In other words, Phil Crane just petered out and proved to be an asset in the end to IL Democrats he had long opposed.
Phil Crane had a major drinking problem. He also spent more time on overseas junkets than in his district. Like I said, I attend a lot of political meetings and never once saw him ‘83 - 2000.
But he could have compensated for that if he had a staff that was competent and conscientious, which he didn’t. Constituent service is how congressmen get re-elected. For example, Ron Paul provides notoriously great constituent service, which is why he gets re-elected, and not due to his activities in DC (most of which I support).
Crane was ranking member of the powerful Ways & Means that controls the IRS and Social Security. The #1 request of constituents for service was directly under the jurisdiction of that committee. Crane totally ignored his constituents. The government bureaucracy was always right; his constituent always wrong.
For example, a voter in my 7 precincts had a gross income of $14,900 and requested a refund of a couple hundred dollars. The IRS agreed to the amount of his gross income. The IRS denied his claiming his wife and 2 kids as dependents. (But agreed to it in the prior and subsequent years.) The IRS demanded that Crane’s voter pay over $7,000 for that one year where they agreed he only grossed 14,900.
Crane’s response (staff’s) was a form letter saying that they could arrange for the voter to make the payments on that $7,000 over an extended period of time ... but of course, the voter would have to pay the interest that would accrue due to that payment plan.
In contrast, my congressman pre ‘83 was Rostenkowski who was the ranking Dem on the same Ways & Means. Although Rosty voted for every tax increase and Crane voted against it, when a constituent requested a service of Rosty, the constituent was always right, the IRS always wrong, regardless of the facts of the case.
And the IRS always did precisely what Rosty asked them to do. (The local civil service employees were really his patronage as the civil service test was given in his political office and one had to get past his gate keeper to take the test.)
Bad constituent service has cost many a congressman their job.