[Deathwatch] Paul Simon, former senator, 75

[Deathwatch Central]

Ex-Sen. Paul Simon of Illinois Dies at 75
Wed Dec 10

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - Paul Simon built a political career out of
contradictions.

He was an unabashed liberal who almost never lost an election in a
state that favors moderates. He maintained a spotless reputation and
nice-guy image for 50 years while flourishing in the anything-goes
world of Illinois and national politics, with its history of
corruption.

Simon, 75, died Tuesday from complications of heart surgery. He had
undergone heart bypass and valve surgery Monday at St. John's Prairie
Heart Institute, where he also had heart surgery in 1999. The cause of
death was extensive bowel ischemia, in which blood stopped flowing to
the intestines and caused the release of toxic material into his body,
said Dr. James Dove, president of the institute.

With his bowties, deep voice and practice of writing public policy
books, he projected a scholarly image. Yet he never graduated from
college and knew how to poke fun at himself, even appearing on
"Saturday Night Live" during his run for president in 1988.

Through hard work and plainspoken charm, Simon connected with people,
from conservative farmers to the Democratic machine politicians of
Chicago. A longtime resident of southern Illinois, he rose to national
prominence in the Senate and as a presidential candidate.

"If you relied on a political image-maker to pick the candidate, he
never would have picked Paul Simon. He wore those horn-rimmed glasses
and bow ties," said Sen. Dick Durbin, a Simon protege, "but he captured
the hearts of people."

Simon entered the public arena in 1948, when he bought a weekly
newspaper and began crusading against crime and corruption. Six years
later, he entered politics and was elected to the Illinois House. By
the time he retired, in 1997, he had been a state senator, lieutenant
governor, congressman, U.S. senator and presidential candidate.

Even after leaving the Senate, Simon remained active in public affairs,
founding the Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University
and writing books.

He served on commissions that recommended overhauls of the Illinois
death penalty system and state ethics laws. The death penalty reforms
were approved last month, and the ethics changes were signed into law
on the day he died.

"His legacy is clean government, good government and concentration on
what government ought to be doing and not on what it can do for me,"
said former Gov. Dan Walker, who defeated Simon in the 1972 governor's
race.

Walker is among many Illinois politicians who have been dogged by
scandal or convicted of public corruption. But Simon remained
unscathed.

People who knew him say Simon was just as square as he appeared to be.
His idea of cursing was "By George," they said, and his major vice was
an addiction to Pepsi. He unwound with a rousing chorus of "She'll Be
Comin' Round the Mountain."

Yet Simon was also a shrewd politician.

Larry Douglas, Massac County Democratic chairman and a Simon friend for
30 years, said then-Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley helped get Simon
elected to Congress in 1974 after his unsuccessful bid for governor.

Simon was a longtime advocate of restrictions on political donations.
Yet he didn't adopt those restrictions for himself, arguing that it was
unrealistic to follow limits that did not apply to his opponents.

While interested in esoteric policy issues, Simon also emphasized the
retail end of politics.

He held endless town meetings. He remembered people's names. He visited
with local powerbrokers. He cut through red tape to deliver government
services.

Even his bowtie had a pragmatic origin, according to the Rev. Robert
Edgar, who served in Congress with Simon.

Edgar said Simon once told him that he wore it in a debate during his
first legislative race. The next day, a newspaper said "that guy with
the bowtie" made the most sense, so Simon kept wearing it and developed
a potent trademark.

Simon was born Nov. 29, 1928, in Eugene, Ore., shortly after his
parents returned from China, where his father was a Lutheran
missionary.

At age 19, Simon dropped out of college, borrowed $3,600 and bought a
failing weekly newspaper in Troy, across the Mississippi River from St.
Louis.

His blasts at crime and corruption did not make waves until then-Gov.
Adlai Stevenson took notice and ordered a series of state police raids.
Simon's role put his name in the pages of Life and Newsweek, and he was
asked to testify in Washington at a televised Senate hearing on
organized crime.

Simon eventually owned 14 newspapers and sold the chain in 1966.

Though he had declared himself a Republican and endorsed Thomas E.
Dewey over Harry Truman in a 1948 editorial, Simon made a fundamental
concession to the local political climate when he entered politics: He
ran as a Democrat.

The reform-minded Simon soon was nicknamed "Reverend" in Springfield
and scored some legislative triumphs, including Illinois' first
open-meetings law.

He also met his future wife, Jeanne, a state representative. She left
the state House in 1960 after two terms to marry him. They honeymooned
at the Democratic National Convention.

In February 2000, Mrs. Simon died at age 77 of brain cancer, marking
the end of one of Illinois' longest-running and most successful
political partnerships. The next year, Simon, at 72, married again,
this time to Patricia Derge of Carbondale.

Simon appeared headed for the governor's office when Daley tapped him
for the Democratic nomination in 1972, but an anti-Daley backlash
helped Walker defeat Simon in the primary.

In 1974 he was elected to the House. A decade later, he took on
three-term GOP Sen. Charles Percy and won narrowly, by a margin of 50
percent to 48 percent.

While in the Senate, Simon helped overhaul the federal student loan
program to enable students and their families to borrow directly from
the government. As a crusader against television violence, he
successfully pushed the industry to monitor the amount of violence on
the screen.

Simon was in his first Senate term when he sought the Democratic
nomination for president. He halted his campaign in April 1988 after
winning only the Illinois primary.

Simon wasn't above having fun with his image. During his presidential
campaign, he appeared on "Saturday Night Live," with singer Paul Simon
— they both pretended confusion over who was the real host of the show.


Besides his wife, survivors include a daughter, Sheila of Carbondale, a
son, Martin Simon of Crofton, Md., and stepdaughter, Jennie Derge.