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Former U.S. Rep. Dan Rostenkowski dead
UPI ^ | 11 Aug 10

Posted on 08/11/2010 1:03:44 PM PDT by xzins

UPI) -- Former U.S. Rep Dan Rostenkowski, who rose to be chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee and went to prison in disgrace, died Wednesday. He was 82.

Rostenkowski died at his summer home in Powers Lake, Wis., after a long battle with cancer, the Chicago Tribune reported.

A onetime Washington political insider and power broker, Rostenkowski represented his Chicago 5th Congressional District in Congress for 36 years, rising to head the powerful tax-writing Ways and Means Committee that rewrote the 1986 U.S. tax code. The son of 32nd Ward Democratic Alderman Joseph Rostenkowski, Daniel was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1958 and served until scandal brought him down in 1994.

He was indicted on 17 counts ranging from mail and wire fraud to obstruction of justice, including hiring ghost payrollers and maintaining political slush funds.

He also served in the Illinois House in 1952 and was elected to the state Senate in 1954.

In 1996, he was sentenced to 17 months in federal prison in Oxford, Wis., after he pleaded guilty to two counts of mail fraud for misusing taxpayer funds by lying about minor expense account rule violations governing postage stamps and office chairs.

An old-style, blue-collar, rough-and-tumble politician once known as Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley's man in Washington, he was defeated in his re-election effort by Republican Michael Patrick Flanagan, a political neophyte who served one term in the House, and was pardoned by President Bill Clinton in 2000.

Rostenkowski never apologized for the scandal and later became a frequent political analyst and election-night commentator on Chicago radio and television stations.

He is survived by his wife LaVerne and daughters Dawn, Kristie and Gayle.

Visitation was scheduled Monday afternoon at St. Stanislaus Kostka Church in Chicago with funeral services at 10 a.m. Tuesday at the church. He will be interred at St. Adalbert Cemetery in Niles, Ill.


TOPICS: Front Page News; News/Current Events; US: Illinois
KEYWORDS: 1952; 1954; 1996; convictedfelon; daley; democrats; illinois; mailfraud; mediabias; msm; namethatparty; obituary; obstruction; rats; reagan; richarddaley; richardjdaley; rostenkowski; sinsofomission; wirefraud
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To: dools007

“And America is a better place with his passing.”


Not so much. I bet he at least loved this country. That’s a lot more than we can say about many of the left serving today.


21 posted on 08/11/2010 2:03:31 PM PDT by cornfedcowboy (Trust in God, but empty the clip.)
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To: xzins

Should be interesting to see the comparison of memorials and remembrances between Stevens and Rosty, especially in the press and official Washington.


22 posted on 08/11/2010 2:08:33 PM PDT by caseinpoint (Don't get thickly involved in thin things.)
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To: xzins

He was just keeping that prison seat warm for you, Charlie.


23 posted on 08/11/2010 3:53:14 PM PDT by OrangeHoof (Washington, we Texans want a divorce!)
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To: xzins

Hope that the Chicago funeral doesn’t interfere with any of Obama’s many vacations.


24 posted on 08/11/2010 3:57:29 PM PDT by They'reGone2000 (Not racist; not violent. Just not silent any more)
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To: AdmSmith; Arthur Wildfire! March; Berosus; bigheadfred; blueyon; Convert from ECUSA; dervish; ...
rose to be chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee and went to prison in disgrace... died at his summer home in Powers Lake, Wis... represented his Chicago 5th Congressional District in Congress for 36 years, rising to head the powerful tax-writing Ways and Means Committee that rewrote the 1986 U.S. tax code. The son of 32nd Ward Democratic Alderman... first elected to the House of Representatives in 1958... indicted on 17 counts ranging from mail and wire fraud to obstruction of justice, including hiring ghost payrollers and maintaining political slush funds... pleaded guilty to two counts of mail fraud for misusing taxpayer funds by lying about minor expense account rule violations governing postage stamps and office chairs... once known as Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley's man in Washington, he was defeated in his re-election effort by Republican Michael Patrick Flanagan... and was pardoned by President Bill Clinton in 2000.
I just edited out "a political neophyte who served one term in the House," because it made it appear that MPF was the one who was pardoned. And that's exactly what the "news" source intended everyone to think. This obit is a see-sawing mess, and whomever wrote it doesn't belong in journalism. Thanks xzins.
25 posted on 08/11/2010 4:13:58 PM PDT by SunkenCiv ("Fools learn from experience. I prefer to learn from the experience of others." -- Otto von Bismarck)
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To: ridesthemiles
Do you know every lake around Minocqua? There are too many lakes in Wisconsin to know them all, aren't there?
26 posted on 08/11/2010 4:32:38 PM PDT by TopQuark
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To: SunkenCiv

The good die young, not at the age of 82, but RIP, Rosty.


