The Wichita Eagle from Wichita, Kansas • 54

2 THE WICHITA EAGLE Saturday Febuaiy 26 1994 In Depth: Dan Rostenkowski New era means trouble for old-style pol Democratic Rep Dan Rostenkowski in his Capitol Hill deal-making bending the rales and doing favors for office learned the ropes in ward politics where constituents were what kept the system working 'SHraraBfflnMB THE SKILLS THAT PROPELLED DAN ROSTENKOWSKI FROM WARD POLITICS TO NATIONAL POWER MAY BE HIS DOWNFALL By Charies Madigaw Chicago Tribune When Rep Dan Rostenkowski D-I1L is in the mood particularly when he has a receptive audience he is one of Washington's most accomplished name-droppers and storytellers Bill Clinton Hillary Clinton George Bush Ronald Reagan Jimmy Carter Gerald Ford He knows or has known them all right on back to Dwight Eisenhower who was in the White House when he was first elected to Congress He was the one he notes who told Bill Clinton about the dangerous waters of health care reminding him it would be tough because he would be trying to take something beloved away from vested interests in the medical and insurance industry money And be was the one who approached his friend George Bush when Bush had a 92 percent favorability rating Just after the Persian Gulf War and told him President you better get a domestic policy or you will not be reelected" He was also the one who armed with a ward heart fearsome political muscle and a deep knowledge of the federal tax code pushed bought arm-twisted and cajoled his way through the biggest rewriting of tax law in history the 1986 Tax Reform Act There is a reason he tells these stories now when there is some question about whether he can survive a federal grand jury probe and a political primary election campaign in the uncertain territory of his redrawn congressional district He has become (me of most powerful men with responsibilities that transcend local politics He can put the biggest businessmen in the country on hold and know they will be there when he finally picks up the phone and blasts "DANNY into the receiver At the pinnacle of one of the longest climbs in modern politics he has -come all the way from toe grunge of Chicago's wards through toe anonymity of toe state legislature to subservience as Chicago Mayor Richard Daley's man cm Capitol Hill and finally into his own era as chairman of toe House Ways and Means Committee But now he is at the center of an investigation that is looking at toe unseen side time will tell whether It is toe dark and damning side of that career centering first on a scandal in toe House Post Office but spreading like a virus into almost every segment of his career Because of that toe nation is watching to see what happens in toe March 15 primary and to see whether there is an indictment from the Washington grand jury that has been investigating affairs for two years Despite pleasantries about the presumption of innocence an indictment could force him out of the chairman's Job wreck his reputation and sever an umbilical cord to the federal budget that has shipped billions of dollars back to Illinois over the decades Rostenkowski say it directly but what he implies is that Chicago and the nation both have a great deal of tone and experience invested in his long political career and stand to lose a lot should it be derailed This is an old-fashioned argument appropriate for a character who seems at heart a product of political evolution who never quite escaped 32nd Ward or toe city and its pragmatic colorful and occasionally felonious history It amounts to this: Look carefully at what I have done for you and think about it before you bid too hasty a farewell I am not a newcomer to politics or to Washington In a system that thrives mi compromise I am toe master negotiator toe deal maker not easily replaced He is as drawn to toe wheeling and dealing of politics with its tradeoffs favors jobs and hints and winks as his fellow members of Congress are drawn to klieg lights It is his strength and his weakness at toe same time for Responsive 1991-92 survey and added up to nearly $1 million There is nothing illegal about that and his supporters say his prowess at getting money is only another sign that Rostenkowski never does anything halfway But there is another side to the money issue how it is spent that could cause problems for the chairman House rules on political spending are so loosely written that a member might drive a Brinks truck through them without scraping a wall Essentially the theory is that political funds are not to be used for personal expenses Rostenkowski has not been very meticulous about this kind of spending One element of the grand jury investigation for example focuses on the congressional and political money he used totaling in the tens of thousands of dollars to rent space in his own Chicago buildings or those owned by his relatives Cars are getting attention too It is not unusual for a member of Congress