Political biographies can be complicated mixes of good and bad. In
Profiles in Courage, John F. Kennedy provided the example of Senator Daniel Webster, a patriot who helped preserve the Union in the early 19th century and also had serious financial conflicts of interest. Two recently-deceased members of Congress supply contemporary examples. Representative Dan Rostenkowski (D-IL) and Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK) both had felony convictions on corruption charges. Rostenkowski went to prison, while a judge threw out the Stevens verdict because of misconduct by prosecutors -- but only after the case had cost him reelection. These flawed men had their public-spirited side,
as Michael Barone writes:
Rosty worked hard in his 14 years as chairman of Ways and Means. The gruff Chicago pol, who got his House seat at age 30 because Mayor Richard J. Daley owed his father a favor, mastered the deals of legislation and could explain them lucidly on the floor.
He was an indispensable player in passing the 1986 tax reform that lowered rates and eliminated hundreds of tax preferences. That was the kind of bipartisan effort you haven't seen lately and one that was contrary to his institutional interest as chairman.
As for Stevens, he had a point when he said that Alaska, because of its geographical position, demographic character and heavy federal involvement, had special claims on the federal government.
Moreover, Stevens worked hard and could produce instantaneous justifications for even the most minor project he was backing. I have seen him spout forth the details, sometimes angrily, in both Washington and Alaska.
He deserves special credit for one piece of legislation that I've seen mentioned only briefly in the obituaries, the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971.
...
For Stevens there was not much of a political payoff. Most Natives voted for him in the years when he was re-elected almost unanimously, when he didn't need their votes.
In 2008, when he faced a tough opponent and was convicted as a result of prosecutorial misconduct just weeks before the election, most Natives voted Democratic, as they usually do. Stevens lost by 3,953 votes.
Rostenkowski and Stevens did not get much political reward for their good work on tax reform and Alaska Natives. They just worked hard in what they thought was the public interest. They deserve to be remembered for that.