27 posted on 08/11/2010 6:05:06 PM PDT by TheOldLady
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To: NEW YORKCITYGOPMAN

I once heard him referred to as

Rosty, the NO Man

Some obvious political reference to some of his Congressional votes, I suppose.


28 posted on 08/11/2010 7:13:06 PM PDT by NEW YORKCITYGOPMAN ('he who creates something worthwhile, never dies.'')
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To: Jimmy Valentine

Kind of ironic that they both chaired the same committee.


29 posted on 08/11/2010 7:14:47 PM PDT by csmusaret (A government that can dictate how much water flows into a toilet is a powerful government indeed.)
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To: TheOldLady

Well said, TOL.


30 posted on 08/11/2010 7:18:57 PM PDT by SunkenCiv ("Fools learn from experience. I prefer to learn from the experience of others." -- Otto von Bismarck)
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To: xzins

Rosty, the pol only IL could love! But Bob Dole often said nice things about him too. I don’t know if Rosty responded in kind.


31 posted on 08/11/2010 8:01:39 PM PDT by Theodore R. (Rush was right when he said America may survive Obama but not the Obama supporters.)
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To: xzins; All
Speaking of Congress:

CONGRESS.SYS Corrupted: Re-boot November 2010? YES NO

CONGRESS Version 11.2010 available soon.

32 posted on 08/11/2010 9:01:42 PM PDT by SloopJohnB (B O: Our first Halfrican-American President)
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To: xzins; All
This is Chicago. He'll still vote a straight Democrat Ticket in November.
33 posted on 08/11/2010 9:38:04 PM PDT by no dems (To Every Democrat in the U.S. House and Senate: "Shame, shame. Shame on all your houses.")
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To: xzins

R.I.P.

Having said that, Rosty (as W&M Chairman) & Tip O’ Neill played a huge role in escalating the federal deficit in the 1980s. Instead of cutting spending to accompany the Reagan tax cuts, they ramped it up.

Reaganomics is often unfairly blamed for the deficits; in reality, it was the Donkey-dominated House that should bear much of the blame (just like the Newt-led House of the 90s should be credited with the magical “Clinton surplus”).


34 posted on 08/11/2010 11:13:10 PM PDT by rfp1234
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To: cornfedcowboy

Liars and thieves are what they are. Deceit is what they’re all about. I don’t see how one can conclude that Rostenkowski was a patriot. And even if he may have been, I don’t see that it mitigates the man’s being a lying thief of tax payer money.


35 posted on 08/12/2010 4:12:41 AM PDT by dools007
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To: xzins

When he was in Congress he sure never tired telling the American people how hard liberal congress creatures work and how pressure laden were their decisions. Great Caesar’s Ghost! What a windbag he was!


36 posted on 08/12/2010 4:36:33 AM PDT by stevem
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To: xzins

When I hear “Rosty” Rostenkowski’s name, I think of the Senior Citizens crowding around his car and protesting, back in the 90s. Rush had a field day with that one!


37 posted on 08/12/2010 5:28:35 PM PDT by SuziQ
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To: rfp1234

Is my memory wrong, or did the Rosty/O’Neil cabal persecute the Iran Contra defendants for misuse of government funds....while, it turns out, they were skimming from the till for personal enhancements?


38 posted on 08/12/2010 6:01:27 PM PDT by xzins (Retired Army Chaplain and proud of it. Those who truly support our troops pray for their victory!)
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To: xzins

Correct. Lucky for the U.S., Lee Hamilton botched the Iran-Contra hearings as chairman of the House Foreign Relations Committee, and the Dems never made a case for the Gov’t that the public could understand.


39 posted on 08/12/2010 6:15:50 PM PDT by rfp1234
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To: rfp1234

These names and times are a real blast from the past...oldies but goodies for those who liked Reagan, Ollie North, Cap Weinberger, etc. North blew them away like they were so much chaff.


40 posted on 08/12/2010 6:36:59 PM PDT by xzins (Retired Army Chaplain and proud of it. Those who truly support our troops pray for their victory!)
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