to succeed Ted Kennedy after the longstanding senator's death in August 2009. Yet the Senate was easily able to approve the Affordable Care Act in December 2009 without the support of a single Republican senator.<br />
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Soon after the election, cracks began to appear in the prosecution's case against Stevens. The judge had rebuked prosecutors several times during the trial, and Stevens' defense team planned to question their methods as part of their appeal. In November 2008, former VECO employee David Anderson wrote to the judge to admit that he had been lying when he made the sworn statement that he did not have an immunity deal with prosecutors. In fact, he said, prosecutors had helped coach him by leaving him alone in a room with confidential documents. The Justice Department denied the claims.<br />
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On December 2, 2008, FBI agent Chad Joy filed a whistleblower report questioning the conduct of the prosecutors. He said they had tried to hide one witness and intentionally withheld evidence that would have been beneficial to the defense. In particular, they had not disclosed that Allen had formerly told FBI agents that Stevens would have paid an invoice for the work on his home; Allen had made the exact opposite statement during the trial. The information had been made known to the defense during the trial, but the disclosure had taken place right before Allen's cross-examination.<br />
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Joy also accused prosecutors of knowingly using false VECO records to help establish the argument that Stevens received an improper benefit from Allen and failed to turn over information that would have undermined Allen's credibility. The former head of VECO had been investigated by police for allegedly having sex with an underage prostitute, and he had tried to get two witnesses to perjure themselves so they would not be able to testify against him. Joy's report also suggested that another FBI agent had had an inappropriate relationship with Allen.<br />
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On April 7, 2009, Judge Emmet G. Sullivan dismissed the verdict at the request of newly appointed Attorney General Eric Holder. The alleged misconduct by the prosecutors was the reason cited for the dismissal, and the government announced that it would not seek a retrial. Stevens' attorney was enraged by the revelations, deeming the prosecutors' behavior "stomach-churning corruption." Stevens said the decision had restored his faith in the justice system, but commented, "It is unfortunate that an election was affected by proceedings now recognized as unfair."<br />
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The Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility began an internal inquiry into the prosecutors in Stevens' case. Sullivan also appointed a special prosecutor to look into the allegations of misconduct. The latter report was completed in March 2012, concluding that there was "systematic concealment of significant exculpatory evidence which would have independently corroborated Senator Stevens' defense and his testimony, and seriously damaged the testimony and credibility of the government's key witness."<br />
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The special prosecutor specifically targeted prosecutors Joseph Bottini and James Goeke, saying they "intentionally withheld and concealed" evidence. The report noted that prosecutors had been under pressure to quickly assemble a complex case to meet Stevens' request for a speedy trial, but did not conduct an effective search for potentially exculpatory evidence. Lower level prosecutors who worked on the case were essentially exonerated, though no conclusions were made with regard to a prosecutor who had worked closely on the case and committed suicide in September 2010.<br />
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The Justice Department issued its own report in May 2012. It differed from the special prosecutor's report mainly in its conclusion that the prosecutors had not intentionally withheld evidence, suggesting that this action was a result of the confusion of several attorneys working on the case and the efforts to quickly assemble evidence against Stevens to meet the request for a speedy trial. However, it did declare that Bottini and Goeke had engaged in "reckless professional conduct." The report did not recommend that either man be fired, but instead suspended Bottini without pay for 40 days and Goeke for 15 days. Stevens' lawyers were not satisfied, saying the Justice Department's punishment "demonstrated conclusively that it is not capable of disciplining its prosecutors."<br />
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By the time these conclusions had been issued, Stevens had died in Alaska. On August 9, 2010, he was one of eight people traveling on a float plane owned by the GCI Communication Corporation. The plane was scheduled to fly from a GCI-owned lodge on Lake Nerka to a sport fishing camp on the Nushagak River. The plane crashed northeast of Aleknagik, killing Stevens and three others on board.<br />
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The National Transportation Safety Board said the cause of the crash was unclear, determining only that pilot Terry Smith (one of those killed) became temporarily incapacitated. The NTSB theorized that Smith had fallen asleep, had a seizure, or otherwise become briefly unaware of the situation and was unable to reach a safe altitude before the plane hit a hillside. The report on the accident criticized the Federal Aviation Administration for re-certifying Smith's pilot's license two years before the crash, saying their medical review had not been thorough enough.<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gzEpbkRxgrs/VkeastjnbTI/AAAAAAAABO0/QPeG1lSXG08/s1600/burial.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="178" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gzEpbkRxgrs/VkeastjnbTI/AAAAAAAABO0/QPeG1lSXG08/s320/burial.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><i>Stevens is buried at Arlington National Cemetery (<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/gallery/2010/09/28/GA2010092806124.html">Source</a>)</i></span></div>
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Although the verdict against Stevens was dismissed, some were not convinced that the senator's relationship with Allen was not improper. The federal investigation in Alaska had found plenty of corruption in the state government; it ended in October 2011 after seven years with the convictions of 10 people, including six state legislators. One alternate juror in Stevens' case said the determination of prosecutorial misconduct was not quite enough for him to consider the former senator to be innocent. The report had only gone into the allegations of work at Stevens' home in Girdwood, not the gifts he had received but not declared on his financial disclosure forms. The former juror also felt that Stevens' lawyers had done more to defend the senator's character than explain Stevens' cozy relationship with Allen and his questionable e-mail record regarding the renovations.<br />
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Many continue to see Stevens in a positive light, however. The Ted Stevens Foundation, established in 2001, continues to "recognize [his] career and honor his legacy of public service by working to ensure a stable and vibrant Alaska for future generations." In 2011, the Alaska Legislature deemed the fourth Saturday of every July to be Ted Stevens Day and encouraged Alaskans to "get out and play" by enjoying the outdoors. In recognition of his legislation to protect Olympic athletes, Stevens was inducted into the Olympics Hall of Fame in 2012; two years later, the U.S. Olympic Committee named a training facility in Colorado Springs in his honor.<br />
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Sources: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, The Ted Stevens Foundation, "Sponsor Withdrawal Proposal" in the Eugene Register-Guard on Jun. 23 1971, "Alaskan Jet Crash Kills Senator's Wife" in the Lodi News-Sentinel on Dec. 5 1978, "Crash Survivors Recovering" in the Bangor Daily News on Dec. 6 1978, "Despite Wife's Death in Crash, Senator Won't Give Up Flying" in the Eugene Register-Guard on Dec. 15 1978, "Clash Expected on Abortion Issue" in the Victoria Advocate on Nov. 14 1979, "Built With Steel, Perhaps, but Greased With Pork" in the New York Times on Apr. 10 2004, "Stevens Says He'll Quit if Bridge Fund Diverted" in the Anchorage Daily News on Oct. 21 2005, "Two 'Bridges to Nowhere' Tumble Down in Congress" in the New York Times on Nov. 17 2005, "Senator's New Views on Climate Surprise Foes" in the St. Petersburg Times on Feb. 24 2007, "Alaska Senator Part of Corruption Inquiry" in the Eugene Register-Guard on Jun. 8 2007, "Lawyer Says Senate Aide Testified on Stevens" in the Reading Eagle on Aug. 1 2007, "Firm Funded Work on Senator's House, Former CEO Says" in the Eugene Register-Guard on Sep. 15 2007, "FBI Investigating Ted Stevens' Fishing Bills" in the Juneau Empire on Oct. 31 2007, "Long-Serving Republican Senator Indicted" in the Herald-Journal on Jul. 30 2008, "Stevens' Indictment Deepens GOP's Woes" in The Day on Jul. 30 2008, "Alaskans Fret Loss of Stevens' Largesse" in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune on Jul. 31 2008, "Stevens' Trial To Be In D.C." in the Press Democrat on Aug. 21 2008, "Testimony Paints Stevens as 'Lion' of Senate" in the Bangor Daily News on Oct. 15 2008, "Ted Stevens Angrily Jousts With Prosecutor" in the Tuscaloosa News on Oct. 18 2008, "Defense Closes With Stevens' Testimony" in the Seattle Times on Oct. 21 2008, "Stevens Convicted, Says He'll Stay in Senate Race" on NBC News on Oct. 27 2008, "Sen. Stevens Guilty on All Counts" in the Victoria Advocate on Oct. 28 2008, "McCain Joins Those Urging Ted Stevens to Resign From Senate" in the Tuscaloosa News on Oct. 29 2008, "Republican Ted Stevens Loses Alaska Senate Race After Corruption Conviction" in the Lodi News-Sentinel on Nov. 19 2008, "A Cautionary Tale: The Ted Stevens Prosecution" in the Washington Lawyer in October 2009, "Ted Stevens, Longtime Alaska Senator, Dies at 86" in the New York Times on Aug. 10 2010, "As a Senator, 'Uncle Ted' Stevens Helped Move Sparsely Populated Alaska Into The Future" in the Times-Picayune on Aug. 10 2010, "Investigators Find No Clear Cause For Crash That Killed Ted Stevens" in the Alaska Dispatch News on May 24 2011, "Ben Stevens Told He Won't Face Federal Corruption Charges" in the Alaska Dispatch News on Aug. 10 2011, "Guilty Pleas End Alaska Corruption Probe" in the Alaska Dispatch News on Oct. 21 2011, "Report Details Inner Workings of Senator's Troubled Trial" in the New York Times on Mar. 15 2012, "Was Stevens Guilty? Question Likely Won't Be Answered" in the Alaska Dispatch News on Apr. 21 2012, "2 Prosecutors Face Penalty in '08 Trial of a Senator" in the New York Times on May 24 2012, "A Remembrance and Defense of Ted Stevens' 'Series of Tubes'" in PC Magazine on Jun. 5 2014, "Alaska's 'Bridge to Nowhere' Shelved" in the Columbus Dispatch, Congressional Record (Senate) Vol. 145, Congressional Record (Senate) Vol. 153Dirk Langeveldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10347292004358347133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8953541230084203389.post-24376542536923436892015-08-23T22:46:00.000-04:002015-08-23T22:49:03.816-04:00Frank Boykin: conspiracy made for love<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DPxv9bAWDdY/VdkdGtF1lTI/AAAAAAAABMM/-XvHf4hlXKs/s1600/boykin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DPxv9bAWDdY/VdkdGtF1lTI/AAAAAAAABMM/-XvHf4hlXKs/s320/boykin.jpg" width="239" /></a></div>
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(<a href="http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-3320">Source</a>)</div>
