Paul Simon was a straight arrow, all right. Shouldn't say was - he is living, just retired. If interested here is a biography of him (from back in 1995):
siu.edu
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
PAUL SIMON
United States Senator of Illinois
Paul Simon of Makanda, Ill., is the state's senior U.S. senator.
Simon, a Democrat, was born Nov. 29, 1928, in Eugene, Ore. He attended the University of Oregon and Dana College in Blair, Neb. At the age of 19, Simon became the nation's youngest editor-publisher when he accepted a local Lion's Club challenge to save the Troy Tribune in Troy, Ill., near St. Louis. He built a chain of 15 newspapers in southern and central Illinois, which he sold in 1966 to devote full time to public service and writing.
Simon used the newspaper to expose syndicate gambling connections in Madison County. In 1951, at age 22, he was called as a key witness to testify before the U.S. Senate's Crime Investigating Committee.
Simon served two years, 1951-53, in the U.S. Army and was assigned to the Counter-Intelligence Corps as a special agent along the Iron Curtain in Europe.
He was elected to the Illinois House in 1954 and to the Illinois Senate in 1962. During his 14 years in the Legislature, he won the Independent Voters of Illinois' "Best Legislator Award" every session. Simon began earning a reputation for political courage and integrity during his years in the Legislature. He was chief sponsor of the state's Open Meetings Law and of legislation creating the Illinois Arts Council, and he played a leading role in chartering the state's community college system.
In 1960, Paul Simon married Jeanne Hurley of Wilmette, whom he met while both served in the Illinois House. They have two children, Sheila, 33, and Martin, 30. The Simons have three granddaughters, Reilly Marie, 5; Corey Jeanne, 1; and Brennan, less than one year.
Simon was elected lieutenant governor in 1968 and was the first in the state's history to be elected to that post with a governor of another party. In that office he became the people's ombudsman and is widely credited with turning what had been a ceremonial position into one focused on making government better serve its citizens.
After narrowly losing the 1972 Democratic gubernatorial primary to Daniel Walker, Simon started the Public Affairs Reporting Program at Sangamon State University in Springfield, Ill., and lectured during the 1972-73 school year at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
Simon was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1974 and served Illinois' 22nd and 24th Congressional Districts for 10 years. During his service in the House, Simon played a leading role in drafting and enacting major legislation in a wide range of issue areas including education, disability policy and foreign affairs. He was chief sponsor of the Missing Children Act and of subsequent legislation that established the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. He helped win passage of the bill that created both the Illinois-Michigan Canal National Heritage Corridor and the extension to Illinois of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, the national park associated with St. Louis's Gateway Arch. He was the chief House advocate for the nation's so-called "atomic veterans" and their families. Always known as an effective legislator, Simon, according to Time magazine, passed more legislation in 1983 than any other member of the House of Representatives. While in the House, he worked closely with now-Speaker Newt Gingrich in establishing the office of house historian.
In 1984, Simon upset three-term incumbent Charles Percy to win election to the U.S. Senate. In 1987-88, he sought the Democratic nomination for president. He won re-election to the U.S. Senate in 1990 by defeating Congresswoman Lynn Martin with 65 percent of the vote and by nearly 1 million votes -- the largest plurality of any contested candidate for senator or governor of either party that year. In the 104th Congress he serves on the Budget, Labor and Human Resources, Judiciary and Indian Affairs committees.
Recently enacted major education and job training education written by Simon includes the National Literacy Act, the School-To-Work Opportunities Act, the Job Training Partnership Act amendments, and several provision of the Goals 2000 Act and the 1994 reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. He was the leading Senate champion of the new direct college loan program, enacted in 1991 as a pilot program and expanded in 1993 as a replacement for the guaranteed student loan program. He is chief Democratic sponsor of the Balanced Budget amendment and his version of the amendment, unveiled in 1986, has been the leading version before the House and the Senate since then. The drive he has led to curb television violence has led to the first joint standards on violence by the broadcast networks, the Parental Advisory System, and the new independent monitoring programs launched by the broadcast and cable networks in 1994. Legislation he initiated has led to the designation of the first five federally chartered future high-speed rail corridors, including the St. Louis-Chicago-Detroit/Milwaukee corridor.
In November 1994, as the state's leading statewide Democratic officeholder and with the strongest political standing of his public service career, Paul Simon announced that he would retire from the Senate when his current term expired Jan. 3, 1997.
During his years as a public official, Paul Simon has been known for exceptional constituent services, handling more cases each year than nearly all other Senate offices. He also has been the Senate's pacesetter in convening town meetings. Since his election to the Senate, Simon has held more than 600 town meetings throughout the state, more than any U.S. senator from Illinois in the state's history. For 40 consecutive years -- longer than any other federal officeholder -- Simon has released an annual detailed financial disclosure report for himself and his wife.
Simon holds 39 honorary degrees and has written 15 books (two with co-authors) including Lovejoy: Martyr to Freedom, 1964, Lincoln's Preparation for Greatness, 1965; A Hungry World, 1966; Protestant-Catholic Marriages Can Succeed (with Jeanne Hurley Simon), 1967; You Want to Change the World? So Change It, 1971; The Politics of World Hunger (with Arthur Simon), 1973; The Tongue-Tied American, 1980; The Once and Future Democrats, 1982; The Glass House, 1984; Beginnings, 1986; Let's Put America Back to Work, 1987; Winners and Losers, 1989; Advice and Consent, 1992; We Can Do Better, 1994; and Freedom's Champion: Elijah Lovejoy, 1995.
His newspaper column, which today is called P.S./Washington, is more than 45 years old, has been called the best on Capitol Hill and "political science at its best" by such columnists as George Will and Albert Hunt, and is one of the few on Capitol Hill today that is not ghost-written by staff. At the suggestion of President Clinton, Simon in 1995 began a frank, monthly series of Reports to the Senate on selected issues. |
