David Ferdinand Durenberger (born August 19, 1934) is a retired American politician and attorney. Durenberger represented
Minnesota
Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...
in the
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and pow ...
as a
Republican
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
from 1978 to 1995. He left the Republican Party in 2005 and has become a critic of his former party, endorsing Democratic presidential nominees
Hillary Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...
and
Joe Biden in
2016
File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...
and
2020
2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...
, respectively.
Early life
Durenberger was born in
St. Cloud, Minnesota
St. Cloud is a city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and the largest population center in the state's central region. The population was 68,881 at the 2020 census, making it Minnesota's 12th-largest city. St. Cloud is the county seat of Stear ...
, the son of Isabelle Marie (Cebulla) and George Gephard Durenberger.
[''Ceremonies Honor Two Giants of Saint John's - George and Isabelle Durenberger'']
St. John's University, April 29, 2017. He is a Roman Catholic of German and Polish descent. His father was the athletic director and a coach at
Saint John's University St John's University may refer to:
*St. John's University (New York City)
** St. John's University School of Law
**St. John's University (Italy) - Overseas Campus
* College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University, St. Joseph, Minnesota and C ...
in
Collegeville, Minnesota
Collegeville is an unincorporated community in St. Wendel Township, Stearns County, Minnesota, United States, near St. Joseph. The community is located near the junction of Collegeville Road and Old Collegeville Road. Nearby is Saint John's Abb ...
, and the family lived on campus.
[
Durenberger graduated from St. John's Prep School there in 1951, and from the university in 1955.][Peterson, David B.]
"Biographical Sketch"
, '' Minnesota Historical Society'' (1996). He attended the University of Minnesota Law School
The University of Minnesota Law School is the law school of the University of Minnesota, located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The school confers four law degrees: a Juris Doctor (J.D.), a Master of Laws (LL.M.), a Master of Science in Patent Law ...
and received his J.D. in 1959. At St. John's he was the top-rated cadet in his ROTC
The Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC ( or )) is a group of college- and university-based officer-training programs for training commissioned officers of the United States Armed Forces.
Overview
While ROTC graduate officers serve in all ...
class, and after college was a lieutenant in the Army Counter-Intelligence Corps in 1956 and a captain in the United States Army Reserve
The United States Army Reserve (USAR) is a Military reserve force, reserve force of the United States Army. Together, the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard constitute the Army element of the reserve components of the United States Armed F ...
from 1957 to 1963.[
]
Professional career
After law school, Durenberger was employed by a South St. Paul
South St. Paul is a city in Dakota County, Minnesota, Dakota County, Minnesota, United States, located immediately south and southeast of Saint Paul, Minnesota, St. Paul. It is also east of West St. Paul, Minnesota, West St. Paul. The population ...
law firm with strong political connections. It had been founded in 1929 by Republican Harold Stassen
Harold Edward Stassen (April 13, 1907 – March 4, 2001) was an American politician who was the 25th Governor of Minnesota. He was a leading candidate for the Republican nomination for President of the United States in 1948, considered for a ti ...
, later the governor of Minnesota from 1939 to 1943, and Elmer Ryan, a Democrat who was member of the U.S House of Representatives from 1935 to 1941. When Durenberger joined it was headed by Harold LeVander
Karl Harold Phillip LeVander (October 10, 1910March 30, 1992) was an American attorney and politician. A Republican, he served as the 32nd governor of Minnesota from January 2, 1967 to January 4, 1971, after defeating incumbent governor Karl Rol ...
. The firm took the name LeVander, Gillen, Miller and Durenberger.[
LeVander, a Republican, was elected governor of Minnesota in 1966 and took office in January 1967, and Durenberger became his executive secretary from then until the end of LeVander's term in 1971. He then joined the H.B. Fuller Company as in-house counsel, corporate secretary, and manager of international licensing until 1978. He also served as chair of the Metropolitan Open Space Advisory Board from 1972 to 1974 and was on the Minnesota State Ethical Practices Board from 1974 to 1978.][
]
U.S. Senate
On November 7, 1978, Durenberger was elected in a special election
A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-larges ...
to complete the unexpired term of Senator Hubert Humphrey
Hubert Horatio Humphrey Jr. (May 27, 1911 – January 13, 1978) was an American pharmacist and politician who served as the 38th vice president of the United States from 1965 to 1969. He twice served in the United States Senate, representing Mi ...