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When Frank William Boykin first ran afoul of the law, he sought help from someone who had foiled a scheme to collect money from a railroad for dead cows. Livestock was one of the many interests Boykin had speculated in to make his fortune, and he was known to run cattle across the Mobile and Ohio Railroad even when trains were approaching. Whenever a locomotive ran down the animals, he would file a damage claim. The railroad always shelled out the money until their new attorney, Harry Hardy Smith, decided it was worth it to contest the claims in court; moreover, Smith had been winning these cases.<br /><br />So when Boykin became one of 117 people indicted in December of 1923 in what would become known as Alabama's "Whiskey Trials," he called Smith and asked him to be his lawyer.<br /><br />The defendants in these trials were charged in widespread corruption to violate the Prohibition laws. Businessmen, sheriffs, police chiefs, and legislators were among those caught up in the probe. Since U.S. Attorney Aubrey Boyles had accused many of the defendants of trying to bribe him, a special prosecutor had to be brought in. Hugo Black, a Birmingham lawyer who later became a U.S. senator and Supreme Court justice, was selected for the job.<br /><br />Boykin was first brought to trial in April of 1924. Black argued that Boykin had portrayed himself as someone with influence in President Warren G. Harding's administration, and that bootleggers paid him $5 a shipment for protection. There had been some correspondence between Boykin and Jesse Smith, a friend of <a href="http://downfalldictionary.blogspot.com/2010/10/harry-m-daugherty.html">Attorney General Harry Daugherty</a>; Boykin had also written to Mel Daugherty, the Attorney General's brother. To gullible rum runners, the alleged influence was enough to justify the expense. However, Black was soon forced to drop the charges after the correspondence was ruled inadmissible.<br /><br />Black was able to go after Boykin again in February of 1925 after securing new witnesses who could testify to other misbehavior. This time, two whiskey dealers said Boykin had helped import bootleg liquor into the United States. Another witness said Boykin had helped smuggle liquor from Mobile to Chicago inside pine tar barrels. Despite the testimony, a jury acquitted the defendant of violating the Prohibition and tariff laws.<br /><br />Just one day later, Black brought Boykin up on charges of bribing a federal agent. Boyles was called to the stand and said that Andrew Mellon, an industrialist who had been appointed Secretary of the Treasury, had loaned $2 million to the Republican Party. The money was to be repaid through the protection fees put up by bootleggers, with Jesse Smith assigned to collect these funds from district attorneys and other law enforcement officials. Boyles said Boykin had offered him $100,000 a year for tips on upcoming federal raids against bootleggers, along with a car to make him appear more dignified. Instead, Boyles had informed the federal authorities about the corruption.<br /><br />Testifying in his own defense, Boykin denied any wrongdoing other than occasionally purchasing liquor from the rum runners. He also said Boyles had been the one who tried to involve him in a protection racket. The jury was not convinced, finding him guilty after 22 hours of deliberation. Though he was sentenced to two years in prison, the conviction was overturned less than a year later by the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. This court declared the indictment "fatally defective" because it did not give enough information for Boykin to form a proper defense.<br /><br />Boykin was born in Bladon Springs, Alabama, on February 21, 1885. Five years later, his family of sharecroppers moved to Fairford to change professions. Boykin began working as a clerk in his father's store, which served the railroad and nearby industrial towns; he later became the manager of this establishment. Boykin also dropped out of school at the age of eight to work as a water boy on the railroad, later claiming that he worked his way up to a train dispatcher and conductor.<br /><br />In 1905, at the age of 20, Boykin became the co-owner of a company that manufactured railroad cross ties and turpentine. Ten years later, he moved to Mobile. His business interests expanded to farming, livestock, timber, real estate, and naval stores in southern Alabama. The revenue from these concerns made Boykin a millionaire. During the First World War, he served as an official in Alabama shipbuilding companies; he later asserted that his companies had been responsible for 52 percent of all vessels produced on the Gulf Coast during the conflict.<br /><br />Some of Boykin's business deals were less than honest. In one scheme, he and a partner named John Everett hired Choctaw Indians to work shares of the land they had traditionally settled and owned. When these workers ran up debts at commissaries owned by the duo or were unable to pay their property taxes, Boykin and Everett acquired their ownership of the land in exchange for covering the expenses. When Everett died in 1927, Boykin managed to acquire the interest in his estate for only $8,800. The deal was approved by Boykin's brother, who happened to be a probate judge.<br /><br />Throughout the 1930s and 1940s, even as Boykin served in elected government, he continued to build up his personal fortune. In 1930, he purchased most of Dauphin Island and organized the Alabama Deep Sea Fishing Rodeo; in 1953, he sold the rights to this event to the Mobile Chamber of Commerce for almost $1 million. He established businesses such as the Tensaw Land and Timber Company overseeing some 100,000 acres of forest, a company to mine a salt dome found on his property, and a chemical production concern.<br /><br />In 1934, Boykin ran for the House of Representatives to fill a vacancy caused by the resignation of John McDuffie, who had accepted a position on the U.S. District Court. The election had plenty of political maneuvering. McDuffie had been hostile to the New Deal, so President Franklin D. Roosevelt's appointment left room for a supporter to come in. Boykin was chosen by a group of Mobile businessmen and politicians who knew he would advocate for economic interests in the region. Critics pointed out how the candidate had been so apathetic about the electoral process that he hadn't cast a vote since 1920, forcing him to pay 14 back years of poll taxes just to vote for himself.<br /><br />During the Democratic primary, Boykin faced two other opponents. No one earned a majority in the election, but the nomination went to Boykin when the candidate with the second highest vote count decided to drop out. There were suspicions that Boykin had paid him, off, but they were never investigated. He easily won the general election, since the Republicans did not field a candidate. When Representative Sam Hobbs died in 1952, Boykin became the longest serving member of the Alabama delegation.<br /><br />Boykin was re-elected to the House 13 times, only seeking another office in 1946 when he unsuccessfully ran for a vacancy in the Senate caused by the death of John Bankhead II. He focused on promoting his district's attractions, securing federal monies for economic development projects, and inviting industries to set up shop in Alabama. Among the efforts he supported were the Bankhead Tunnel under the Mobile River, an expansion of the port of Mobile, and the establishment of an Air Force base which later became the Mobile airport. He opposed pro-labor legislation and took an isolationist stance in foreign affairs.<br /><br />Many of Boykin's constituents recalled that he personally stood up for the people in his district. When a colorblind lawyer was rebuffed in his attempt to join the Navy during World War II, he traveled to the nation's capital to visit Boykin about the issue; the congressman took the lawyer to meet a Navy admiral the next day to persuade him to let the man join up. <br /><br />As the civil rights activists became more vocal across the South, Boykin joined those opposing their efforts. He signed the Southern Manifesto, a declaration supported by 101 Southern congressmen to protest the Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education ruling. However, Boykin never formally joined the conservative Dixiecrat movement and advocated for black constituents as well as white ones. A black community in Alabama was even named for him after he secured federal funding for it to supplement his own personal contributions. <br /><br />Above all, Boykin was known for his folksy optimism. He suggested that a lighted cross could be placed at the rostrum of the Speaker of the House so that congressmen could remember the teachings of Jesus Christ and bicker less often. He occasionally hosted "harmony suppers" to promote cooperation between Democrats and Republicans. Boykin seemed to live by the motto "Everything is made for love," a phrase he frequently spoke or sang.<br /><br />Despite his amiable nature, Boykin drew some criticism for his lackluster commitment to the duties of the office. He often missed votes, enough that he had the poorest attendance of the entire state delegation in the 1947-1948 congressional session. He sometimes pushed measures from which he stood to personally benefit, such as funding for a bridge to Dauphin Island. While other representatives or senators crafted bills designed to improve rural schools or secure better funding for public schools, Boykin never created legislation that would have a nationwide benefit. In almost 30 years of service in Congress, his only chairmanship was on the Committee on Patents between 1943 and 1947; this committee was deemed inconsequential enough that it was scrapped in a reorganization of the House in 1947.<br /><br />Suspicions that Boykin's behavior may have passed into the realm of criminal malfeasance likely helped derail his chances at re-election in 1962. Three years earlier, a Miami-based savings and loan official named J. Kenneth Edlin had been indicted on mail fraud charges. Edlin pleaded no contest to the crime in December of 1961. He had previously been convicted of mail and securities fraud in 1944 and served four years in prison; this time, he spent five months behind bars. Soon after Edlin's new conviction, Boykin and another Democratic representative, Thomas F. Johnson of Maryland, were facing accusations that they had tried to get the Justice Department to delay Edlin's trial in exchange for special favors from him.<br /><br />In an interview in January of 1962, Boykin said he had not acted unethically. He said he had suggested to President John F. Kennedy that Alan Shepard Jr., an astronaut who had become the first American to fly into space in May of 1961, should be granted a house in a Maryland development where both he and Edlin had an interest. Boykin said he had asked both Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and Governor J. Millard Tawes of Maryland to delay Edlin's trial, but claimed he had only done so in hopes of concluding a business deal with Edlin.<br /><br />The accusations came at a point when Boykin was particularly vulnerable at the ballot box. As a result of the 1960 census, Alabama had lost one of its seats in the House of Representatives. Since the state legislature couldn't agree how to redraw the new boundaries for the districts, a "9-8 plan" emerged. Under this plan, primaries were to be held in all districts for the 1962 election and a second race would be held for the nine winning candidates to compete for the eight available seats.<br /><br />Though Boykin won his primary, he finished last among the nine other winners. His long career in Congress had come to an end. Though observers noted that the suspicions about his dealings with Edlin may have affected the race, they also pointed out that Boykin was the only incumbent who had faced a serious challenge for his primary.<br /><br />In October of 1962, Boykin and Johnson were indicted on conspiracy and conflict of interest charges. Edlin and his attorney, William L. Robinson, were also indicted on charges of conspiracy to defraud the government. The charges were handed down just two days before "Frank Boykin Day," a celebration scheduled by Mobile businessmen to honor Boykin's contributions to the local economy. In a sign of how little the accusations affected his popularity, the event took place as scheduled.<br /><br />The basic allegation was that Edlin had made illegal payments to Boykin and Johnson in exchange for their efforts to get the Justice Department to dismiss Edlin's mail fraud charges. The money had been paid through four concerns controlled by Edlin: the First Colony Savings and Loan, First Continental Savings and Loan, Charles County Land Company, and Leisure City Land Company.