Learning to Legislate: The Senate Education of Arlen Specter

by Richard F. Fenno Jr.

Book by Fenno, Richard F.

192 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1991

About the author

Richard Francis Fenno Jr. was an American political scientist known for his pioneering work on the U.S. Congress and its members. He was Distinguished University Professor Emeritus at the University of Rochester. He published numerous books and scholarly articles focused on how members of Congress interacted with each other, with committees, and with constituents. Political scientists considered the research groundbreaking and startlingly original and gave him numerous awards. Many followed his research design on how to follow members from Washington back to their home districts. Fenno was best known for identifying the tendency — dubbed "Fenno’s Paradox" — of how most voters say they dislike Congress as a whole, but they trust and reelect their local Congressperson.--Wikipedia

Reviews

[Frank Stein · Rating 3 out of 5]

A case study of sorts by the master of congressional studies, written long before Arlen Specter became a major player in national politics.

Richard Fenno spent most of the first two years of Arlen Specter's Senate career (1981 and 1982) tagging along with him and his staff, and observing as this hard-charging former district attorney from Philadelphia adjusted to the more communtarian and deferential norms of the Senate.

The book is fascinating when it delves into the style and psyche of the senator. Specter, who had lost three statewide races in Pennsylvania before winning barely in 1980, admitted his defeats lead him to distrust others and keep his own counsel. He was fiercely individualistic and moralistic, and remained virulently opposed to any quid pro quos, a notable deficiency in Congress. Yet he was also remarkably open about not having strong feelings about many policy areas, and cottoned to running a non-ideas based campaign in 1980. He constantly reiterated that he wanted to work hard for his constituents and be dedicated to his state, without clarifying exactly what that would mean. But with his appointment to the Senate Appropriations Committee, he managed to bring a lot of transportation and defense work to depressed Western Pennsylvania, which perhaps fulfilled his vague promises. In a state where polls showed people thought the number one job of a senator should be to look after his own state, that meant something.

He was also senator who looked after his own turf. As the chairman of the subcommittee on juvenile justice, he managed in 1981 to beat back the first Reagan budget's attempt to defund a juvenile justice grant to states and localities, mainly because it would have obviated the need for his tiny subcommittee's existence. It was a notable success for such a young senator, and came about from pure doggedness on his part.

Most of the book deals with Specter's work in passing the Armed Career Criminal Act of 1984, which put criminals already convicted three times (including state convictions) behind federal bars for 15 years to life. Specter came up with the idea himself and pushed it despite a notable lack of enthusiasm on everybody else's part. The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Strom Thurmond, was concerned about states rights and constitutional implications of the federal government prosecuting street crime, as was the Reagan administration. The National District Attorney Association demanded local DAs get a veto of federal prosecutors' decisions to indict. Specter finally compromised with both to confine the bill to criminal acts involving a gun, which more clearly implicated "interstate commerce" and thus narrowed the constitutional issue, and to allow local prosecutors to have final say over federal indictments. Specter got a surprise, though, when the NDAA told him they would continue to oppose the bill: they had only wanted to make "a bad bill better," not actually pass it, they said. Other important senators remained on the sidelines. So Specter in desperation attached the bill to a larger justice authorization act in 1982 only to have the whole thing vetoed, but succeeded with a similar strategy in 1984. Fenno uses the bill to explain how Specter so often overestimated his own chances and failed to establish relationships and deals with the other senators and congressmen he needed to get the bill passed. Overall, Fenno shows in Specter how a tireless individualistic ethos could create real accomplishments in the Senate, but also how limiting such a stance could be.

[Neil · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very quick read by Congress expert Richard Fenno. Bascially, he hung around Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) and his staff during his first 2 years in office. The focus is on how Specter transitions from his previous job (District Attorney) to Senator and the learning process he must endure. Fenno is the master at observing Congress and making sense of that chaotic world.