Charley Vanik Story

Several Cleveland Club members attended the very touching service for Charley Vanik in the House Ways and Means Committee Room on Capitol Hill late last month. There was much singing and story telling during this tribute to one of Cleveland's most outstanding Congressmen.

Persons interested in a fine newspaper story by former Vanik staffer Bill Vaughn writing in a September issue of The Hill can find it online at http://thehill.com/op-eds/lessons-from-charles-vanik-no-need-for-money-in-politics-2007-09-18.html.

George Condon, Jr., Addressed the Club about the "Duke" Cunningham Scandal

George Condon, Jr., discussed the Randy "Duke" Cunningham case and Washington corruption. Part of the team of four who won the Pulitzer Prize for exposing Congressman Cunningham's acceptance of bribes in exchange for favors to defense contractors, Condon explained to Club members during an October 24 lunch at the National Press Club how Cunningham became embroiled in corruption. According to Condon, no Congressman in the nation's history has taken so much ($2.4 million) in bribery, not even excluding the horrendous Credit Mobilier scandal of the 1870s and figuring in inflation. The Cunningham misdeeds reached even into the CIA -- Dustin Foggo, the recently resigned executive director, is under indictment stemming from the Cunningham-related crimes.

Condon lay some of the blame of the scandal on the growth of earmarks, short entries into legislation that are generally not scrutinized or even read by Congressional committees, that favor companies or projects. Secrecy owing to defense- or war-related spending further obscures the earmarks and keeps them from public examination. Earmarks have grown from 10 when Ronald Reagan was first elected to more than 6,000 in 2006. Billions of dollars are at stake, and the potential for bribery is prevalent, Condon said.

Condon’s book on the scandal is called The Wrong Stuff: The Extraordinary Tale of Randy “Duke” Cunningham, the Most Corrupt Congressman Ever Caught (Public Affairs, 2007).

Legal Times Honors Bruce Sanford

Legal Times’ July 16 issue named Bruce Sanford of Baker Hostetler one of the top ten communications lawyers in Washington. Bruce was awarded the Club’s Harold Hitz Burton Award for Distinguished Public Service in January of this year.

Legal Times pointed out that Bruce has defended more than a thousand First Amendment and intellectual property cases, representing Bill Clinton, Barbara Bush, John Grisham, The New York Times, and the ABC Company among others. A ten-page petition Bruce once wrote to the U. S. Court of Appeals for the D. C. Circuit resulted in a majority two judges reversing their earlier decision in the case, a highly unusual occurence.

Bruce is also an accomplished writer, having worked as a reporter for The Wall Street Journal and authored Don’t Shoot the Messenger: How Our Growing Hatred of the Media Threatens Free Speech for All of Us.

Charley Vanik Passed Away, Aged 94

Club Member Tom Steich reported the following:

The August 31 Plain Dealer and News Herald reported that former Cleveland Congressman Charles A. Vanik passed away at age 94 from natural causes at his home in Jupiter, Fla. Charley Vanik served 26 years in Congress representing the 21st Congressional District (Cleveland's East Side) from 1955 to 1969, and then the 22nd District from 1969 to his retirement in 1981. When his 21st District became majority Afro-American population, he gave up his seat so that Louis Stokes could run for his seat in Congress. Charley then ran against Congresswoman Frances Bolton in 1968 and won her seat in Congress representing the 22nd District (Eastern suburbs of Cleveland).

Congressman Vanik is known for, among many accomplishments, co-sponsoring the 1974 Jackson-Vanik Amendment to the U.S. Foriegn Trade Law addressing discrimination behind the Iron Curtain, his efforts to help the less fortunate in our society, publishing an annual list of U.S. corporations that failed to pay their fair share of taxes, and his trademark black/navy blue tuxedo and bowtie he wore everyday. Those of us who were fortunate to work for him will never forget him, because he was one of a kind. Owing to his lifetime of public and constituent service to the people of Greater Cleveland, he had a deserved reputation of having been in every constituent's kitchen. Thus, he never had to solicit campaign contributions to run for office, and when he concluded in 1980 that he would have to begin soliciting campaign contributions, he retired from Congress.

The family is having a private funeral in Florida but plans to have public memorial services in Cleveland and Washington, DC at a later date, according to news reports.

Tom Steic

Club Tours the U.S. Capitol

Fifteen Club members toured the U. S. Capitol on July 11 with Steve Livengood, the chief guide of the U. S. Capitol Historical Society. The tour was arranged by member Mike Eck; three special guests were staff members from the Embassy of Slovenia.

Livengood began the 2 1/2 hour tour in the Hart Senate Office Building where several models of the early Capitol are on display. He reminded his listeners that the Capitol was designed in the early republic by amateurs, that its architecture was meant to embody some of the principles of the government only recently established (equal balance to each chamber of the legislature, for example), and that the building was purposefully placed at a higher elevation than the home for the chief executive.

After a ride on the underground subway from the Russell Senate Office Building to the Senate wing, Livengood took members to the Brumidi Corridors, famous for the frescoes painted by the immigrant Italian who worked 25 years on the Capitol interior. One of the accompanying photos shows work underway to restore Brumidi's artwork to their original brilliance.

The tour passed through the Old Supreme Court Room, famous also for the first electronic message (Samuel Morse on a telegraph to Baltimore "What hath God wrought?") and then into the Rotunda -- where Livengood explained many of the paintings in detail -- and the Old House of Representatives chamber, now Statuary Hall.

Returning toward the Russell Building, tour participants heard bells, noticed flashing lights and then saw "about a third of the Senate" hasten to the subway for a vote on the Senate floor.

Several photographs accompany this story. Thanks especially to Mike Eck and to all who came and assisted.