<br /><br />Boykin and Johnson both said the payments had been compensation for above board work. Boykin had received a $250,000 cashier's check, which his lawyers contended was a down payment for a mortgage on land owned by Boykin in Maryland and Virginia. Boykin had purchased 8,000 acres in Maryland and 5,000 acres in Virginia during the 1950s, selling the Maryland land to a development firm in 1958 for $6 million. When this firm began to struggle to make payments on the land, Johnson introduced Edlin to Boykin. Edlin offered to pay $9 million, with the $250,000 deposit made on two land tracts.<br /><br />Johnson told investigators that Edlin had promised him $25,000 for services related to the land purchase, such as legal services for Edlin's savings and loan companies and title searches for his land companies. He said he had only received $14,000 for this work, though the indictment charged that he had actually been paid $17,550. Prosecutors said that the funds were not only meant to be compensation for Johnson's efforts to intercede with the Justice Department, but also to make a speech on the floor of the House defending savings and loan firms. Edlin had run off 50,000 copies of the speech.<br /><br />The trial began on April 1, 1963. Boykin, Edlin, Johnson, and Robinson were all tried together and the proceedings would drag on for 11 weeks. The prosecution charged that Boykin and Johnson had personally visited the Justice Department on 11 separate occasions, with another 52 entreaties made by phone or mail. In one letter to Robert F. Kennedy, Boykin included 100 pounds of pecans for the Attorney General's children.<br /><br />Louis D. Goldman, a Miami lawyer under indictment in a separate case who had agreed to cooperate with prosecutors, testified about incriminating statements he heard Boykin make. On one occasion, he said that Boykin told Edlin, "You get through this deal and don't worry about your personal problem. I'll take care of it." Goldman also claimed that Boykin had boasted about his personal connections with the Kennedys, declaring, "If Bobby is not going to do anything, I'll get Joe to talk to him."<br /><br />RFK himself took the stand in what was thought to be the first courtroom appearance by an Attorney General since Levi Lincoln appeared in the arguments for the famous Marbury v. Madison Supreme Court case. RFK recalled that during a meeting with Boykin and Johnson in March of 1961, Johnson said the failure of the planned development would harm the Maryland economy and asked that the charges against Edlin be dropped.<br /><br />Johnson himself conducted the cross-examination of the Attorney General. RFK admitted that congressmen often visited him to make requests on various matters. He drew a laugh from the court when he pointed out that few members of Congress had been in to see him since the indictments. Though he admitted that there had been nothing overtly improper about the requests by Boykin and Johnson, RFK maintained that they had been trying to pressure him to drop the case. "Congressman, can you tell my why you were so anxious to come and discuss it if you did not want us to dismiss it?" he asked.<br /><br />Boykin took the stand in his own defense, claiming he had only gone to see the Attorney General to review the circumstances of Edlin's indictment. He also suggested that he wanted to help prosecutors get information on labor leader Jimmy Hoffa, who would be convicted of charges related to organized crime in 1964 and famously disappear in 1975. On several occasions, the 78-year-old Boykin complained that he was having trouble hearing the questions directed at him. One prosecutor later recalled that the deafness seemed to be selective, as Boykin raced from across the courtroom to congratulate him after he announced that his wife had just given birth.<br /><br />Prosecutors grilled Boykin on the circumstances of his land deal with Edlin, particularly the differences between his grand jury testimony and trial testimony. In one letter, Edlin said he would be willing to give 15 percent of sales proceeds to Boykin; the congressman stood to make a huge profit on the deal. Boykin's lawyers maintained that it was a simple business transaction, with no special treatment expected in return for a sale. The prosecution countered a defense assertion that the land had been appraised at $11.3 million with testimony from another appraiser, who said the land was only worth $4 million. The insinuation was that Edlin was offering Boykin a generous deal in exchange for his help in making the criminal charges disappear.<br /><br />After only three-and-a-half hours of deliberation, the jury found all four men guilty. They were sentenced in October of 1963, with Boykin receiving a suspended six-month sentence, six months of probation, and a $40,000 fine. Edlin was ordered to spend a year in prison and pay a $16,000 fine, while Robinson was given six months of imprisonment.<br /><br /><div>
Johnson had been indicted just three weeks before the 1962 election, and the charges no doubt contributed to his loss to Republican candidate Rogers C.B. Morton. In his correspondence, an angered Boykin accused U.S. Attorney Joseph Tydings of trying to sabotage Johnson's campaign and said his own conviction was a result of vindictive black members of the grand jury and trial jury (though 10 of the jurors in the trial were white). Johnson appealed his sentence of six months in prison and a $5,000 fine and had it reversed on the argument that the speech he gave in the House could not be used as grounds for his indictment. However, he was convicted on retrial in 1968 and ultimately served three-and-a-half months of his sentence.<br /><br />Following the trial, Boykin returned to his business activities. He remained a popular figure, and 37 members of Congress (mostly from the South) soon petitioned President Lyndon B. Johnson asking him to pardon Boykin. Johnson granted the request on December 17, 1965, issuing a full pardon for the former congressmen.<br /><br />Curiously, RFK also supported a pardon for Boykin. In fact, this action was one of three favors he requested from the White House following his resignation as Attorney General in 1964. It may have been because Boykin had been a strong supporter of JFK's 1960 presidential bid, or because the former congressman was good friends with RFK's father.<br /><br />Boykin died on congestive heart failure in Washington, D.C., on March 12, 1969.<br /><br />Sources: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, Alabama Department of Archives and History, Encyclopedia of Alabama, "Sheriff, Chief and Lawmakers Among Arrests" in the Miami News-Metropolis on Dec. 23 1923, "Says Mellon Was Paid By Rum Men" in the Lewiston Daily Sun on Apr. 29 1926, "Police Chief Hoover Commands Respect of American People" in the St. Petersburg Times on May 28 1949, "A Salute to Justice Black" in the St. Petersburg Times on Jun. 6 1952, "Publicity Surprises Rep. Frank Boykin" in the Tuscaloosa News on Jan. 16 1962, "Rep. Boykin is Defeated For Re-Election" in the Free Lance-Star on May 31 1962, "Reps. Johnson, Boykin Indicted by U.S. Jury" in the Palm Beach Post on Oct. 17 1962, "Heard Boykin Promise Help, Miamian Says" in the Tuscaloosa News on Apr. 16 1963, "Robert Kennedy Testifies Against Former Congressmen" in the Toledo Blade on Apr. 18 1963, "Edlin Named as Figure in Payments" in the Times Daily on May 24 1963, "Boykin Denies Miami Fraud Case Payoff" in the Sarasota Journal on Jun. 5 1963, "Boykin-Johnson Case Gets Closer to Jury" in the Tuscaloosa News on Jun. 6 1963, "Two Former Congressmen Found Guilty" in the Toledo Blade on Jun. 14 1963, "Arguments Set for Monday in Boykin Trial" in the Tuscaloosa News on Jun. 8 1963, "Ex-Congressmen Sentenced" in the St. Petersburg Times on Oct. 8 1963, "Bills Proposed to Repay Former Rep. Frank Boykin" in the St. Petersburg Times on May 19 1967, "Ex-Lawmaker Found Guilty" in the Toledo Blade on Jan. 27 1968, "Frank Boykin Dead at Age 84" in the Tuscaloosa News on Mar. 12 1969, "Legislator Can't Be Prosecuted For Actions" in The Dispatch on Oct. 10 1970, "Thomas Johnson, 78; Lost Post in Congress" in the New York Times on Feb. 3 1988, "Frank Boykin: The Politician" in the Huntsville Times on Dec. 17 2001, "Teflon Tycoon" in the Huntsville Times on Dec. 19 2001</div>
Dirk Langeveldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10347292004358347133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8953541230084203389.post-316285333196602312015-06-27T17:27:00.001-04:002015-07-06T09:47:25.616-04:00Truman H. Newberry: Senate for sale<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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(<a href="http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1827969_1827972_1828026,00.html">Source</a>)</div>
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Given the enormous amounts of money used to shore up one candidate or another in every modern federal election cycle, the uproar over Truman Handy Newberry's financing of a 1918 campaign almost seems quaint. While the total expenditures admitted by Newberry were the equivalent of about $2.76 million in today's dollars, there were suspicions that the campaign had shelled out more than six times this amount. Even this upper limit would not seem out of place in today's elections, where the <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/cost-u-s-senate-seat-10-5-million-article-1.1285491">average cost of a Senate campaign is $10.5 million</a>.<br />
<br />Yet in Newberry's time, a new electoral system in the Senate and a nascent effort at campaign finance reform made voters suspicious of anyone who poured too much money into an election. The Seventeenth Amendment had taken the power of appointing senators out of the state legislatures, which were considered more vulnerable to corruption, and placed it in the hands of the electorate at large. The amendment had only been in effect for five years at the time of Newberry's election, and even members of his own party were horrified by the frenzied spending of his campaign.<br /><br />The Newberry affair was one of the earlier examples of a candidate being accused of trying to buy his way into elected office. The case would also lead to a Supreme Court ruling that obliterated the early Progressive efforts to keep money from having too great an influence in politics.<br /><br />Newberry was part of a wealthy family, with several businessmen among his relatives who had profited from timber and mining enterprises. He was born in Michigan (in Detroit, on November 5, 1864), but much of Newberry's childhood would be spent outside of the state. After attending the Michigan Military Academy, he went on to the Charlier Institute in New York City and L.F. Reid's Classical School in Lakeville, Connecticut. He remained in Connecticut to attend Yale University, graduating in 1885.<br /><br />Newberry became the superintendent of construction, paymaster, and general freight and passenger agent for the Detroit, Bay City, and Alpena Railway. He was soon promoted to manager of this railroad, holding the position until 1887. Following his father's death, Newberry took over the family business and became president and treasurer of the Detroit Steel and Spring Company. He remained here until 1901 and concurrently served as a director of several other businesses including the Union Trust Company, Union Elevator Company, and Michigan State Telephone Company.<br /><br />In 1893, Newberry organized a naval militia in the state known as the Michigan State Naval Brigade. When the United States went to war with Spain five years later, Newberry was commissioned as a lieutenant and served aboard the cruiser Yosemite off Cuba.<br /><br />Soon after his return from military service, Newberry became involved in the automotive business. He and his brother-in-law, Henry Joy, were walking through New York City when a Packard automobile caught their eye. They were impressed when the driver was able to quickly start the vehicle and race off to a fire. Newberry and Joy subsequently invested in the Packard Motor Car Company and oversaw its relocation to Detroit. Newberry began serving as director of the company in 1903.