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The last few weeks has brought a lot of speculation about Caroline Kennedy and her desire to be appointed to the soon-to-be-vacant US Senate seat, currently held by Hillary Clinton (and once the seat of Caroline’s uncle Robert). The biggest gripe that I and many others have is the notion that she deserves the seat just because she is Caroline Kennedy.
But. The reality is, politics and political nepotism are rampant in today’s environment. Who is one of the biggest names after Kennedy seeking this seat? Well, there’s Andrew Cuomo current New York State Attorney General and the son of former New York governor Mario Cuomo (and former cousin-in-law to Caroline through his ex-wife Kerry).
The hard truth around the country is, politics is often a family business. The children are raised in politics. They have the name. They have the connections. I even have to admire the women who chose not to directly invoke the parental name but wind up moving half way or even all the way across the country and run for office using their married names.
I’m not going to provide links for all of these, but here are just a few folks currently or recently in office who followed a parent or grandparent into the family business.
Susan Molinari, former Republican Congresswoman who replaced her father, Guy Molinari as Representative in New York’s 13th CD (Vito Fossela replaced her).
Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd, son of former CT Senator Thomas Dodd.
Representative Ben Chandler, 6th CD of Kentucky, grandson of former Senator, Governor, and Baseball Commissioner A. B. "Happy" Chandler
Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski, daughter of former Senator and Governor Frank Murkowski (we have Frank’s appointment of Lisa to thank for Sarah Palin)
Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, daughter of current Illinois Speaker of the House Michael Madigan.
Former governor and now California Attorney General Jerry Brown, son of former CA Governor Pat Brown.
Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey, Jr son of former PA Governor Bob Casey, Sr
And of course, (soon-to-be ex) President George W, Bush, son of former President George H. W. Bush, grandson of former CT Senator Prescott Bush.
This is just a small sample of those who followed in the "family business." I could list many more from Kentucky, Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, Missouri, Louisiana and just all over that I am aware of (but don’t feel like doing ALL the necessary research on).
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A couple of others I intended to add above:
Former Rhode Island Senator Lincoln Chafee, son of former Senator John Chafee
Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu daughter of former New Orleans Mayor Moon Landieu
Well, it seems to go back to the nation’s beginning. There was John Adams (Pres. #2) and his son, John Quincy Adams (Pres. #6).
Al Gore, Jr. and his dad, Al Gore, Sr.?
and, of course, Vito Fossella was the son of a City Hall politician under Koch and the nephew of a City Councilmember.
lessee: Kirsten Gillibrand is the daughter of a politically-connected lawyer/lobbyist who was dating Pataki’s chief of staff
Governor Paterson is the son of longtime Manhattan power Basil Paterson, who is now partnered in a lawfirm with Nassau Country Executive (and possible rival to Kennedy for the Senate seat) Tom Suozzi’s dad and Harold (son of FDR’s Secretary of the Interior and lead on the New Deal) Ickes
FDR himself was a distant relative of the former Republican president and married to his niece
A boatload of Bushes and Tafts
NYS Assemblyman Adam Clayton Powell IV
of course, Jesse Jackson Jr
Kwame Kilpatrick, son of Rep. Cheeks Kilpatrick
Jim Jeffords’ dad was the Chief Justice of the VT Supreme Court
the Mayors Daley
various Udalls
Jay Rockefeller
Bob Livingstone, short-term House Speaker nominee, goes all the way back to the Livingstone in the Continental Congress
Mitt son-of-George Romney (George came from a political family himself)
Claiborne Pell and the Boggs family are distant relatives through the Claibornes, who go back to the late 1700s
Connie Mack of FL, Mary Bono’s husband, is a fourth generation politician, and his son is already in state office
Rep. Dingell is the son of a congressman. His son is in state office in MI
on the other side, Maria Shriver’s dad’s family goes back in US politics to 1776
Nancy Pelosi’s dad was mayor of Baltimore.
Mark Begich’s dad was a Congresman from Alaska.
John Sununu’s dad was governor of New Hampshire and Chief of Staff to GHWB.
Attorney General of Delaware Beau Biden’s dad is the Senator from Delaware and Vice-President-Elect.
You also have people like Cokie Roberts who is the child of Lindy and Hale Boggs, both Congresspeople from Louisiana. Hale Boggs was also House Majority Leader. This gets into all the nepotism that goes on in the news media as well.
Also Lincoln Chaffee who lost his Senate seat in Rhode Island in 2006 succeeded his father John Chaffee to that seat.
And let us not forget the Kennedys out the gazoo who entered politics on the family name.
Here in Illinois there are Jesse Jackson Jr., Lisa Madigan, and of course Mayor Daley.
I actually have Lisa Madigan in the diary. And mentioned the Chafees in my second comment.
But there are just so very many of them. Beyond the ones already mentioned, there’s Rep Kathy Castor in FL, whose mother lost the ‘04 Senate race to Mel Martinez. And the John Y Browns of Kentucky (Sr was a US Rep, Jr was Governor and III was the Secretary of State for two terms and a Lt Gov candidate in ‘07).
And the list goes on and on and on.
There are also the “power” couples. Mitch McConnell’s wife is the infamous Elaine Chao, Bush’s Secretary of Labor. And there is Bob Dole and his wife Elizabeth Dole who were both Senators. He from Kansas. She from North Carolina until she lost this year.
Cook County President John Stroger was replaced by his even less ethical and far less competent son Todd.
The Dynamic Duo of Phil and Wendy Gramm (then CFTC Chair) brought us the
Modernization Act of 2000.
Which was the enabling legislation for CDos CDSs and all the goodness of the current financial situation.
And then we have the tragedy of Cokie Roberts’ dad, Hale Boggs dying in a plane crash in Alaska with Mark Begich’s congressman dad, Nick. Bill Clinton drove them to the airport for their flight to Alaska.
At the time, Boggs was the Democratic Majority leader in the House. The wreckage of their plane was never found.
Boggs served on the Warren Commission.
IL is rife with nepotism, as many commenters have observed. Some additions:
Sandi Jackson, wife of Jesse Jackson Jr., is 7th ward alderman.
Santita Jackson, a daughter of Rev. Jackson Sr., is a popular talkshow host on radio station WVON.
The fact that Rod Blagojevich is the son-in-law of a well-established machine politician, Richard Mell, should not be forgotten even though there’s ostensibly a virulent feud between them at present; his wife is still Mell’s daughter.
And of course there are the Daleys, whose careful familial placement only begins with the father-son mayoral tandem. It’s safe to assume that this family leaves all others in the city and state in the dust when it comes to insider deployment.
Consider this handy family tree from the Sun-Times. There is a wealth of information in the links under most of the names, and a general familiarity with the chart can pay unexpected dividends. For instance, when Rev. Timothy Pfleger was suspended from his duties in early June by the Catholic archdiocese because of remarks he had made about Hilary Clinton, my antennae were freshly sensitized to the name of his appointed alternate: Rev. William Vanecko, pastor of St. Killian parish, and the brother-in-law of Mayor Richard M. Daley. That branch of the tree is in many ways the most interesting these days.
If I may say so, all this and all the recent events from Illinois, bizarre as they seem to many, are hardly scratches at the surface of how strange and how crazy the sociopolitical scene there, and especially in Chicago, are.
Kansas’ Gov. Sebelius, daughter of former Ohio Gov. John Gilligan…first father-daughter elected governors.
her husband is the son of a former us rep.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathleen_Sebelius
prostrate dragon at 13–i thought if you are ordained in the catholic church you weren’t allowed to serve public office? so, he’s still suspended or he resigned?