to use political funds to lease cars for his home district But there are questions whether an apparent purchase of three vehicles for more than $70000 were for political or personal use There is also the matter of expenses totaling in the hundreds of thousands of dollars all taken from political accounts Rostenkowski has always argued that as chairman of Ways and Means everything he does is political and that by extension all expenses are political expenses But if investigators conclude that kind of spending is personal not political the chairman faces Income tax liabilities The first indication of grand Jury trouble for Rostenkowski came not from those avenues but in an Investigation much closer to home the House Post Office About $22000 in Rostenkowski spending on stamps is in question Did he really buy stamps or did he use stamp vouchers to get cash from the post office over the years? In the face of the stories and reports about grand jury testimony Rostenkowski has always said he believes he did nothing wrong then notes that his legal counsel has told him not to answer specific questions about anything What is curious about the long investigation of Rostenkowski is not the nature of what charges might come from the grand jury so much as the way they seem to place him in two distinctly different worlds and times: Chicago's wards in the 1950s and the corridors of Washington power today He seems genuinely gleeful when he talks about his relationship with Clinton the first president he has worked with who is younger than he Clinton knows this too according to one of his political consultants and plays Rostenkowski like an orchestra But it the White House Rostenkowski who showed up at a meeting at the Chicago airport a few weeks ago to address the Health Insurance Association of America even though he was carrying the White House message It was very much toe Daniel of Congress the character from the 32nd Ward ready to deal and not at all shy about visiting a den in the battle over national health Insurance legislative boat is about to pull away from the he said it is time for you to decide whether you want to book passage and help us chart our course acknowledging that you win 100 percent of what you Then he told them their ad campaign against national health care was terrible comparing it to toe Willie Horton racial ads of the 1988 presidential campaign The message was very clear and very old Chicago: Get on this train or get under it open for dealing It would be bluster from almost anyone else even the president But from the Ways and Means chairman whose committee will shape the health-care package before it reaches the House floor it was a crucial offer with a good dose of A moving assessment came from one of his supporters not always an admirer but thoughtful on the question of Danny Rosty and his fate: know for decades he has worked hard in Congress to escape the idea that he was just a slug who crawled in from the wards of Chicago and toe great tragedy of Dan Rostenkowski might be that that is exactly the way some people are going to see him in toe F8 photo Rostenkowski was locked in an animated conversation with New York Rep Charles Rangel during budget negotiations last summer Much of power comes from his unsurpassed ability to cut deals Power politics as gamesmanship has become forte and everyone in Congress knows it But like sausage-making it is a goal-oriented business and doesn't welcome too much scrutiny own measure of his political value is toe list a very Chicago way to say: What I got for you Call his office in Washington and what comes in toe mall a few days later is: "Accomplishments of Congressman Dan Rostenkowski on Behalf of the Chicago Metropolitan Area (Partial List)" It goes on and on from $194 billion for "infrastructure" to $516 million for to $694 million for to $396 million for "transit" $2499 million for $46 million for $169 million for It is no surprise that Rostenkowski and his staff would present everything in terms of dollars delivered Particularly in Chicago politics has always involved carving up toe pizza of government and toe goal from toe lowest to toe highest levels has always been to cart off the biggest slabs possible and plop them in front of voters in hope of luring support Rostenkowski 66 is almost uniquely equipped to handle this carving-up process It is a craft he began to learn when he was still a kid in politics It was a different time with different standards: Mayor Richard Daley's time and Mayor Richard Daley's standards His roots still run deep in toe 32nd Ward where it all began When Joe Rostenkowski was in charge toe connection between politics and government was cast in iron and toe local formula for success was simple: Jobs and favors I was a kid you would walk over and stand in front of toe church People would walk in and tell you What is wrong with toe neighborhood The precinct worker or the person in public life was