What It Means To Lose Senator Byron Dorgan

In shocker, Dorgan announces retirement

Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) announced this evening that he’s retiring at the end of his term, a shocking development that threatens Democratic control of his Senate seat next year.

Dorgan was up for re-election in 2010, but the third-term senator wasn't facing any strong Republican opposition– but was facing the growing possibility of a serious challenge from popular Gov. John Hoeven (R-N.D.).

In his statement, Dorgan said his retirement was borne out of the desire to spend more time with his family.

via In shocker, Dorgan announces retirement – The Scorecard – POLITICO.com.

A couple weeks back, I wrote about Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND) and his lonely fight against the pharmaceutical industry — he subscribed to the radical notion that the “free trade” ideologues in the nation’s capital should put up or shut up and vote to allow for drug reimportation — and how his efforts were defeated. That battle ended with Dorgan promising to revisit that particular struggle, which gave hope to many who felt that while the Democratic Party largely avoided having this fight this time, trying instead to focus on an insurance reform bill, it would in the future return to face off with PhRMA, if only because this very persistent senator from North Dakota would make them.

This evening, news broke that Dorgan is retiring from the Senate. Dorgan, who’s been in public service since he was elected North Dakota’s tax commissioner in his twenties, is leaving behind a career in public service that stretches decades. His explanation of course, has to deal with spending time with his family, wanting to write, and a stint in the private sector — the usual. Pundits, of course, are speculating about the possible reasons he has chosen to leave the Senate  – was it because he wouldn’t be re-elected in he ran in 2010, or did getting the wind knocked out of his sails on drug reimportation humiliate him enough to quit?

I’m not a very good mind-reader. Usually, if I hear something around town from someone who knows more than me, that’s how I’m able to figure out how moves like this are made. So I won’t really try to understand exactly why Dorgan decided to leave. I’ll just add my two cents about what a Senate without Byron Dorgan means.

A Senate without Byron Dorgan lacks an eloquent and persistent critic of Wall Street (Bernie Sanders could be one in the future). Dorgan was one of eight senators to vote against the (more or less) repeal of the Glass Steagall Act, which created a firewall between investment and commercial banking. The resulting mergers lead to an orgy of over-speculation and risky moves that eventually played a huge role in the Great Recession.

A Senate without Byron Dorgan lacks a dedicated and intelligent critic of “free trade” policies (again, Sanders could fulfill this role, and maybe his friend Sherrod Brown). Dorgan had been a massive critic of agreements like NAFTA, which essentially set up trade rules that gave investors huge rights but few to workers or the environment. His numerous books on the subject detail how these unfair trade agreements have done much to devastate the manufacturing sector of our economy.

A Senate without Byron Dorgan will be without an advocate for ending our irrational and vengeful policy of embargoes and travel restrictions with Cuba. Dorgan has repeatedly tried to get the travel and trade embargoes lifted throughout his career, and has never pandered to the Cuban lobby in South Florida or accepted the arguments of hawks intent on punishing Cuba for its small acts of defiance in the twentieth century.

True, Dorgan wasn’t always the finest Senator. His support for the Defense of Marriage Act was disappointing, and he voted to authorize President Bush to strike at Iraq, which is something that he will always have to live with (as will the others who voted in the affirmative). Yet he has been one of the most outspoken and relentless advocates for the American middle class which has borne the burden of the past 35 years of center-right policies. When he leaves the Senate in 2011, the chamber no longer be the same, because it will lack a great voice for justice for those whose voices are often unheard in that Millionaire’s Club. It will be up to a Bernie Sanders or Sherrod Brown or maybe some Senator we haven’t even seen yet to fill that void, and they’ll have the legacy of a very great man to live up to.