Overview

The story of Dan Rostenkowski's rise and fall provides one of the keys to how power is sought, won, exercised, and distributed in contemporary America, argues political journalist James L. Merriner. A literal son of the Chicago political machine, Rostenkowski was installed in politics by his father, Alderman Joseph P. Rostenkowski, and by his mentor, Mayor Richard I. Daley. In his thirty-six year congressional career, he served nine presidents, forming close friendships with many of them. His legislative masterpiece was the 1986 tax reform law. Eight years later, he was indicted on federal charges for misusing tax dollars and campaign funds. In his dealings with the man who tumbled dramatically from his high position as chair of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee all the way down to a cell in a federal prison in Wisconsin, Merriner finds Rostenkowski candid, straightforward, and authentic-- ""except when it came to his own finances."" Rostenkowski is not a complex man in need of psychoanalysis on the part of his biographer, and Merriner does not indulge in much of that. Purely, simply, and openly, Rostenkowski wanted power. He wanted wealth. He got both, and Merriner shows us how. Merriner sees mythic qualities in Rostenkowski, characterizing him as the ""tall bold slugger"" of Carl Sandburg's 1916 poem about Chicago. Noting that this master politician climbed to fantastic peaks only to fall hard and fast, Merriner points out that ""Rostenkowski's life ascended from power in the political science sense to tragedy in the classical sense."" The Justice Department and the electorate sacrificed Rostenkowski as an embodiment of the excesses of big government. Like the Greek chorus of tragedy, major media reported the scandal to the masses. Yet Merriner does not strain to make his subject fit a classical mold. He tells instead the ""story of a great man who was also a little man, a statesman and a crook, an emotional man, an American original."" This was also a man unbeaten by his troubles, a man who emerged from prison unabashed. This illustrated biography is not authorized by Rostenkowski, who declined Merriner's interview requests after June 1995. His sources are the public record, previous interviews with Rostenkowski and with many other sources before and after 1995, and his own political acumen gained from decades on the political scene.

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"""Reading Mr. Merriner's rollicking account is what I imagine it would be like to be a guest at a Polish-American picnic in Chicago, being regaled with stories-some admiring, some damning-about big Joe Rusty's cocky kid. I thoroughly enjoyed Mr. Merriner's detailed, colorful and anecdotal reports of life and politics in Chicago's old 32nd Ward."" - Washington Times Merriner ""paints Rostenkowski as a dealmaker who worked hard for special interests, whether it was a 288 million dollar tax break in 1984 for 333 Chicago options traders, tax breaks to finance a new Comiskey Park, or 200 million dollars in advantages for Commonwealth Edison. He details Rostenkowski's crimes and leaves no doubt that many serious misdeeds were at stake, not just the usual congressional corruption of favors-for-donations that Rostenkowski dealt with on an everyday basis at Ways and Means. As Merriner puts it, 'Dan Rostenkowski all but wore a sign around his neck that flashed I want power.""' - Chicago Sun Times"

""Reading Mr. Merriner's rollicking account is what I imagine it would be like to be a guest at a Polish-American picnic in Chicago, being regaled with stories-some admiring, some damning-about big Joe Rusty's cocky kid. I thoroughly enjoyed Mr. Merriner's detailed, colorful and anecdotal reports of life and politics in Chicago's old 32nd Ward."" - Washington Times Merriner ""paints Rostenkowski as a dealmaker who worked hard for special interests, whether it was a 288 million dollar tax break in 1984 for 333 Chicago options traders, tax breaks to finance a new Comiskey Park, or 200 million dollars in advantages for Commonwealth Edison. He details Rostenkowski's crimes and leaves no doubt that many serious misdeeds were at stake, not just the usual congressional corruption of favors-for-donations that Rostenkowski dealt with on an everyday basis at Ways and Means. As Merriner puts it, 'Dan Rostenkowski all but wore a sign around his neck that flashed I want power.""' - Chicago Sun Times

Reading Mr. Merriner's rollicking account is what I imagine it would be like to be a guest at a Polish-American picnic in Chicago, being regaled with stories-some admiring, some damning-about big Joe Rusty's cocky kid. I thoroughly enjoyed Mr. Merriner's detailed, colorful and anecdotal reports of life and politics in Chicago's old 32nd Ward. - Washington Times Merriner paints Rostenkowski as a dealmaker who worked hard for special interests, whether it was a 288 million dollar tax break in 1984 for 333 Chicago options traders, tax breaks to finance a new Comiskey Park, or 200 million dollars in advantages for Commonwealth Edison. He details Rostenkowski's crimes and leaves no doubt that many serious misdeeds were at stake, not just the usual congressional corruption of favors-for-donations that Rostenkowski dealt with on an everyday basis at Ways and Means. As Merriner puts it, 'Dan Rostenkowski all but wore a sign around his neck that flashed I want power. ' - Chicago Sun Times

Author Information

James L. Merriner covered Chicago and national politics for more than two decades as political editor of the Chicago Sun-Times and the Atlanta Constitution. He was the James Thurber Journalist in Residence at Ohio State University in 1996. Merriner is coauthor of Against Long Odds: Citizens Who Challenge Congressional Incumbents.

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