Grassley may move up a notch in Senate seniority

By James Q. Lynch 

The Gazette

Assuming he gets re-elected this fall, Sen. Chuck Grassley will move up a rung on the U.S. Senate seniority ladder upon the retirement of Democratic Sen. Chris Dodd.

Dodd, from Connecticut, has announced he won't seek re-election this year. Everything else being equal that means Grassley will move from 10

^th

in seniority to ninth.

The advancement would have little practical effect, Grassley's spokeswoman Beth Levine said, especially since Grassley is part of the Republican minority.

Dodd and Grassley entered the Senate together Jan. 3, 1981. Both served in the U.S. House for six years.

However, longevity in the Senate is one of 11 factors used to determine seniority. The population of the state a senator represents also is considered. In this case, Connecticut has the edge on Iowa – 3,501,252 to Iowa's 3,002,555, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. When Grassley and Dodd entered the Senate, Connecticut ranked 24

^th

in population and Iowa 25

^th

. Today, The Nutmeg State and the Hawkeye State they are 29

^th

and 30

^th

, respectively.

Pennsylvania Republican-turned-Democrat Sen. Arlen Specter is s step behind Grassley, entering the Senate at the same time, but without House service.

The retirements mean Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin, chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee, will move up from 14

^th

to 13

^th

. He entered the Senate in January 1985 along with Democrats Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia and John Kerry of Massachusetts and Republican Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.

North Dakota Sen. Byron Dorgan, who also announced his retirement this week, entered the Senate in 1992.

The planned retirements of Sens. Kit Bond of Missouri (21), Judd Gregg of New Hampshire (29), Sam Brownback of Kansas (38), Jim Bunning of Kentucky (48), George Voinovich of Ohio (51), Roland Burris of Illinois (94), Ted Kaufman of Delaware (95), George LeMieux of Florida (99) and Paul Kirk of Massachusetts (100) will affect neither Harkin nor Grassley.