kind of respected and he went out and got toe curb fixed or toe tree Rostenkowski recalled "You can criticize toe old machine or organization all you want but I think the fact is that it provided a personal link between toe voter and the candidate or toe public official That has all been replaced now by the media strategies toe guys that package Visit the 32nd Ward and talk to toe old pots and toe Rostenkowski story comes to life Norb Bonkowski 67 lives at Da-men and Armitage avenues and has been in toe 32nd Ward all of his life He knew father as well as he knows Rostenkowski Father and son he said were toe same needed help I went to Rostenkowski toe Bonkowski said helped me with insurance when I was in toe service With his son it was toe same way He was very cooperative with people It rubs off on you The more you help toe more you are liked the more likely you will be name helped get Fa photo process that involves not much thought and little if any agonizing is more interested in results than in says William Daley whose credentials in Democratic politics are so strong that he can recall visiting John White House with Rostenkowski new politician at least in the last 15 years or so is into television and into process They are the process Democrats Rostenkowski wants to get to toe end Almost everything Rostenkowski does has been colored by this approach He is still criticized for being king of His methods displayed much to toe anger of reformers in the 1986 tax rewriting in which $5 billion to $10 billion in were used to encourage support seem almost stunningly raw Transition rules are Individual tax breaks for the chagrined truly wronged or very well-connected who argue through their representatives in Congress that they have been unfairly affected by changes in tax law Sometimes a Ways and Means chairman will trade them to win support for a bill from reluctant members of Congress have to certainly take toe heat from voting constituents but that is kind of what our job he says of toe tax act get a lot of the exposes on that but those things are done in the longterm interest of getting more money in the code or eliminating loopholes But that exciting What is exciting reading however is toe way Rostenkowski has been able to use his chairmanship to become one of toe most successful fundraisers in the Congress Once the post-Watergate reform of campaign finance legalized Just about everything but outright bribery (provided that all contributions were disclosed) he discovered the mother lode of political finance political action tributions during toe last election cycle filled page after page in the Center Subscriber Service $650 $1300 $2600 Weekdays 5 am to 5:30 pm Weekends and holidays 5 am (11 am Saturday) George Rendon 44 his first city job in 1975 Rostenkowski was toe ward chief by that tone following toe same path to power that his father had followed many years before him was a garbageman At toe time Rostenkowski was toe committeeman Back then you had to use your committeeman take a letter and bring it downtown consider you a little Rendon remembered could get some jobs Small jobs The more toe merrier sdll toe same But just a congressman And no jobs like there used to be Everything is a lottery You put your name down You get Of course a lot of people never had to show up for work That was toe way it was for some of toe well-connected But tones and standards have changed Not showing up for a government Job for which you are paid is against toe law now and that is one area of history that is getting a close look It already has been disclosed that the office lost more than 200 employment records being sought by the grand jury that some well-connected backers were paid thousands of dollars without showing up for work and that Rostenkowski turned his congressional office into a little employment agency in a move apparently aimed at skirting House rules designed to keep employment numbers down All were accepted practices in toe old days in toe old ward but not anymore There is some irony that getting jobs for people might be the heel of a politician who can help create huge public employment programs or encourage an uptick in pri-vafesector employment by adapting tax policy For a man who apparently puts little emphasis on but great emphasis on creating a few positions here and there is part of a Subscription costs 13 weeks 26 weeks 52 weeks Reid Ashe Publisher Focus editors Tom Green and Arjne Calovich A weekly publication of The Wichita Eagle The entire contents of each issue of World Focus are protected under the federal copyright law Reproduction of any portion wiH not he permitted without our eipress permission I MaH Orders To order by mail send check or money order to: World Focus co The Wichita Eagle Box 820 Wichita Kan 672016820 to 1 pm WichitaSedgwick County 2684344 TDDTT (for deaf) 2686696 Kansas 1600625-NEWS A meekly 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