Dana Milbank: Family Ties Playing A Big Role On the Hill

Dana Milbank, in the Wash Post (1-23-05):

It came as little surprise last week when Doris Matsui announced, four days after her husband's funeral, that she would run for his seat in Congress.

If the widow is successful in succeeding her late husband, Rep. Robert T. Matsui (D-Calif.), she will join a long list of lawmakers to follow relatives into office. With at least 18 senators, dozens of House members and several administration officials boosted by family legacies, modern-day Washington sometimes resembles the court of Louis XIV without the powdered wigs.

In Alaska, for example, Lisa Murkowski (R ) was elected to the Senate in November after being appointed to that position by her father, who vacated the seat to become governor. And in Illinois, Rep. William O. Lipinski (D) announced his retirement too late for a primary to be conducted, allowing him to persuade party elders to select his son, Daniel, to represent the comfortably Democratic district.

With names such as Boren, Mack and Carnahan, at least seven of the 41 new House members are relatives of prominent politicians. These legacies take office along with the newly reelected president, who is the grandson of a senator, son of a president and brother of a governor.

Dynastic families, and whiffs of nepotism, have been a part of American politics since John Adams made his son John Quincy Adams his envoy to Prussia. But what is striking is the endurance of American political legacies and the growth of new ones -- witness Hillary Rodham Clinton's move to the Senate as her husband left the White House -- even as other democracies move away from the perception of familial privilege. In Britain, Prime Minister Tony Blair's government has thrown out more than 600 "hereditary peers" in the House of Lords who earned their positions because of their birth.

Here, a seat in Congress is not a birthright, but the name recognition and political connections that come from having an office-holding relative are often enough to propel a candidate to office. "We've always had members of the same family serving in Congress right back to the beginning, but I notice more than there have been," said David W. Rohde, a Michigan State University political scientist. "It's a combination of name recognition and access to money."

The Brookings Institution's Stephen Hess, author of a book on political dynasties, sees a third factor: Children of politicians are often to the manner born, growing up with an expectation that they will lead. Indeed, the offspring often exceed their predecessors' achievements, as is the case with current House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), daughter of one-time congressman and Baltimore mayor Thomas D'Alesandro Jr. Likewise, former vice president Al Gore rose higher than his senator-father. "These people tend to be pointed in that direction," he said.

That is how Rep. Rodney P. Frelinghuysen (R-N.J.) sees it. He is the sixth generation of Frelinghuysen to represent New Jersey in Congress, dating to 1794. "The link is the fact that one or both of your parents is very involved in the political system so you often would be a tag-along," he said, recalling parades and picnics with his congressman-father. "You sort of get it in your blood."

Blue blood is not required for political legacies; a number of those in Congress now are black or Hispanic: Rep. Kendrick Meek (D-Fla.), son of former congresswoman Carrie Meek; Rep. Harold E. Ford Jr. (D-Tenn.), son of former congressman Harold Ford; Rep. Charlie Gonzalez (D-Tex.), son of former congressman Henry Gonzalez; Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-Calif.), daughter of former congressman Edward Roybal; Rep. William L. Clay Jr. (D-Mo.), whose father was a congressman; and Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-Ga.), daughter of former Georgia state representative Billy McKinney.

As new legacies appear, others vanish. History is full of political families whose bloodlines have dried up: the Roosevelts, the Harrisons (William Henry and grandson Benjamin), the La Follettes, the Stevensons and the Cabot Lodges -- whose scion was defeated by John F. Kennedy, launching a new political dynasty....