RIP William Proxmire 1915-2005
Bill Proxmire took over Joe McCarthy’s Senate seat after McCarthy’s death and the change was startling. He was a liberal Democrat, ask anyone, which meant he never accepted campaign contributions from anyone and he pushed for a balanced Federal budget.
Some people felt he was a cheapskate because he refused to accept contributions, probably didn’t spend $1000 on his six campaigns for the Senate [that’s a total for all six combined], opposed Congressional pay raises, and handed out Golden Fleece Awards to people he felt were wasting tax dollars.
I objected to some of his targets because they were for basic research that later resulted in significant advances, but most of what he highlighted were pork barrel projects that helped politicians get re-elected.
Wikipedia has a basic biography and CNN has a short obituary.
The country could use a few more Proxmire’s to clean up the mess the Shrubbery has created.