, whose position had temporarily been filled by Humphrey's wife Muriel. He was reelected in 1982 and again in 1988, this time defeating Minnesota Attorney General Skip Humphrey
Hubert Horatio "Skip" Humphrey III (born June 26, 1942) is an American retired politician who served as attorney general of the state of Minnesota (1983–99) and State Senator (1973–83). Humphrey led the Office of Older Americans as the assi ...
, son of Hubert and Muriel. Durenberger ended up serving from November 8, 1978, to January 3, 1995 in the 96th, 97th, 98th, 99th, 100th, 101st
The 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) ("Screaming Eagles") is a light infantry division (military), division of the United States Army that specializes in air assault military operation, operations. It can plan, coordinate, and execute mul ...
, 102nd and 103rd Congresses.
Durenberger was chair of the Select Committee on Intelligence in the 99th Congress,[ and the Health Subcommittee of the Senate Finance Committee, giving him a leadership role in national health reform. He also chaired the Intergovernmental Relations Subcommittee, led President Reagan's New Federalism effort in 1982, and was a 14-year member of the Advisory Committee on Intergovernmental Relations. He was a member of the Senate Environment Committee, the Government Affairs Committee, and the committee now known as the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, and served as vice chair of the Pepper Commission in 1989-90.][
Durenberger was Senate sponsor of the Medicare Catastrophic act, the AHCPR (now AHRQ) on voting rights for the disabled, the Americans with Disabilities Act, George H. W. Bush's 1000 Points of Light and Bill Clinton's National and Community Service Act, National Service Learning, the Consumer Choice Education Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Direct Lending Act, and the Women's Economic Equity Act. Durenberger voted for the ]bill
Bill(s) may refer to:
Common meanings
* Banknote, paper cash (especially in the United States)
* Bill (law), a proposed law put before a legislature
* Invoice, commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer
* Bill, a bird or animal's beak
Plac ...
establishing Martin Luther King Jr. Day
Martin Luther King Jr. Day (officially Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr., and sometimes referred to as MLK Day) is a federal holiday in the United States marking the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. It is observed on the third Mond ...
as a federal holiday
Federal holidays in the United States are the eleven calendar dates that are designated by the U.S. government as holidays. On U.S. federal holidays, non-essential federal government offices are closed and federal government employees are paid ...
and the Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1987
The Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1987, or Grove City Bill, is a United States legislative act that specifies that entities receiving federal funds must comply with civil rights legislation in all of their operations, not just in the program ...
(as well as to override President Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
's veto). He voted to confirm Robert Bork
Robert Heron Bork (March 1, 1927 – December 19, 2012) was an American jurist who served as the solicitor general of the United States from 1973 to 1977. A professor at Yale Law School by occupation, he later served as a judge on the U.S. Court ...
and Clarence Thomas
Clarence Thomas (born June 23, 1948) is an American jurist who serves as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was nominated by President George H. W. Bush to succeed Thurgood Marshall and has served since 199 ...
to the U.S. Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
.
In 1990, the senate voted 96-0 to censure
A censure is an expression of strong disapproval or harsh criticism. In parliamentary procedure, it is a debatable main motion that could be adopted by a majority vote. Among the forms that it can take are a stern rebuke by a legislature, a spir ...
Durenberger for ethics violations related to evading limits on $100,000 in speaking fees and using his own condo in Minneapolis to collect $40,000 in travel reimbursements. He remains the most recent United States senator to be censured. The Minnesota Supreme Court indefinitely suspended Durenberger's Minnesota law license on January 11, 1991, pursuant to a stipulation. The Court reinstated his license on March 22, 2000.
Durenberger did not run for reelection in 1994 and was succeeded by Rod Grams
Rodney Dwight Grams (February 4, 1948 – October 8, 2013) was an American politician and television news anchor who served in both the United States House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. A local news anchor, Grams became well-known f ...
. In 1995, he pleaded guilty to charges of misuse of public funds while in office and was sentenced to one year of probation
Probation in criminal law is a period of supervision over an offender, ordered by the court often in lieu of incarceration.
In some jurisdictions, the term ''probation'' applies only to community sentences (alternatives to incarceration), such ...
.
Post-Senate life
In 2005 Durenberger gave an interview on the Inside Minnesota Politics Podcast in which he said that he is no longer a supporter of the Republican Party but is not a supporter of the Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to:
*Democratic Party (United States)
Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to:
Active parties Africa
*Botswana Democratic Party
*Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea
*Gabonese Democratic Party
*Demo ...
either. In an interview, he said that Democrats are better equipped to handle health care and that President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
*President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
was wrong about the Iraq War
{{Infobox military conflict
, conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق (Kurdish languages, Kurdish)
, partof = the Iraq conflict (2003–present), I ...
