Evening star., 1951-12-02
It's Pretty Hard to Unseot a Senator

Senator Benjamin Stark of Oregon
was charged with having made dis
loyal statements prior to his election
in 1861. The, Senate defeated a res
olution to unseat him, however. by
vote of 81 to 16.
The case of Senator James Sim
mons of Rhode Island, although it
came in Civil War days, had nothing
to do with loyalty questions. He was
charged with having received money
for using his influence to secure q
contract with Government for $4,000
rifles. He was, the charge said. to
have received $50000 for his services
in the matter, and he did ultimately
receive two promisSory notes, each for
$4,000. A Senate committee investi-
gated the charges and reported on
the facts. The session of the Senate
ended in few days. without the re-
port having been taken up. Mr.. SIM
mons resigned soon afterwards. The
case, however. did lead to the enact
ment of a law dealing specifically
with such cases.
La Toilette Won
The cases in which expulsion of a
Senator was attempted and failed
during the last half century were
those of the late Senator Robert M.
La Toilette (Fighting Bob who, like
Senator Mccarthy, hailed from Wis
consin, and of Senator William
LANCER of North Dakota. La Toilette
had strongly opposed the entry of
the United States into the war with
Germany 1M 1917. He made a speech
in st. Paul, Mimi, September 20,
1917, which the Minnesota Commits
sion of Public Safety called 'disloyal"
and "seditious." The commission
called for his expulsion from the SEN
ate. 1t was not until January 16.
1919, that the Senate got around to
voting on the proposal to unseat La
Fcllette. 1t was beaten SO to 81.
When Senator LANCER came to
Washington to take his seat in the
Senate in 1941 his political foes i'm
mediately urged that he be turned
out. LANCER had been a political
storm center in North Dakota for
years. He was elected Governor in
1882. Before he had completed his
term he had been indicted and con-
victed of assessing public payrolls for
political purposes. He was removed
from office by order of the State Su-
preme Court. On a third trial
he was acquitted Afterward he
staged political comeback and was
elected Governor in 1895. In 1898
he lost try for the Republican
senatorial nomination against former
Senator Nye. but in 1910 he defeated
former Senator Frazier for the nomi-
nation and was elected. Although
the Senate Privileges and Elections
Committee reported favorably reso-
luton declaring that Senator LANCER
sis not entitled to be Senator from
North Dakota, the Senate, by a vote
Of So to 80, defeated it-and LANCER
retained his seat and has since been
reelected. It would have taken q
two-thirds vote to unseat him.
lorimer Lost Out
No mention has been made of the
many attempts to deny seat or to
remove Senators-elect or elected,
cases which are settled by majority
vote of the Senate. Since Senator
McCarthy's own election to the Sen
ate has not been challenged, his case
in no way falls into that category.
One OF the most celebrated cases of
the ousting of Senator because of
corruption in his election was that Of
William Lorimer of Illinois. Lorimer,
having been elected by the State
Legislature in 1909, took his seat in
June. A year later the Chicago
Tribune published a story by Charles
A. White, a member of the Illinois
Legislature, saying that White had
been paid $1,000 to vote for Lorimer.
Lorimer demanded an investigation
by the Senate Privileges and Elec-
tions Committee, which made a re-
port exonerating Lorimer December
81, 1910. Later new evidence of
fraud was turned up involving a
100000 slush fund to elect Lorimer.
A resolution to oust the Illinois Sena-
tor was adopted on May 20. 1912, by
a vote Of IS to ga maturity vote.