Bummer.
</sick sarcasm>
Posted on 12/09/2003 6:24:03 PM PST by Western Phil
Edited on 06/29/2004 7:10:09 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
More Wire Service Stories Breaking News Business Entertainment Politics Science Sports Technology World Simon died at St. John's Hospital in Springfield, Illinois, a day after undergoing heart surgery, his office at Southern Illinois University said.
Through two terms in the U.S. Senate and five in the House of Representatives, as well as 14 years in the Illinois state legislature and a unsuccessful bid for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1988, Simon remained an approachable man of conscience. After leaving Washington in 1997, he became the head of the Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University and continued to be involved in a number of major issues including reform of the death penalty and the campaign finance system. House Speaker Dennis Hastert called Simon "a distinguished statesman ... a selfless public servant." Sen. James Jeffords of Vermont said Simon "served the residents of Illinois and the entire nation with grace, intelligence and passion. He was always one to put partisan politics aside and fight for what he truly believed in." The author or co-author of at least 20 books, he wrote on topics ranging from world hunger to Abraham Lincoln. Two of his books were published in October, including one, "Our Culture of Pandering" in which he wrote: "In too many areas we have spawned 'leadership' that does not lead, that panders to our whims rather than telling us the truth, that follows the crowd rather than challenging us, that weakens us rather than strengthening us." SPONSORED VARIED BILLS Liberal to moderate in politics, he was the chief Democratic sponsor of the balanced budget amendment while in the Senate and he authored a number of education and job-related laws. When he sought the presidential nomination he portrayed himself as a genuine, down-to-earth person in an era of slick image makers. While other Democrats spoke of redefining their party's image and said the time for big social welfare programs had passed, Simon pressed for traditional Democratic programs such as government jobs programs and higher health care spending. A college drop-out, Simon once owned more than a dozen small weekly newspapers in rural Illinois. Born in Eugene, Oregon, on Nov. 29, 1928, shortly after his missionary parents returned from China, he moved to Southern Illinois after his parents were assigned there. He studied journalism at the University of Oregon and attended Dana College in Blair, Nebraska, but did not receive a degree from either school. At the age of 19 Simon left college to buy a defunct newspaper in Troy, Illinois, with a $3,600 loan underwritten by the local Lions Club -- a move that made him the youngest editor-publisher in the nation at the time. He earned a reputation as a crusader who exposed syndicated gambling ties to local officials and made a successful run for the Illinois House at the age of 25. He was married to Jeanne Simon, also a former state lawmaker, in 1960, and the couple had two children. A collaborator on many of Simon's books, she died in 2000. Copyright
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Not a particularly oily Democrat.
Bummer.
</sick sarcasm>
You'll have to be more specific.
"Well, I've been doing the solo gig for the past 30 years anyways!"
"Decent man, honest man, smart man....but his policies....so expensive...he'll tax me into non-existance....I can't afford him."
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