Packing Up's Not So Hard To Do

By Senior Washington Correspondent Charles Bierbauer

WASHINGTON (Dec. 2) -- Steve Gunderson was 29 when he came to Congress. That was 16 years ago.

Pat Schroeder was in her early thirties, a lawyer and a mother. Twenty-four years later, she's the longest serving congresswoman.

Bill Bradley's been a senator for 18 years. Now the former pro basketball star is closing his second career

They are among the dozens of members of Congress packing up and leaving -- voluntarily -- with some reservations about the political system.

Bradley thinks the Senate is the "best elective job in the world." It's politics the New Jersey Democrat thinks is broken.

"Money's a part of that. The media's a part of that," Bradley says. "Politicians themselves need to be more candid with people...and then, ultimately, the people have to get off the couch and get into the action."

But there are problems inside Congress, too.

"This place is increasingly polarized on the right and the left," says Gunderson, a Wisconsin Republican. "I think it's fair to say I'm increasingly frustrated by that process and probably came to the conclusion that I can get more done or serve in other ways outside the Congress that are going to be less frustrating."

From her office in the Rayburn Building, Schroeder looks out toward the soaring dome of the Capitol, "one of the great views of Washington."

"It does look different from inside," the Colorado Democrat explains. "There's a lot of political pollution."

I've been dropping by the offices of departing members of Congress to get their thoughts on the institution and the business of politics.

"Most people think politicians say whatever they say just to get re-elected," says Bradley. "But only when I said I wasn't running did I see this big ear open up there and people come up to me and say, 'You really mean what you've been saying' about the middle class and their economic stress or racial healing...and to me that's been an eye-opening thing."

Sometimes the problem is not so much self-serving politicians as it is pandering pols.

"The danger, the weakness, the Achilles heel of all of us in politics is that we like to please people too much," says Sen. Paul Simon, the Illinois Democrat who's leaving after 22 years in the House and Senate. "We have become excessively partisan and we are excessively sensitive to the latest public opinion polls. That's not a good thing for our government."

Simon finds it hard to imagine a party or administration taking on an unpopular cause these days. He cites the Marshall Plan by which the U.S. was the driving force and a huge contributor in the rebuilding of Europe after World War II.

"The first Gallup poll that was taken showed 14 percent of the American public accepting it. It was overwhelmingly unpopular." Now, Simon notes, Americans are "very proud" of the effort forged by President Truman -- a Democrat -- and Sen. Arthur Vandenberg, the Republican leader.

Simon says he enjoys the policy making of Congress, even enjoys the campaigning to get there. He does not enjoy the incessant fund-raising now inescapable in politics. All of the politicians I've talked with -- running or retiring -- loathe the money side of the business.

"The system is awash in money, and I believe we have to be radical," says Bradley. "It begins with a constitutional amendment that says the Congress or the states or local municipalities may limit the total amount of money spent on a campaign and how much an individual can spend on his or her own campaign."

There is a distinction between making change for the better and lamenting change for the worse.

"Everything's different," says Congressman Pat Roberts. "I'd like to go back to Eisenhower, a balanced budget and the cover of the Saturday Evening Post. That's where I came from. But those days are gone."

The Kansas Republican has served 16 years in the House and is now a Senator-elect. He thinks the past Congress actually accomplished quite a lot under Republican leadership. "If people want to step down and try something else, why that's fine. As for me, well, we've got some more furrows to plow in the Senate."

Things have changed since these veterans first came to Capitol Hill.

"People would come up and say, 'Denver made a mistake, right? I mean you're a fluke, aren't you?'" Schroeder recalls of her freshman term.

That was in 1972. There will be some 50 women in the House in 1997. It's not a fluke.

Gunderson is one of the few openly gay members of Congress. Since he was "outed" on the House floor by conservative firebrand Bob Dornan of California, Gunderson was re-elected once by his Wisconsin constituents.

"To their credit, having talked to a lot of them, they said, 'This is new for us, but when we look at what Steve has done on rural health care or education or agriculture, how can we vote against him just for this one issue, even if we don't understand it,'" Gunderson extrapolates.

Gunderson has already had second thoughts about leaving. When Roberts was persuaded to run for an open Senate seat, Gunderson unexpectedly came in line to chair the House agricultural committee. That would have been valuable to his rural, agricultural district. It would have made havoc of the party's process already begun to succeed him. Instead he's looking toward the lucrative private sector, but he's only 45.

"You never say never," says Gunderson.

Schroeder is heading for a short-term of teaching at Princeton. But that's not political detox. Colorado has a Senate race in just two years, and a governor's race.

"The political bug is not destroyed for sure, I just don't know," Schroeder says.

Bradley is a starter on most political pundits' lineups for the presidential race of 2000.

"I haven't ruled anything out in my own life. But I also don't make long-range decisions," Bradley says earnestly and often, citing a litany of tragedies that have cut short the plans of friends and relatives.

Simon ran for president in 1988 and is headed to Southern Illinois University to teach.

"One of my reasons for teaching is I want to encourage talented, dedicated, young people to take an interest in their government and someday serve where I am serving right now," Simon says. "I'm certainly going to encourage them to get involved in political life."

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