<br /><br />Newberry's first foray into politics in 1904 would help lead to the creation of Michigan's campaign financing law. He sought the Republican nomination for a House of Representatives seat but lost to Edwin Denby, who spent three terms in Congress and later became Secretary of the Navy under President Warren G. Harding. Newberry spent a good deal of money in the race, and one publication would describe his conduct as "not illegal, although contrary to public morals." Michigan subsequently limited candidates from spending more than $3,750 of their own money on a campaign. The Federal Corrupt Practices Act, passed in 1910, would limit the funds a candidate could personally put toward a campaign to $5,000 in House races and $10,000 in Senate races.<br /><br />Despite the 1904 loss, Newberry found himself in a government office within a year. He was appointed by President Theodore Roosevelt to be Assistant Secretary of the Navy, taking over for Charles H. Darling after his resignation at the end of October of 1905. When Secretary of the Navy Victor H. Metcalf resigned in November of 1908, Newberry moved into this post. Since Roosevelt was not opting for a third term, Newberry was only Secretary of the Navy for seven months. He spent this time working to reorganize the Navy bureaucracy and improve the ability of the land-based portion of the service to respond to emergencies.<br /><br />In September of 1911, Newberry was involved in a tragic incident in Narragansett, Rhode Island. A young girl named Helen Ellis from Milton, Massachusetts, had nearly finished crossing the street when her mother warned her of an approaching car. For some reason, the girl turned back into the street and stepped directly into the path of Newberry's vehicle. He was unable to stop, and Ellis was killed instantly. Though Newberry was briefly charged with manslaughter, the court soon dismissed the matter. Ellis's father said he did not blame Newberry for his daughter's death and prosecutors concluded that he was not criminally responsible in the accident.<br /><br />When Republican campaigners tapped Newberry to run for political office in 1918, he said he would be willing to run for any position they thought he was suited for. In addition to the biennial House of Representatives race, Michigan voters would also choose a new U.S. senator to replace William A. Smith, a Republican who was retiring after 11 years in office. Newberry's supporters decided to run him in the Senate race.<br /><br />Meanwhile, President Woodrow Wilson had personally urged Henry Ford to run for the same office. The renowned automaker had been a notable opponent of the decision of the United States to join the Allies in World War I, even sponsoring a much ridiculed expedition of a "Peace Ship" to Europe in 1915. Yet Wilson considered that Ford's aversion to the conflict would make him a guaranteed supporter of his postwar initiatives to avoid other major wars. Michigan state law permitted a candidate to enter both the Democratic and Republican primaries, and Ford accordingly did so in an effort to become the choice of both major parties.<br /><br />Newberry was at a distinct disadvantage in the election. While Ford was a household name across Michigan and the United States as a whole, Newberry was relatively unknown. Moreover, he had returned to the Navy when the United States declared war on Germany in April of 1917. When he joined the race for the Republican primary, he was stationed in New York City as a lieutenant commander of the Navy Fleet Reserve and an assistant to the commandant of the Third Naval District of New York. With the war not yet over in the run-up to the 1918 election, Newberry was duty-bound to remain at his post and had no chance to hit the campaign trail in person.<br /><br />While Ford ran an inexpensive and muted campaign, relying mostly on name recognition, Newberry's campaigners mounted a massive public relations effort to promote their candidate. His campaign manager, Paul King, oversaw a staff of about 20 people at the campaign headquarters. Field operatives and organization representatives were dispatched throughout the state to drum up support for Newberry. Publications were packed with advertisements lauding his character.<br /><br />While some of the effort sought to promote the virtues of Newberry as a candidate, there was also a sustained smear campaign against Ford. His pacifist and anti-Semitic views were criticized, and his son Edsel was painted as a draft dodger. Ford had tried to get Edsel a deferment from military conscription so that he would be able to oversee the Ford company's munitions production, but the request was denied; however, Edsel was later exempted from service after the draft board declared him to be indispensable to the war effort. Capitalizing on the ongoing war fervor, Newberry's campaign contrasted their candidate (who, along with his two sons, had served in the military) with the Fords. Newberry even won endorsements from former Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft, with the former criticizing Edsel's deferment while praising the service of Newberry's sons.<br /><br />Newberry's opponents soon began to question the unrestrained spending in his campaign. Though critics would later charge that Newberry must have known about, approved, and likely supplied the vast amounts of money that were being committed to the race, the candidate maintained that he was focused on his naval duties and had no knowledge of any wrongdoing. "The campaign for my nomination for senator has been voluntarily conducted by my friends in Michigan," he said on August 21. "I have taken no part in it whatever and no contributions or expenditures have been made with my knowledge or consent."<br /><br /> Six days later, Newberry won the Republican primary. The victory ensured that Ford, who won the Democratic primary, would not be uncontested in the general election. However, Newberry was already being pressured by some GOP colleagues to resign due to the allegations of excessive campaign financing. Lieutenant Governor Loren D. Dickinson wrote to him shortly before the primary, formally requesting that he withdraw from the race.<br /><br /> The campaigns were required to disclose how much they had spent on the primary, and Newberry's team reported an astonishingly high sum. The vast PR effort had cost $176,568.08, the modern day equivalent of almost $2.8 million. The official paperwork suggested that the funding had been above board, since Newberry had not contributed any of his own money. However, almost $150,000 of the total had come from the candidate's relatives. Newberry's opponents suspected that he had personally funded his campaign and exceeded the limits set by Michigan law and the Federal Corrupt Practices Act many times over. While a resolution was introduced in the Senate on September 17 to investigate the primary, this was later dismissed in committee.<br /><br /> In the general election, Newberry defeated Ford by 7,567 votes out of about half a million cast. It was an especially narrow victory, considering the Republican candidates in the races for governor and five other state offices won with majorities of more than 100,000. The Republicans had only a two-vote majority in the Senate after the 1918 election. Had Ford won in Michigan, the chamber would have been evenly split between Democrats and Republicans. <br /><br />While a New York grand jury voted 16-1 that Newberry had done nothing for which he could be indicted, the criticism of his campaign and challenges to his ability to hold office were only just beginning. Ten days after the election, Michigan resident Albert H. Fowler filed charges of corruption against Newberry.<br /><br />Ford filed his own petition on January 6, 1919, demanding a recount. While the second tally reduced Newberry's plurality to 4,337 votes, it affirmed that he had still been the winner in the general election. Newberry took the oath of office on March 4, and Ford filed another petition a day later accusing the newly seated senator of unlawful expenditures and voter intimidation. The matter was sent to the Committee on Privileges and Elections.<br /><br /> Determined to prove that Newberry had not won the election fairly, Ford used some of his personal wealth to hire private investigators to look into the matter. Some of the information they gathered would be used by a federal grand jury, which on November 29 indicted Newberry and 134 associates who had worked on his campaign on charges of violating state and federal election laws. This development finally spurred the Senate to start its investigation into Newberry's eligibility; it adopted a resolution to look into the election in December.<br /><br />Newberry maintained his innocence, suggesting that it was hypocritical for his opponent to criticize him for spending too much money on the election and then dedicating a large sum to investigating the campaign. "Such charges are lies made out of the whole cloth, and I believe the country will realize the political animus inspiring them," he said. Surprisingly, Ford said he did not hold Newberry personally responsible for any violations of election law; rather, he said the "big interests have simply victimized him." <br /><br /> The indictment charged that the Newberry campaign had ultimately spent between $500,000 and $1 million on the campaign leading up to the primary and general election. The modern day equivalent would be between $7.9 million and $15.7 million. <br /><br /> Several newspapers criticized the amount of spending in Newberry's campaign. Some suggested that the amount spent to win the Senate seat was unprecedented, noting that <a href="http://downfalldictionary.blogspot.com/2009/06/william-lorimer-fall-of-blond-boss.html">William Lorimer</a>'s slush fund only came to $100,000 while Isaac Stephenson (a former GOP senator from Wisconsin) had been criticized for a mere $107,793 in election spending. "The chair of a Michigan senator should be onyx and gold inlaid with glittering gems, if we may accept the findings of the federal grand jury," commented the Grand Rapids Press. The Brooklyn Citizen said that even if Newberry was innocent of personal malfeasance, he was still "the beneficiary of perhaps the very worst misuse of money ever made in an American election." The Raleigh News and Observer in North Carolina was especially harsh, saying Michigan had "defiled her political system and shamed the whole country."<br /><br /> The humorist Will Rogers would take a more tongue-in-cheek view. One joke he wrote to appear on theater screens before a show declared, "A senator in Michigan was convicted for buying his seat in the Senate. The law says you can buy your seat but you must not pay too much for it."<br /><br /> Some of the 135 people indicted in the matter would quickly admit guilt. Allie K. Moore, a former staffer at the Marquette Mining Journal, and printer William E. Rice each entered a plea three days after the indictment. Meanwhile, several witnesses testified to a variety of malfeasance in the election. One witness estimated that the election cost Newberry's campaign about $800,000, while another claimed that he had seen a pile of money in King's office that looked like it amounted to at least $1 million. Prosecutors alleged that Newberry's supporters had forged signatures on a petition supporting candidate James W. Helme in the Democratic primary against Ford. In one of the more sensational incidents, former Flint mayor Bill McKeighan said the Newberry campaign told him to swing his district for the GOP candidate or face the entirety of a two to 15-year sentence for his conviction of accessory to robbery and assault with deadly weapons; the district went for Newberry, and McKeighan's sentence was later reversed by the Michigan Supreme Court.<br /><br /> Along with 16 co-defendants, Newberry was found guilty on March 20, 1920. He was sentenced to two years in prison and a $10,000 fine. The Senate had again proved sluggish on pursuing an investigation. Spurred by the verdict, the Committee on Privileges and Elections directed a subcommittee to look into the 1918 election on April 9. It would not issue its findings for another 17 months.<br /><br /> In the time it took for the Senate committee to reach its conclusions, Newberry's case proceeded to the Supreme Court on appeal. The 5-4 decision in Newberry v. United States, issued on May 2, 1921, determined that the state had the authority and responsibility to regulate primary elections and party nominations. For this reason, the majority opinion declared, measures passed by Congress such as those in the Federal Corrupt Practices Act would "interfere with purely domestic affairs of the state and infringe upon liberties reserved to the people." The justices were also unanimous in finding that the judge in Newberry's case erred in his instructions to the jury.