Dan Rostenkowski’s campaign message is simple: He is so valuable to the district, to the city and state, and to the nation as the president’s point man on health care and welfare reform, that it borders on the unpatriotic to not re-elect him.
His opponents’ messages are equally direct.
Former 44th Ward Ald. Dick Simpson, a liberal independent, says the 18-term congressman is an unethical politician who represents all that is wrong with government.
Challenger John Cullerton, a state senator from Chicago’s North Side, portrays the incumbent as a loser, hopelessly out of touch with his constituents.
At stake is a shot at representation of the 5th Congressional District, which stretches from the lakefront’s liberal 43rd Ward and through the middle-class neighborhoods of Chicago’s Northwest Side before jutting through the working class suburbs of Leyden Townships.
The Democratic nominee will face the winner of the five-man March 15 Republican contest in November.
For Rostenskowski, more is at stake than another term in Congress and his chairmanship of the House Ways and Means Committee.
He is looking for nothing short of vindication for “my problem,” his reference to a two-year federal investigation that has encompassed questions ranging from his use of postage stamps to his spending of campaign and congressional funds.
Winning re-election, he said, “would be evidence to me that the people have more respect and confidence in me.”
To win, the Rostenkowski campaign is blending traditional and modern campaign strategies, with elements of the latter clearly nettling the 66-year-old incumbent.
“I’ve never bragged on myself,” Rostenkowski said. “I did my job and went home and had dinner. The new thing is to do something and then tell them you’ve done more.
“But I’m going to do whatever my handlers tell me to do . . . and anything my pollsters tell me to do. Do you think that is easy for a guy like me?” Rostenkowski asks.
Rostenkowski, whose talents for schmoozing voters have grown rusty, is relying on the deployment of precinct foot soldiers commanded by some of the savviest generals of the Democratic organization.
They include Jeremiah Joyce, on loan from Mayor Richard Daley’s administration, ward committeemen like Richard Mell, Bill Banks, Ted Lechowicz and Ed Kelly, and even Patricia J. Cullerton, a relative of Rostenkowski’s opponent.
The army extends to Daley, who has declared that he will do “anything for Dan Rostenkowski,” and to President Clinton, who arrives Monday for a 5th District visit designed to showcase Rostenkowski’s accomplishments. Even Republican Gov. Jim Edgar, who carries sway with crossover GOPers, has all but endorsed the Democratic incumbent.
Voters are being bombarded with radio spots that credit Rostenkowski with marshaling billions in federal aid. “Leadership we can’t afford to lose,” intones the announcer. That message will be reinforced with an onslaught of mailings and perhaps cable television ads.
But will it sell voters? During a recent week of personal campaigning, the lingering image transmitted by the media was one of Rostenkowski being hounded by queries about the investigation.
While he has maintained his innocence, Rostenkowski refuses to answer questions about the probe, citing the advice of his attorneys.
A January Tribune poll showed Rostenkowski with 24 percent of the vote, Cullerton with 18 percent and Simpson with 14 percent. Support for 35th Ward Ald. Mike Wojcik, whose candidacy is widely viewed as an early pitch for next year’s aldermanic race, was 7 percent. Lyndon LaRouche follower John McCarthy garnered less than 2 percent. Undecideds totaled 35 percent.
Simpson, a political science professor who is running as a reformer, has been reminding voters of Rostenkowski’s alleged wrongs since his 1992 primary loss, when he won 43 percent of the vote in a two-way contest.
“The perception used to be that Rostenkowski had conflicts of interest,” said Simpson, who has railed against Rostenkowski’s campaign contributions from special interest groups.
“And that was tolerated because this is Chicago. But now the voters’ perception is that he’s a crook,” said Simpson, whose ideas often were buried by City Council regulars when he was an independent alderman from 1971 to 1979.
Simpson favors term limits and is courting votes of senior citizens-a group whose wrath Rostenkowski incurred in 1989 when he refused to hear their complaints about the high costs of catastrophic health care insurance for seniors.
Simpson has the backing of the National Organization for Women Political Action Committee and Cook County Democratic Women because of his support for women’s issues.
Simpson has stopped just short of dismissing Cullerton’s candidacy as nothing more than a set-up to benefit the incumbent by splitting the anti-Rostenkowski vote.
Last week he tried to link Cullerton to a 12-year-old tax scandal and declared that the primary was “a referendum between reform and corruption.”
“There is little difference between John Cullerton and Dan Rostenkowski. They both represent corrupt politics,” Simpson said.
With Simpson the prime Rostenkowski-basher in the race, Cullerton has been free to take the high road and has tried to run an issue-oriented campaign.
He has called for tighter restrictions on guns and is advocating computerized national firearms owners’ identification cards. But he concedes such restrictions would do little to get the estimated 200 million guns already in circulation off the streets.
He also favors federal financial incentives for the creation of “charter schools,” which would free local schools from state dictated programs.
His record in the Illinois House, where he served for 11 years as a floor leader for House Speaker Michael Madigan, is generally well-regarded. He is credited with legislation that resulted in the mandatory seat belt and child safety seat laws.
His biggest problem has been to defend his decision to stay in the race. Last spring, he told supporters-including many Rostenkowski loyalists-that he would withdraw if the incumbent ran again.
That did not happen. And while Democratic regulars think the large field will help Rostenkowski, they are annoyed that Cullerton went back on his word.
Cullerton, who was endorsed by the 43rd Ward Democratic Organization and counts 44th Ward Committeeman Bernard Hansen in his camp, says he has merely seized an opportunity.
“I looked at a poll that showed Rostenkowski couldn’t win,” he said. “And I didn’t do anything to cause that. . . .
“So the question became `Who’s going to replace him?’ I looked at Dick Simpson’s qualifications. He’s spent the last 15 years theorizing about the way things should be run. I’m more qualified.”
