David Durenberger

David Durenberger

David Ferdinand Durenberger (born August 19, 1934 in St. Cloud , Minnesota ) is an American politician who represented the state of Minnesota from 1978 to 1995 as a member of the Republican Party in the US Senate .

Life

After attending school in Collegeville , David Durenberger continued his education at Saint John's University and graduated there in 1955; Four years later, he graduated from the University of Minnesota Law School . In 1959 he was also admitted to the bar and began practicing in St. Paul . During this time he was a member of the US Army , in whose Army Reserve he served between 1956 and 1963.

On November 7, 1978 Durenberger ran as Republican in the by-election for the Senate mandate of the former US Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey ; after his death in January this year, his wife Muriel temporarily took his place. Durenberger won the election with 62 percent of the vote clearly against the Democrat Bob Short and entered the Senate the next day. In 1982 he prevailed with 53 percent of the vote against Mark Dayton , who was elected Senator for the Democrats 19 years later; when they were re-elected in 1988, Durenberger came against Skip Humphrey , the son of Hubert and Muriel Humphrey, to a share of 56 percent. During his time as a senator, he chaired the intelligence services committee, among other things .

He did not stand for re-election in 1994. This was due to an incident in 1990 when Durenberger was unanimously found guilty by his Senate colleagues of unethical behavior regarding part-time income. He was also expelled from the bar for the same reason. In 1995, he was charged with embezzling public funds during his tenure. He pleaded guilty and was given a one-year suspended prison sentence.

Politically, Durenberger, who was considered a centrist moderator in his party, was no longer active as a result. From 1995 he worked for a Washington- based consulting firm. In 2005 he declared that he no longer disagreed with the Republicans. Although he was not going to become a Democrat, he said that they had a better approach to health care and that US President George W. Bush had acted wrongly with regard to the Iraq war . Prior to the 2016 presidential election , he declared his support for Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton .

Web links

• David Durenberger in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Sarah A. Binder: The Disappearing Political Center: Congress and the Incredible Shrinking Middle. In: Brookings Institution , September 1, 1996; Wendy J. Schiller: Partners and Rivals: Representation in US Senate Delegations. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ 2000, p. 108 .
2. ↑ Inside Minnesota Politics Podcast
3. ↑ Nikita Vladimirov: Clinton touts slew of new GOP endorsements. In: The Hill , August 10, 2016.