<br /><br />Four months later, the Committee on Privileges and Elections finally reached its own conclusions regarding the 1918 election in Michigan. The majority report concluded that Newberry had been elected legally and that the charges of voter intimidation and fraud were unfounded. The findings reflected Newberry's own claims of innocence: the candidate had been in New York as a naval officer, the money in the race had been largely contributed by his family and friends, and he had not known about or solicited such campaign donations.<br /><br />The majority report did express disapproval of the amount of money spent on the election, concluding that Newberry's campaign had used at least $195,000 to get their candidate elected. However, it found that "there was no concealment whatever...and it was spent entirely for legal and proper purposes." The report declared that Newberry was entitled to his seat and should continue to serve in the Senate.<br /><br />The minority report was written by three Democrats on the committee. While it agreed with the majority in determining that Ford had not won the general election, it also concluded that Newberry had been fully aware that his campaign was breaking election laws and acquiesced to this behavior. The report concluded that Newberry was not entitled to hold his seat and that his office should be declared vacant.<br /><br /> Extensive debates on the issue took place between November of 1921 and January of 1922. Senator George W. Norris, a Progressive Republican from Nebraska, said that one of Michigan's seats in the Senate had essentially been up for "public sale" in the 1918 election. He argued that exonerating Newberry would lead to a Senate full of wealthy tycoons in future years, sarcastically commenting that this would "insure a high-class membership." <br /><br /> Newberry spoke in his own defense on January 9, 1922. He regretted that the spending in the 1918 election had reached the level it did, though he claimed to have no knowledge of how much money his campaign received, where it came from, or what the funds were used for. He said his lack of knowledge about the campaign was the reason he had opted not to appear before the investigating committee, but that he wanted to speak before the Senate as a whole to clear up any misunderstandings. "I did not solicit or spend, directly or indirectly, one single dollar in the campaign," he said. "Nor did I know of the contributions made until afterward."<br /><br /> There were three attempts to adopt the minority view and declare Newberry's seat vacant, but each one failed. Before a vote was taken on the majority report, it was amended with a statement that "severely condemned" the expenditures in Newberry's campaign as "harmful to the honor and dignity of the Senate and dangerous to the perpetuity of free government." Some senators were appalled by the amendment. William S. Kenyon, a Republican from Iowa, questioned how the Senate could vote on a measure that validated a member's eligibility while simultaneously claiming that their behavior had been injurious to the nation's principles. "My God!" Kenyon exclaimed. "You can never lessen the dignity of the Senate after today."<br /><br />The amended majority report was approved in a 46-41 vote, which split largely along party lines. Nine Republicans joined 32 Democrats in opposing the decision to declare Newberry's election to be valid. While many observers thought that five Progressive Republicans would join the opposition, they unexpectedly swayed the result by casting their votes in favor of seating Newberry.<br /><br /> It would prove to be a Pyrrhic victory for the senator and his supporters. The exorbitant spending in Newberry's campaign had had been criticized from all quarters, and the practice was even nicknamed "Newberryism." Campaign spending became an issue in several elections in 1922, and Ford eagerly donated to candidates who were running against the senators who had voted in favor of Newberry. <br /><br /> One of the incumbents defeated in the 1922 election was the other senator from Michigan, Charles E. Townsend, who lost the general election to Democratic candidate Woodbridge N. Ferris. Though the GOP retained a majority in the Senate, it lost six seats to the Democrats. Since Newberry had retained his seat by only five votes, the shift was just enough to pose a new threat. Robert La Follette, the Progressive Republican senator from Wisconsin, promised to bring the issue of Newberry's election up again.<br /><br />Soon after the election, Newberry announced that he would resign effective November 21. He cited Townsend's defeat as the reason for his departure, noting that the discontent over his campaign spending had probably played a role in this result. "[A] fair analysis of the vote in Michigan, and other votes where friends and political enemies alike have suffered defeat, will demonstrate that a general feeling of unrest was mainly responsible," he said. <br /><br /> Newberry maintained that he had been elected fairly, and suggested that he would continue to be "hampered by partisan political persecution" if he stayed in office. Cordell Hull, the chairman of the National Democratic Committee and future Secretary of State under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, interpreted Newberry's resignation differently. The senator's departure in the face of an altered Senate, he said, was "a confession of moral guilt of the offense charged."<br /><br />Governor Alexander Groesbeck appointed James Couzens, the mayor of Detroit, to fill the remainder of Newberry's term. It was something of a belated victory for Ford; Couzens had worked as the automaker's business manager between 1903 and 1915. Couzens was re-elected in 1924 and 1930, but was not nominated in 1936.<br /><br />The Newberry v. United States decision would endure for two decades, frustrating Progressive efforts to limit corruption in elections through campaign finance rules. A newly revised Federal Corrupt Practices Act, based on the Supreme Court ruling as well as the Teapot Dome scandal, was passed in 1925 to adjust the federal campaign finance law. While it repealed the disclosure requirements for primaries, it also declared that all committees operating in two or more states had to file quarterly reports for all contributors giving $100 or more. The law also raised the personal financing limit on Senate races in some states with large populations to $25,000.<br /><br />Unfortunately, the new law proved easy to skirt and difficult to enforce. The Federal Corrupt Practices Act of 1925 would only exclude two people from office due to campaign violations, and both offenses occurred in 1927; though the law granted the authority to levy fines for these violations, no candidates were ever ordered to pay a penalty. It was finally replaced by the Federal Election Campaign Act in 1971.<br /><br />In 1941, the Supreme Court reversed itself in United States v. Classic. This 4-3 decision determined that the Constitution gave Congress the ability to regulate primary elections.<br /><br />After his resignation, Newberry returned to his work in manufacturing in Michigan. He died in Grosse Point on October 3, 1945.<br /><br />Sources: The Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, Historic Elmwood Cemetery and Foundation, The Miller Center, "Federal Prosecution of Election Offenses" by the United States Justice Department, "The Election Case of Truman H. Newberry of Michigan" at Senate.gov, "Newberry Car Kills Girl" in the Gazette Times on Sep. 6 1911, "No Prosecution Against Newberry" in the Lewiston Saturday Journal on Sep. 11 1911, "Lieutenant Governor Demands Withdrawl of Truman Newberry" in the Oswosso Argus-Press on Aug. 22 1918, "Two Confess Guilt in Newberry Scandal" in the Ludington Daily News on Dec. 2 1919, "Newberry Aide Had 'Money Pile'" in the Spokesman-Review on Feb. 13 1920, "Sensation Stirs Newberry Trial" in the Milwaukee Sentinel on Feb. 13 1920, "Ford-Newberry Contest Case Reported" in the Deseret News on Sept. 29 1921, "Newberry Spoke in Own Defense" in the Lawrence Journal-World on Jan. 9 1922, "Senate Seats Newberry; Censures Vast Spending" in The Day on Jan. 13 1922, "Newberryism Means Death to Democracy" in The Searchlight on Jan. 31 1922, "Newberry Resigns from U.S. Senate" in the Lawrence Journal-World on Nov. 20 1922, "Newberry Quitting Confession of Guilt, Chairman Hull Thinks" in the Schenectady Gazette on Nov. 21 1922, Successful Men of Michigan, Michigan Biographical Directory, The Literary Digest Vol. 63, Reforming the Electoral Process in America by Brian L. Fife, The Papers of Will Rogers edited by Steven K. Gragert and M. Jane Johannson, Drawing Conclusions on Henry Ford by Rudolph and Sonya Alvarado, Encyclopedia of American Political Parties and Elections by Larry J. Sabato and Howard R. Ernst, Making and Selling Cars: Innovation and Change in the U.S. Automotive Industry by James M. Rubenstein, The Power of Money in Congressional Campaigns, 1880-2006 by David C.W. Parker, The New International Yearbook: A Compendium of the World's Progress for the Year 1918 edited by Frank Moore ColbyDirk Langeveldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10347292004358347133noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8953541230084203389.post-83613557690030543402015-04-26T13:42:00.000-04:002018-01-18T11:15:20.182-05:00Marion Barry: up in smoke<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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(<a href="http://uptownmagazine.com/2014/11/former-dc-mayor-marion-barry-dies-78/">Source</a>)</div>
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The first brush Marion Barry Jr. had with the law was a dispute over a parking violation in 1969. After spotting two police officers ticketing vehicles, Barry said to one of them, "If you put a ticket on my car...I'll kill you." When the officer called Barry's bluff, he tore the ticket up and threw the pieces into the policeman's face. In the ensuing scuffle, he struck the other officer in the face and tore his shirt. Barry, charged with assault, could have been sentenced to 10 years in prison. Instead, his case ended with a hung jury and two co-defendants were acquitted.<br />
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Barry would get in hot water for much more serious charges over the years, none more sensational than a 1990 incident in which he was caught on videotape smoking crack cocaine. Nevertheless, he became such a popular local figure in Washington, D.C. that both his supporters and detractors referred to him as the "Mayor for Life." Going from the son of an impoverished black family in the South to a leadership role in the nation's capital proved to be an inspiring story for many of his constituents, even as Barry's transgressions continued to checker his record well into the 21st century.<br />
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The third of 10 children in a family of sharecroppers, Barry was born on March 6, 1936 in Itta Benna, Mississippi. After his father died when Barry was four years old, his mother moved the family to Memphis and eventually married a butcher. Barry worked several jobs in his youth to support the family including selling newspapers, picking cotton, inspecting soda bottles, and bagging groceries. He graduated from Booker T. Washington High School in 1954, successfully becoming an Eagle Scout before doing so.<br />
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As the civil rights movement heated up, Barry joined the cause at a local level. He was the president of the student chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People at LeMoyne-Owen College, and was nearly expelled for criticizing a member of the college's board of trustees for a racially insensitive remark. Graduating with a bachelor's degree in chemistry in 1958, Barry went on to earn a master's degree in the subject at Fisk University two years later.<br />
