A time to serve and a time to go

I made an avoidable mistake a couple of years ago that continues to haunt me. I sent an email message to my senior senator. I thought his name might be Methuselah, but he was also known as Chuck Grassley.

My message was politely critical about his behavior as Senate Judiciary Committee chairman. I didn’t get a response, but I know it was read. A careless aide apparently thought I was a friendly supporter and must have sent my email address on to the Republican National Committee and other conservative organizations.

I hear regularly from my Grand Old Party, from Ted Cruz, JD Vance, from other conservative candidates for Congress in Iowa, Texas, Wyoming, and most importantly from the Oval Office.

The biblical Methusala lived for 969 years. Sen. Grassley is not yet that old according to medical reports, but if he lives that long, he will be running for re-election every six years for more than 100 times, the longest serving Senator in eternity.

When Grassley was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1980, he asked to see me, an unexpected honor, and for a good purpose. I had worked for Minnesota senator and U.S. Vice President Hubert Humphrey. Humphrey was a leading liberal who got along well with most conservative colleagues. And had a deserved reputation of getting things done, often with help of a few Republicans.

I liked Grassley immediately and strongly. He appeared to be eager to be a Republican Humphrey eager to work with everyone. He was conservative, but a reasonable one, able to handle party pressures while in search of good public policy

Like Methusala the first, he hung in there for more years than expected and ultimately became immensely powerful as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The chairman of a Senate committee is more than one vote. He swaps votes with reluctant colleagues who will one day need him. He can set the timetable. That is not an easy role, but one that a strong chairman has and has used. But, like Methusala, Sen. Grassley has hung around too long.

Simply, there is a time to go. I think a three-term limit for Senators gives them time to learn yet avoids legislative fatigue. The excitement of beginning is a creative time. It lasts for a term or two, but not forever.

Hubert Humph, the Grassley of old idol, was a creative liberal senator, a leader on civil rights, nuclear arms control, health care education and even farm policy. He loved people. They loved him. I loved working for him as no other public relationship I’ve had.

Running for president or Senator is an infectious disease. Eugene McCarthy, leader of opposition to the Vietnam War ran once when that was important and four more times when it wasn’t. Harold Stassen, a good Republican governor of Minnesota and president of the University of Pennsylvania, ran seven times. The Methusala gene is an infectious disease caught off seats of power. The cure is calling it quits.

Norman Sherman of Coralville has worked extensively in politics, including as Vice President Hubert Humphrey’s press secretary, and authored a memoir “From Nowhere to Somewhere.”