Chuck Grassley, senior senator from Iowa, turns 85 today, September 17th. Happy birthday, Chuck.
Senator Grassley has had a long, very long and rewarding career as a politician and has served the public tirelessly as a poster child for term limits.
Grassley was born in 1933 in New Hartford, Iowa and graduated college in 1956 from the Iowa State Teachers College now the University of Northern Iowa.
Three years later, he was elected to the Iowa House of Representatives and never looked back. If you don’t have a calculator handy, that’s 59 years. But have no fear, his résumé boasts some real-world experience also,including a year or two as a sheet metal shearer, assembly line worker, and farmer back in the day.
Grassley has leaned on the sliver of private sector experience over the past six decades of his life, making important policy decisions on health care, the judiciary, among others. He’s also leaned on health professionals, pharmaceutical firms insurance companies and law firms, which have been the largest contributors according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Don’t forget that nearly 100% of corporate money goes to incumbents, And not coincidentally, we see that Senator Grassley has never won re-election with anything less than 60% of the vote, except for his first victory before he was an incumbent. Sixty years seems more like the reign of a king than a public servant and indeed Senator Grassley has been called the Ethanol King for his consistent support of federal subsidies and mandates to protect that industry inspired by Senator Grassley.
George Blumel at posterchildrenfortermlimits.com wrote, “Have you seen the NASCAR drivers with all the decals on their clothes and cars showing who their sponsors are? Well, I think professional politicians should have to display the logos of all the companies and groups that pay them. It would help taxpayer voters to understand why they do what they do for certain interests.”
Term Limits aims at broadening the range of experience and also improving the incentives faced by legislators to goals which collide with the career trajectory of Senator Grassley. It’s no surprise then that Senator Grassley has received an “F” on U.S. Term Limits legislators scorecard. He refuses to sign the term limits pledge or to co-sponsor the congressional term limits amendment in Congress.
Well happy birthday, Chuck. We wish you the best and hope you can take a break from the decades of non-stop campaigning and fundraising to smell the flowers on the beautiful, wide-open Iowa plains.