The resurrection of Rostenkowski
THE POLITICAL resurrection of Danny Rostenkowski is a good luck story of 1977 that is totally unrelated to the miracle-like rise of Jimmy Carter. Only a few months ago, the Democratic congressman from Chicago's northwest side Polish neighborhoods was nearly washed up at the tender age of 48. Elevated recently through the seniority system to the chairmanship of the House subcommittee that has jurisdiction over the financing of national health insurance, his colleagues were muttering nonetheless that Rosty had been benched as Mayor Daley's envoy to Washington and was no longer of much consequence.
A magazine writer once described Rostenkowski as a thickening model of a Marine drill instructor. For many years he affected a gruff, mildly interested manner, almost mimicking what the world expects from a tough Chicago pol. He has managed to live down the playboy reputation acquired during his state legislative service in Springfield and is generally respected for his work on the tax committee.
He always approached the internal politics of the House in the daring Chicago style, taking big chances and sometimes enduring big setbacks. After the last election, he put his money (and his future) on a longshot in the race for majority leader; won by the narrowest of margins (one out of 295 votes), and collected a spot on the leadership team in return. At about the same time, Daley's death completed the restoration of Rostenkowski as the preeminent Chicago Democrat in Washington.
In that capacity, he let it be known that he expected to control federal patronage in Chicago. There isn't that much of it anymore, and most of what there is of it is judicial in nature and therefore a congressional prerogative of the U.S. Senator — in this case Adlai E.
Stevenson. Their confirmation power gives senators more clout in the presidential selection of judges, prosecutors, and marshals than congressmen, governors, bar associations or anyone else. Stevenson must be extra sensitive about judicial appointments for unqualified party hacks because of the depoliticizing precedent set by Republican Sen. Charles H. Percy. Minor patronage squabbles sometimes create party strains that lead to more significant differences later on.
The congressman and the senator clashed initially over a nonjudicial plum. Stevenson demanded the replacement of John Waner, once a Republican candidate for mayor of Chicago, as regional U.S. director of Housing and Urban Development. "The Arrangement," as it is sometimes called in Chicago, makes for strange connections between real estate developers and public officials that transcend party labels. While he was in charge of the office during the Nixon-Ford years, Waner pleased City Hall and the developers. Stevenson was critical of Waner's record and insisted on his ouster. But Rosty saw the matter in a different light. He asked the Carter administration to retain Waner and tried to mobilize the entire Illinois Democratic delegation in defense of the Chicago Republican, all of which proves that federal housing dollars run thicker than partisanship.
Daley's death ended one-man domination of Illinois Democratic affairs just as the new Democratic President was about to take office. Rostenkowski did not challenge Daley's successor, as he might have by trying to coalesce black and Polish leaders. But the election of Mayor Bilandic exposed the Democratic organization's vulnerability in the Polish neighborhoods. The effect of this is to increase Rosty's leverage. Once
again he is the undisputed leader of the Illinois regulars in Washington, this time with an interest in mayoral politics, especially if Bilandic pulls up lame.
With Stevenson and Rostenkowski both claiming priority rights of federal patronage, there are bound to be more disputes as more and more judgeships become available in the Northern District of Illinois.
Neither are on any White House insider lists. Just after the inauguration, Rostenkowski was irked because the President would not drop everything and dash out to Chicago to campaign for Bilandic; Rostenkowski referred to the Chief Executive and Party Leader as "The Peanut." Later the congressman stunned the President by allowing as how the Democrats in Chicago could get by quite nicely thank you without permitting election-day registration of voters. Mr. Carter thought he was doing the big-city organizations a favor with his proposed election reforms; he did not understand that the Chicago Democrats already get maximum feasible output from any marginal voters they want. This incident points up the greatest danger to organization leaders like Rostenkowski in Chicago; the possibility that growing numbers of politically lackadaisical black and Spanish language residents will join together someday and assert their collective influence on the city government. It also illustrates why Rostenkowski is unlikely to attract much black support a run for the mayorality.
This is Tom Littlewood's last Washington column. Next month Jerry Watson, member of the Chicago Sun-Times Washington bureau, will take over the column. Littlewood, who has written these columns since the magazine was founded. has returned to Illinois to head the journalism department at the University of Illinois in Chanipaign-Urbana. The October magazine will also feature a new column fay Littlewood critiquing media coverage of Illinois politics.
September 1977 / Illinois Issues / 35