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Since there was no NAACP chapter at this school, Barry formed one. He became a more noticeable civil rights figure, helping to organize lunch counter sit-ins in Nashville and participating in voter registration drives in several Southern states. He continued to pursue his studies, working for a year as a teaching assistant at the University of Kansas before transferring to the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. There, he founded a newspaper on civil rights issues entitled the Knoxville Crusader and learned that he was barred from tutoring white students.<br />
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This discrimination likely influenced the decision which would prove to be a major turning point in Barry's life. Although he was only a few credits short from receiving a doctorate in chemistry, Barry quit his studies. He had been part of a group of black student leaders who met to form what would become the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. In 1965, Barry moved to Washington, D.C. to begin full-time work as the organization's first national chairman.<br />
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By the time of Barry's arrival, "white flight" to the suburbs had transformed the city to one with a majority black population. Despite this demographic shift, whites continued to dominate city positions. This authority was rather restricted, however, given that the status of the city gave its residents rather limited representation. The District of Columbia had not even been allowed to vote in presidential elections prior to the 1964 election. It would not receive its own school board until 1968, and its representation in Congress was limited to a nonvoting delegate in the House of Representatives, a position not created until 1970.<br />
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"Home rule" for residents of Washington, D.C. became a major part of Barry's civil rights efforts in the capital. He organized the Free D.C. Movement and frequently wore a dashiki during his speeches. In January of 1966, he organized a one-day boycott of the city's transit system to protest a proposed fare hike. In 1967, he was successful in winning millions of dollars in federal grants to support jobs programs for poor blacks in the city. Two years later, he resigned from SNCC to turn his attention to this issue, founding an organization called Pride Inc. to find work for inner city youth.<br />
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Barry was elected to a string of municipal entities in the early 1970s, starting in February of 1970. He earned a spot on the Model Police Precinct, a board set up to improve relations between the police department and the people of Washington, D.C. He resigned a year later to run for the city's school board, defeating chairwoman Anita F. Allen for an at-large seat. He served until 1974, when he was elected to the City Council. At this point, he resigned from Pride Inc. to begin a full-time government career.<br />
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The City Council itself was a creation of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act of 1973. Though a mayor-commissioner and nine councilors had been responsible for managing the city since 1967, these positions were appointed by the President. The new legislation allowed the city to elect its own mayor and City Council in 1974, but Congress still had overarching authority in the district. Its members reviewed all of the Council's decisions, reserving the right to veto them, and retained the ability to set the city's budget and taxes.<br />
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In his first term, Barry worked to get a pay raise for the D.C. Metro Police and was instrumental in defeating a 1 percent gross receipts tax on city business. He was also an early supporter of gay and lesbian rights. Having built a base of support among numerous different groups and interests, he easily won re-election in 1976.<br />
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A year later, Barry was nearly killed in an incident that would help bolster his respect among the city's residents. On March 9, 1977, a dozen members of the Hanafi Muslims (a breakaway entity from the militant black group Nation of Islam) took almost 150 people hostage when they seized three buildings in the nation's capital. The group took over a Muslim religious center, the headquarters of a Jewish organization, and the District Building. They demanded that seven men convicted of murdering seven relatives of siege leader Hamaas Abdul Khaalis be presented for judgment before the Hanafi group. The hostage takers also demanded the destruction of all copies of "Mohammed, Messenger of God," a movie they considered sacrilegious to Islam.<br />
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Barry was on the fifth floor of the District Building, which functioned as the District of Columbia's city hall, when the gunmen took over the building. He heard two shots, which killed a radio journalist named Maurice Williams and injured a security guard who later died in the hospital of a heart attack. There was a third blast, and Barry realized he had been hit in the chest. One witness suggested that Barry had been a target; he said that when one gunman learned that he had shot Barry, he commented, "Oh good, we did get who we wanted to get."<br />
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Barry stumbled into the City Council chambers, where he was assisted by other people who had taken shelter in the room. He was later evacuated by firefighters who used an extension ladder to take him out through the window. Doctors found that a shotgun pellet had lodged less than an inch from Barry's heart, presumably after losing some of its speed in a ricochet. The slug was surgically removed, and Barry returned to work a week later.<br />
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When Barry ran for mayor in 1978, he received support from a variety of sources including the police, firefighters, young white professionals, and retirees. He was an early supporter of gay rights, working to prevent discrimination in housing and hiring, and he won acclaim among Hispanic voters by advocating for bilingual and adult education. The editorial board of the Washington Post named him as their choice for mayor. Though he won only 35 percent of the vote in the Democratic primary, it was enough to defeat City Council chairman Sterling Tucker and Walter E. Washington, the city's first elected mayor. In the strongly Democratic city, Barry easily won the general election by defeating Arthur A. Fletcher, a Republican who had served in both the Nixon and Ford Administrations.<br />
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Barry took the oath of office on January 2, 1979, in a strongly symbolic ceremony. He was sworn in by Thurgood Marshall, the first black justice appointed to the Supreme Court. The Post would describe Barry as a "national symbol for self-governance for urban blacks," noting that he secured jobs for black citizens in middle and upper level positions that had been traditionally dominated by whites. He also appointed a number of women to these positions.<br />
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Though there were certain racial issues in the District of Columbia—a 1991 study reported that 42 percent of the city's black men between the ages of 18 and 35 were in jail, on probation or parole, or wanted by the police—the city was burdened by numerous other problems as well. Washington, D.C. had little in the way of tax base to rely on. There were few heavy industries, most government employees commuted from suburbs in Maryland or Virginia, and many of the federal buildings and other structures were tax-exempt. Unlike urban areas elsewhere in the United States, the city could not rely on contributions from a state for assistance. The fire department was so strapped that it could only respond to one two-alarm call at a time.<br />
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In his first term, Barry completed an audit of the city's budget and trimmed the payroll by 10 percent. Most of the cuts were through attrition, but there were also deep cuts to the city's police force; about 1,500 people working for the D.C. Metro Police lost their jobs. <br />
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Barry led an effort to encourage hotel and business development in the downtown area, personally working with developers to help get their building permits approved. The mayor also strove to help the populace as a whole, championing programs that provided summer jobs to the city's youth, helped middle class families purchase a home, and offered food assistance to seniors.<br />
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Although Barry could point to some successes in his first term, other problems worsened or remained unresolved. Drug use, homelessness, and unemployment were on the rise. The crime rate increased, and critics pointed to Barry's gutting of the police department as the cause of the problem. In advance of the 1982 election, Barry abandoned the fiscal restraint he had shown in his first term and poured more money into public programs, including $180 million for elderly assistance and job programs. He easily won the Democratic primary and general election, and these victories were repeated in 1986. Though he won more support among the city's more affluent districts in the 1978 election, this trend reversed itself in subsequent contests as he was lionized among poorer voters.<br />
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In his second and third terms, Barry was heavily criticized as he seemingly abandoned his earlier commitment to financial responsibility. A 1990 report noted that one out of every 13 citizens in the District of Columbia was employed by the city, and enemies charged that the mayor awarded jobs based on patronage rather than skill. Carl T. Rowan, Jr., a former FBI agent, complained eight years later that the D.C. bureaucracy was "a source of jobs for people whose main qualification was their eligibility to vote for Barry." When Barry's second wife, Mary Treadwell, was sent to prison for embezzling from Pride Inc., he secured her a city job when she was freed.<br />
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Over the course of these three terms, 11 city officials appointed by Barry would be involved in scandals. Ivanhoe Donaldson, a former deputy mayor, was convicted in December of 1985 of embezzling $190,000 in city funds during Barry's first and second terms. <br />
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When Barry traveled to California to attend the 1987 Super Bowl, he was heavily criticized for not returning to the District of Columbia to oversee emergency management after the city was pounded by two blizzards in a row. These junkets were not uncommon; he met with heads of state in Africa in his first term, was a regular presence at prize fights in Las Vegas, and led a delegation to the Virgin Islands in 1988. Many questioned why Barry was heading to the Caribbean to assist the local government with with overhauling their personnel system, pointing out that Washington, D.C.'s swollen payroll and debt hardly made it a model for this reform. <br />
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There were also persistent rumors that the mayor was a philanderer and drug user. The Post said that attractive women were "omnipresent" in Barry's company, and he had been married three times and divorced twice by his third term (he would ultimately be married four times). When he suffered chest pains in September of 1983, he blamed it on a hiatal hernia; a physician not associated his his opinion opined that he had suffered a drug overdose, although this report would not be made public for another six years. A similar incident occurred in January of 1987. A federal grand jury called Barry to testify in January of 1984 during an investigation into the alleged sale of cocaine to the mayor and other D.C. officials. Barry was also in a number of accidents with his municipal vehicle and was rumored to have taken cocaine at a lavish "100 days in office" party, sexually harassed a model, visited a topless club where cocaine was being sold.<br />