. In 2010
File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...
, Durenberger endorsed his former chief of staff, Independence Party
Independence Party may refer to:
Active parties Outside United States
* Independence Party (Egypt)
* Estonian Independence Party
* Independence Party (Finland)
* Independence Party (Iceland)
* Independence Party (Mauritius)
* Independence Part ...
member Tom Horner, for governor.
Durenberger chaired the National Institute of Health Policy (NIHP) and is a Senior Health Policy Fellow at the University of St. Thomas in Saint Paul. He served on the board of National Coalition on HealthCare. He has also served on national health commissions and boards, including the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission and Board of the National Commission on Quality Assurance (NCQA), and the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured.
Durenberger endorsed former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...
for president in 2016 and endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden for president in 2020. He is a member of the ReFormers Caucus of Issue One
Issue One is an American nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that seeks to reduce the role of money in politics. It aims to increase public awareness of what it views as problems within the present campaign finance system, and to reduce the influ ...
.
Writings
A collection of Durenberger's senatorial files is held by the Minnesota Historical Society. It documents his three terms in the United States Senate and is strongest in its documentation of the third (1989–95). The papers are perhaps most significant for the information they contain about his interest in, and legislative activities regarding, health policy and health care reform issues.
Durenberger's books include ''When Republicans were Progressive,'' which traces the history of Minnesota's Republican party from the era of Harold Stassen, a moderate Republican governor who took office in 1939, to the ascendency of a more conservative strain within the party in the late 1980s (Durenberger laments the polarization of more recent politics);[Nathanson, Iric]
"From mainstream to extinct: A look back at the GOP's progressive era in Minnesota"
''Minnesota Post
''MinnPost'' is a nonprofit online newspaper in Minneapolis, founded in 2007, with a focus on Minnesota news.
Funding
''MinnPosts initial funding of $850,000 came from four families: John and Sage Cowles, Lee Lynch and Terry Saario, Joel an ...
'', October 18, 2018. ''Neither Madmen nor Messiahs: A Policy of National Security for America'' (1984), on defense policy; and ''Prescription for Change'' (1986), on health care reform.
Electoral history
*1978 race for U.S. Senate (special election)
**David Durenberger (R), 61%
**Bob Short
Robert Earl Short (July 20, 1917 – November 20, 1982) was an American businessman, sport teams owner, and politician.
Background
Short graduated from the College of Saint Thomas (now the University of St. Thomas (Minnesota), University of St. ...
(DFL), 35%
*1982 race for U.S. Senate
**David Durenberger (R) (inc.), 53%
**Mark Dayton
Mark Brandt Dayton (born January 26, 1947) is an American politician who served as the 40th governor of Minnesota from 2011 to 2019. He was a United States Senator for Minnesota from 2001 to 2007, and the Minnesota State Auditor from 1991 to ...
(DFL), 47%
*1988 race for U.S. Senate
**David Durenberger (R) (inc.), 52%
**Skip Humphrey
Hubert Horatio "Skip" Humphrey III (born June 26, 1942) is an American retired politician who served as attorney general of the state of Minnesota (1983–99) and State Senator (1973–83). Humphrey led the Office of Older Americans as the assi ...
(DFL), 48%
See also
* List of American federal politicians convicted of crimes
This list consists of American politicians convicted of crimes either committed or prosecuted while holding office in the federal government. It includes politicians who were convicted or pleaded guilty in a court of law; and does not include p ...
* List of federal political scandals in the United States
This article provides a list of political scandals that involve officials from the government of the United States, sorted from oldest to most recent.
Scope and organization of political scandals
This article is organized by presidential terms ...
* List of United States senators expelled or censured
The United States Constitution gives the Senate the power to expel any member by a two-thirds vote. This is distinct from the power over impeachment trials and convictions that the Senate has over executive and judicial federal officials: th ...
References
External links
*
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, -
, -
{{DEFAULTSORT:Durenberger, David
1934 births
American people convicted of misusing public funds
American people of German descent
Censured or reprimanded United States senators
College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University alumni
Disbarred American lawyers
Living people
Military personnel from Minnesota
Minnesota Independents
Minnesota politicians convicted of crimes
Minnesota Republicans
Politicians from St. Cloud, Minnesota
Republican Party United States senators from Minnesota
United States Army officers
University of Minnesota Law School alumni