Posted on 03/16/2006 2:19:48 PM PST by Borges
John J. McFall, a conservative California Democrat who served 11 terms in the U.S. House of Representatives before being implicated in a bribery scandal, has died. He was 88.
McFall died March 7 at a hospital in Alexandria, Va., according to The United States Association of Former Members of Congress. He had Parkinson's disease and complications from a broken hip.
McFall was elected to Congress in 1956 and served on the powerful House defense appropriations subcommittee, where he was an advocate for the Vietnam War policies of Presidents Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard Nixon.
As chairman of the House appropriations subcommittee on transportation, he championed large dam projects in his San Joaquin Valley district, including the New Melones Dam on the Stanislaus River and the New Hogan Dam on the Calaveras River.
"I've put a dam or project on every stream in (my) congressional district," McFall told the Modesto Bee in 1966.
In 1973, McFall was appointed House Whip, but his career went into decline after he lost a bid for majority leader three years later.
He was one of three California congressmen reprimanded in 1978 by the House for their financial dealings with Tongsun Park, a South Korean businessman who was charged with bribing politicians. Park was granted immunity in exchange for his testimony.
McFall was cited for failing to report a $3,000 campaign contribution from Park, but he viewed the relatively light congressional action as vindicating.
"I feel my reputation for integrity and honesty have been upheld by the committee action," McFall said.
One month later, he lost re-election and left office Dec. 31, 1978. He worked for the U.S. Railway Association as a lobbyist before retiring in 1987.
McFall was born in 1918 in Buffalo, N.Y., and was raised on his grandparents' farm in Manteca, Calif. His father died during military service in World War I.
After earning a law degree from the University of California, Berkeley, McFall served in an Army intelligence unit in Utah during World War II.
McFall's wife, Evelyn A.M. Anklam McFall, died in 2001, and a son died in early childhood.
He is survived by three children, Joseph McFall of Alexandria, Alicia Bachman of Brussels and Sarah Bailey of San Leandro, Calif.; and a grandson.
He was buried Tuesday in Manteca.
A demonRAT and bribery scandal, but they had to get the word conservative in there.
Interesting definition of "Conservative" when in his final years he was scoring in the teens from the ACU. Maybe the author should check his facts.
Regardless, may he RIP.
He was conservative in comparison to today's moonbat left Dems.
"McFall was elected to Congress in 1956 and served on the powerful House defense appropriations subcommittee, where he was an advocate for the Vietnam War policies of Presidents Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard Nixon."
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