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The drug rumors would gain steam later in Barry's third term. In June of 1987, he publicly denied a television news report alleging that he used cocaine with a former city employee. An attempted sting operation to purchase drugs from a former city employee named Charles Lewis at a hotel room in December of 1988 was called off when police learned that Barry was present; trace of cocaine were later found in the room. A week later, U.S. Attorney Jay Stephens announced that the incident would be investigated further. Barry apologized for his "bad judgment" in visiting Lewis, but insisted that he had not taken drugs. In January of 1989, Lewis also claimed that he had never used drugs with the mayor.<br />
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Lewis changed his story later in the year. In April, he was convicted of four counts of drug possession in the Virgin Islands; a month later, he was indicted on 16 counts of drug possession and perjury in the United States. He accepted a plea bargain in November, pleading to two counts of conspiracy to distribute cocaine and claiming that he had purchased crack cocaine for Barry in 1988 and used drugs with the mayor on the Virgin Islands trip.<br />
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The event which would offer undeniable proof of Barry's drug use had its roots in 1985, when Barry met an unemployed model named Hazel Diane "Rasheeda" Moore. She would later claim that they engaged in a two-year affair. Moore was also the beneficiary of $180,000 in city funds over the course of three years, with the money going toward an "image consciousness" campaign aimed at city youth.<br />
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On January 18, 1990, Moore invited Barry to visit her at the Vista International Hotel in the northwestern part of the city. Unbeknownst to Barry, Moore was collaborating with the FBI and a surveillance camera was hidden in the room. The tape captured the mayor fondling Moore's breast and leg and inquiring about drugs. She provided him with a crack pipe, and Barry took two deep drags. FBI agents and D.C. police officers stormed the room, placing Barry under arrest.<br />
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"Bitch set me up," Barry grumbled as he was placed in custody. "I shouldn't have come up here. Goddamn bitch."<br />
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<i>The FBI surveillance footage showing Barry smoking crack cocaine (<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/posttv/local/fbi-video-of-undercover-sting-on-marion-barry/2014/11/23/e1e35f00-7336-11e4-95a8-fe0b46e8751a_video.html">Source</a>)</i></div>
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The arrest occurred just three days before an event where Barry was scheduled to announce that he would be running for a fourth term as mayor. Some of his advisers had privately suggested to him that he would be better off if he quietly left politics and accepted a university teaching job. He faced more of an uphill battle, due to his past controversies and the possibility that he would face a more powerful challenger. There were rumors that civil rights leader Jesse Jackson, who had recently moved from Chicago to Washington, D.C., would run for mayor; polls showed that he would easily defeat Barry in a mayoral race. </div>
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Barry had been criticized for his remarks in a Los Angeles Times article, published on January 7, in which he was reported as saying, "Jesse don't wanna run nothing but his mouth. Besides, he'd be the laughingstock of America. He'd be run outta town if he ran against me." The article also said that Barry had boasted of his sexual prowess, threatened to punitive action against Jewish constituents who did not support him, and led schoolchildren in anti-drug pledges while denouncing rumors of his drug use as a "racist conspiracy."<br />
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There were suspicions that the government was using "selective prosecution" to target black leaders, an argument that gained a good deal of traction among Barry's supporters. They pointed out how the popular Harlem congressman <a href="http://downfalldictionary.blogspot.com/search/label/Adam%20Clayton%20Powell">Adam Clayton Powell</a> had been expelled from the House of Representatives in 1967 for contempt of court, even though a House committee recommended that he be allowed to take his seat. "If they had accused Barry of stealing millions, creating a slush fund, awarding corrupt contracts, that would be one thing," said Benjamin Hooks, executive director of the NAACP. "But a personal habit that is bad, dangerous, lethal, that makes him a bad role model? There are 4 million people out there doing it. If there are 4 million, why did they pick out one and stick on his case for eight years?"<br />
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Barry's critics accused his supporters of trying to whitewash the crime. Some said that since prosecutors lacked the resources to go after every single offender, it made sense to arrest people whose behavior had compromised a position of public trust. Stephens said Barry's behavior was particularly egregious because he had been held up as a role model for black youth. In a column entitled "Don't Judge Black Politicians by Marion Barry," Mona Charen said there was no indication of racism or selective prosecution in Barry's case, since most of the politicians who had been ousted in recent years had been white. She denounced Barry as a hypocrite, adulterer, and lousy mayor who would be judged on these qualities rather than his race. "Most blacks do not use drugs, do not commit crimes, and do not philander," Charen concluded. "They work hard, pay taxes, and wash the car on weekends. It is no reflection on them that the mayor of Washington self-destructed. And it is no reflection on them that febrile leaders like Ben Hooks imply otherwise."<br />
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Three days after his arrest, Barry admitted that he had been wrestling with an addiction to alcohol and prescription drugs. He spent seven weeks at rehab in Florida and South Carolina before returning to Washington, D.C. During the jury selection for his June trial, he announced that he would not seek re-election. Sharon Pratt Kelly, who was working as vice president of public policy for the D.C. utility PEPCO and had been an active member of the Democratic National Committee, was later elected to succeed him.<br />
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Barry faced 12 drug possession charges, with one stemming from the hotel sting and the remainder from past instances in which witnesses said he had used cocaine. He had also been charged with three felony counts of perjury, which charged that he had given false testimony before the federal grand jury.<br />
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The trial lasted for two months. Lewis, who had started cooperating with prosecutors in exchange for a reduced sentence, claimed that he and Barry had used cocaine as far back as the 1986 trip to the Virgin Islands. Moore said she had agreed to help in the sting operation against Barry after a religious conversion and because she was worried about the mayor's health. The defense sought to discredit Moore as an unreliable crack cocaine addict, though they also argued that Barry's actions on the tape suggested that he had gone to the hotel in search of sex rather than drugs. Moore admitted that she had lied to a federal grand jury, since she had told the jurors—and the agents setting up the sting—that she had last taken cocaine in April of 1989; in fact, she had taken it in early January, even as she prepared for the sting.<br />
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In one dramatic moment on June 28, Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan arrived at the court with about a dozen followers. Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson, declaring that their presence would prove disruptive to the trial and intimidating to the jury, declared Farrakhan to be persona non grata in the courtroom. Farrakhan complained that Barry's trial "demonstrates the wickedness of the United States government and the lengths to which this government will go when it targets a black leader to be discredited."<br />
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In their closing arguments, prosecutors said it was ludicrous to claim that Barry was the victim in a racist conspiracy. Ten witnesses had attested to the mayor's cocaine use, they said, and the only conspiracy was one of "silence and deceit" to ignore or tacitly accept his behavior. "Mr. Barry is asking you to shut your eyes, cover your ears, to close your mind," said U.S. Attorney Richard Roberts. "Really, he's asking you to insult your intelligence by forgetting the facts."<br />
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The defense admitted that Barry used cocaine occasionally, but denied that he used the drug as frequently as the prosecution alleged. If that were true, they contended, he could have easily been arrested much earlier in a more conventional method than a sting operation. In an autobiography published shortly before his death, Barry offered a similar opinion. "They desperately tried to paint my cocaine use into something much more than it ever was," he said. "I had never used cocaine as much as they tried to say I had."<br />
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The jury, which included 10 black members and two white members, mulled over the charges for eight days. Five days into these deliberations, Barry announced that he would run an independent campaign for an at-large position on the City Council.<br />
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On August 10, the jury found Barry guilty of one count of drug possession. Surprisingly, it was not related to the January sting where his drug use had been caught on camera; in fact, the jury had acquitted him on that charge. Rather, the jurors agreed that the prosecution had proved that Barry used cocaine with Alabama businesswoman and Democratic political consultant Doris Crenshaw at the Mayflower Hotel in November of 1989. The jury could not reach a verdict on the remaining 10 drug charges or perjury charges, leading to a mistrial on those counts. It was a small victory for Barry; if he had been found guilty of perjury, the felony conviction would have barred him from holding any elected office.<br />
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Before his sentencing, Barry acknowledged that he was a drug addict and said he was "deeply sorry for his actions." He asked for a light sentence of probation or community service. The prosecution sought the maximum punishment of one year in prison, saying Barry was not sorry for his actions but rather upset that he had been caught. Stephens said that Barry had admitted to prosecutors that he used cocaine on at least a dozen occasions. Prosecutors also argued that he had "seriously impugned the integrity" of the mayor's office, especially since he had urged the city's youth to not use drugs.<br />
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On October 26, Barry was sentenced to six months in federal prison and one year of probation. He was also ordered to pay a $5,000 fine as well as the cost of his incarceration, with additional drug and alcohol rehabilitation. Jackson told Barry that he had "given aid, comfort, and encouragement to the drug culture" and set a bad example for the citizens of Washington, D.C. Although Barry told the judge that he was "truly remorseful," he continued to make claims of racial prejudice when talking to the press. "I understand that there are different standards for different people, and that's the American injustice system," he said after his sentencing.<br />
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In November, Barry experienced his first electoral loss when he finished third in the City Council race with only 20 percent of the vote. After his appeals were exhausted, he began his sentence at a minimum security facility in Virginia in October of 1991. He again claimed to be the victim of a "racist plot," accusing prosecutors of pursuing him while ignoring the malfeasance of white government officials. Barry was required to spend the entire six-month period behind bars, since sentences of under a year were not eligible for early release. Two months into his sentence, he was transferred to a medium security penitentiary in Pennsylvania after another inmate reported seeing a female visitor giving Barry fellatio in the prison's family reception room.<br />
