Newsgroups: biz.americast.samples
From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com
Organization: American Cybercasting
Subject: \HD Quentin Burdick dies, was liberal senator since '60
Date: Fri, 11 Sep 92 09:14:26 EDT

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\SE A;NATION
\SS (WS)
\HD Quentin Burdick dies, was liberal senator since '60
\BY ASSOCIATED PRESS
\DT FARGO, N.D.

FARGO, N.D.  (AP) - Sen.  Quentin Burdick, the first Democrat North
Dakota ever sent to Congress and known as the "King of Pork" for his zeal
in seeking federal dollars for his home state, died yesterday. He was 84.

Mr.  Burdick died of heart failure, his office said.  He had been
hospitalized since Aug.  29, when he suffered a mild heart attack.

Mr.  Burdick maintained a low profile in Washington for most of his
career.  But in North Dakota, he was known as a scrappy campaigner who
built the state Democratic Party.

His liberal voting record won high marks from such groups as Americans
for Democratic Action and the AFL-CIO.

Democratic Gov.  George Sinner said he would not make any decision on
Mr.  Burdick's successor for a week.  A special election must be held by
Dec.  7 to fill out the remaining two years of Mr.  Burdick's term.  It is
too late for the vacancy to be filled during the Nov.  3 general election,
Secretary of State Jim Kusler said.

President Bush said Mr.  Burdick "served his country with great
distinction."

Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell said of Mr.  Burdick: "His
accomplishments were many, his integrity unimpeachable, his character high.
He worked very hard right until the end."

Mr.  Burdick was elected to the House of Representatives in 1958 and
won his first Senate election, to fill an unexpired term, in 1960. He was
elected to five full six-year terms.

In the current Senate, only Strom Thurmond, South Carolina Republican,
and Robert Byrd, West Virginia Democrat, have served longer.

In 1986, Mr.  Burdick became chairman of the Senate Environment and
Public Works Committee.  He was also chairman of the Senate Appropriations
subcommittee on agriculture.

He used his Senate seat to get federal support for North Dakota, and
critics called him the "King of Pork" for his success at winning so-called
pork-barrel projects.

He won millions for the Garrison Diversion, a controversial project to
divert Missouri River water eastward for irrigation, though the project was
modified to meet environmental objections.

He was especially criticized for a $500,000 federal grant he obtained
in late 1990 to help build a German-Russian immigrant museum in Strasburg,
birthplace of bandleader Lawrence Welk.  Congress voted in the spring of
1991 to withdraw the grant.

Mr.  Burdick never apologized for his efforts, boasting: "I'll get
everything North Dakota is entitled to now."

His father, Usher Lloyd Burdick, was a congressman for 20 years.  The
elder Mr.  Burdick was a Republican, but supported his Democrat son's
campaign to succeed him in Congress when he retired in 1958.

At the time, Republicans had a tight grip on the Legislature, state
offices and North Dakota's seats in Congress.

Thanks in part to Mr.  Burdick's vigorous campaigning, Democrats now
hold all of North Dakota's major offices and its three congressional seats.

"There is no question he was the architect of the modern Democratic
Party," said K.W.  Simons, a longtime political activist.  "He helped
transform North Dakota into a two-party state."


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