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The drug conviction failed to put a dent in Barry's popularity. When he was released in April 1992, he was chauffeured home in a limousine and accompanied by six busloads of supporters. He immediately sought a Council seat to represent Ward 8, the poorest district in Washington, D.C. and the only one he had carried in the 1990 race. He won the Democratic primary with three times as many votes as incumbent Wilhelmina Rolark and was successful in the general election as well.<br />
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In May of 1994, Barry announced that he would seek a fourth term as mayor. "I'm in recovery and so is my city," he declared. He faced a three-way contest in the Democratic primary. Kelly had tried to reduce the city's debt, lobby the federal government for a higher budget, and reign in bureaucracy by eliminating about 6,000 jobs; she was not about to give up the office without an attempt at re-election. Councilor John Ray also entered the primary. Barry managed to defeat both of his opponents, earning 47 percent in the vote. Ray earned 37 percent of the vote, Kelly only 13 percent.<br />
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While the Democratic primary win typically guaranteed a victory in the general election in D.C., the Republicans had plenty of past scandals to use against Barry. The GOP chose Carol Schwartz, a city councilor who had unsuccessfully contested Barry in the 1986 election, for their candidate. Schwartz had run a hard campaign against Barry in that year, accusing him of incompetence and corruption during his first two terms; in the 1994 election, she could criticize him for his drug conviction as well. She suggested that Barry's cocaine use had played a part in the District of Columbia's increasing homicide rate.<br />
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Schwartz managed to keep the general election from becoming a runaway, but she only managed to take 42 percent of the vote. Barry came away with 56 percent. Despite the many charges of mismanagement and the infamous video of his drug use and arrest, he had been elected to a fourth term.<br />
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Washington, D.C. continued to be a city beset by serious problems. Several city agencies had been placed into receivership due to their appalling conditions. One judge described the conditions in a home for juvenile delinquents as "unacceptable for a civilized country." In a nursing home run by the city, some patients were found to have bedsores so severe that limbs needed to be amputated. The high rates of murder, high school dropouts, and infant mortality had not dropped significantly since Barry's first term, and the city was also dealing with high levels of crack cocaine addiction and AIDS infections.<br />
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Upon taking office in 1995, Barry appealed to Congress for a bailout to help shore up the city's finances and remedy its widespread problems. Instead, Congress established a financial control board to take over budgetary management from the local government amid allegations of extensive mismanagement and graft. Barry would feud with the board for the remainder of his term, decrying the loss of local level management as a "rape of democracy." He accused Congress, which had swung to the control of the Republican Party after the 1994 election, of trying to limit the home rule allowances which had been won two decades before.<br />
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In July of 1997, Congress passed a reform act which stripped Barry of much of his remaining power. Oversight of nine major departments was transferred to the financial control board, leaving only the parks and libraries under Barry's watch. He was essentially a mayor in name only. Barry announced in May of 1998 that he would not seek a fifth term, and he left office in January of 1999.<br />
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Barry left a polarizing legacy. He pointed to the revitalization of downtown areas as his signature achievement, including a decision to locate government offices in an area hard-hit by the 1968 race riots to help turn the neighborhood around. Supporters saw him as someone who had risen to success on his own initiative, who was committed to helping the city's youth and poor. Many thought that the frequent criticism directed at the mayor was part of a widespread effort to discredit him and roll back the power achieved by black residents of the District of Columbia. Critics said Barry had done more to harm the city then help it through persistent graft, moral bankruptcy, poor fiscal management, and his inability to stem crime or improve the schools.<br />
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Although Barry's fourth term as mayor would be his last, he was not out of politics for good. After working for a few years as an investment banker, he announced that he would run for City Council in March of 2002. However, he abandoned the bid after police found traces of cocaine and marijuana in his illegally parked car. Barry said he had been framed, and no charges were filed. Two years later, he was again elected to the Council from Ward 8. He would hold the position until his death.<br />
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A number of troubles continued to plague Barry in his later years. He was arrested on a misdemeanor charge of assault after a female janitor at the Baltimore-Washington International Marshall Airport accused him of exposing himself to her in an airport bathroom in 2000. Barry pleaded guilty to the charge and received a sentence of community service, and was later ordered to pay $35,000 when the woman filed a lawsuit against him.<br />
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At a court-ordered screening in 2005, Barry tested positive for cocaine and marijuana. Marion Christopher Barry, his son by his third wife Effi Barry, was convicted of drug possession six years later and received a suspended sentence. Polly Harris, Effi's mother, publicly blamed Barry for his son's drug use.<br />
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An audit discovered that Barry had failed to file federal or local income taxes for 1999, 2000, or 2004. He pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor charges in October of 2005, and was sentenced to three years' probation in March of 2006. The punishment came without a fine, allowing Barry to start paying back $195,000 in missed federal taxes and $54,000 in D.C. taxes plus penalties. When he also failed to file his taxes in 2005 and 2007, Barry reached an agreement with the Internal Revenue Service to settle the accounts; he blamed poor health for missing the deadlines.<br />
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Even in the midst of these incidents, Barry continued to enjoy widespread support. In 2005, he joined local businesses and volunteers in starting a program to distribute 2,000 turkeys for the holidays. A year later, the National Black Caucus of State Legislators awarded him the Nation Builder Award, recognizing his work as a civil rights activist and politician.<br />
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However, Barry would also face some embarrassments in his later years on the City Council. He was arrested in July of 2009 after he was accused of stalking Donna Watts-Brighthaupt, who was described as an occasional girlfriend. Though the charges were dropped, Barry was censured, stripped of a committee chairmanship, and removed from another committee a year later after councilors learned that he had awarded $15,000 to Watts-Brighthaupt as a "personal service" contract. Since Watts-Brighthaupt owed him money, she had simply repaid him from the same funds which Barry had assigned in his capacity as a councilor. A similar incident occurred in September of 2013, when Barry was found to have accepted cash payments from city contractors; he was again censured and stripped of a chairmanship.<br />
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Like his first brush with the law, Barry's final controversy involved parking tickets. He was involved in a car accident in August of 2014 after driving on the wrong side of the road. After this smash-up, it was revealed that he had $2,800 in unpaid moving violation fines and parking violations. He promptly paid the outstanding sum to the city.<br />
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In June of 2014, Barry published an autobiography entitled "Mayor for Life: The Incredible Story of Marion Barry Jr." He said that there were many who "judge me but don't really know me," arguing that he had completed a number of professional accomplishments in his life. "I always felt like I was two different people in politics; one as a personally religious man who was quiet with a lot of doubts and frustrations; and the other as the politician who had to be brave and courageous, while representing the desires of the people," he wrote. "I seemed to be brave enough to take on anything for the people. But deep down inside, I hurt like anybody else."<br />
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By this point, Barry had been suffering from a number of health problems. He had survived a bout with prostate cancer, received a kidney transplant in 2009, and suffered from diabetes. On November 23, 2014, he died of hypertensive cardiovascular disease.<br />
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Sources: Council of the District of Columbia, "Black Muslims Terrorize U.S. Capital; Reporter Killed, Many Hostages Held" in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune on Mar. 9 1977, "Bullet Stopped Short of Heart" in the Spokane Daily Chronicle on Mar. 10 1977, "Tale of Hanafi Moslem Terror is Related" in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune on Mar. 13 1977, "D.C. Coalition Leads 'Back to Cities' Move" in the Milwaukee Journal on Dec. 6 1978, "D.C. Mayor Denies Drug Involvement" in the Pittsburgh Press on Dec. 28 1988, "Marion Barry Keeps D.C. Guessing" in the Los Angeles Times on Jan. 7 1990, "Marion Barry Plans to Enter Race in Full Stride: 'I'll Win'" in the Free Lance-Star on Jan. 16 1990, "D.C. Mayor Arrested in Drug 'Sting,' Agents Say" in the Ocala Star-Banner on Jan. 19 1990, "Events in Marion Barry's Career" in the Star-News on Jan. 20 1990, "Don't Judge Black Politicians by Marion Barry" in the Moscow-Pullman Daily News on Feb. 5 1990, "Blacks Claim Barry Singled Out" in the Spokesman-Review on Jun. 9 1990, "Jurors View Videotape of Barry Drug Arrest" in the Washington Post on Jun. 29 1990, "Pained and Shamed, Barry Says" in the Pittsburgh Press on Aug. 3 1990, "Mayor Barry Guilty of Cocaine Charge" in the New Straits Times on Aug. 12 1990, "Marion Barry Seeks Probation" in the Argus-Press on Oct. 26 1990, "Barry Gets 6-Month Prison Term for Cocaine Possession" in the Boca Raton News on Oct. 27 1990, "Marion Barry Begins 6-Month Prison Term" in the News-Journal on Oct. 26 1991, "Ex-Mayor Marion Barry Trying to Make a Comeback" in the Star-News on May 22 1994, "Barry's Tenure Was a Roller Coaster Ride" in the Washington Post on May 22 1998, "Schwartz Launches Third Bid for Mayor" in the Washington Post on June 18 1998, "Tax Charges Net Marion Barry 3 Years' Probation" in the Free Lance-Star on Mar. 10 2006, "Some Things You Never Forget" in the Washington Post on Mar. 12 2007, "Barry Again Fails to File Tax Forms" in the Washington Post on Jan. 29 2009, "From the Archives: The Charmed Life of Marion Barry" in the Washingtonian on Feb. 19 2014, "Marion Barry Dies at 78" in the Washington Post on Nov. 23 2014, "Marion Barry, Washington's 'Mayor For Life,' Even After Prison, Dies at 78" in the New York Times on Nov. 23 2014, Mayor for Life: The Incredible Story of Marion Barry, Jr. by Marion Barry Jr., Democratic Destiny and the District of Columbia: Federal Politics and Public Policy by Ronald Walters and Toni-Michelle C. Travis, African-Americans and Criminal Justice: An Encyclopedia by Delores D. Jones-Brown and Beverly D. Frazier and Marvie Brooks</div>
Dirk Langeveldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10347292004358347133noreply@blogger.com0