Spending Foe for 30 Years : Proxmire to Retire in ’88 ‘Because I’m 71 Years Old’

Sen. William Proxmire (D-Wis.), who earned a reputation as a critic of excessive government spending with his “Golden Fleece Awards,” announced today that he will not seek reelection in 1988 because he’d be almost 80 when the term ended, and “that’s old.”

Proxmire, 71, made the announcement at a packed news conference on the 30th anniversary of his election to the Senate to succeed the late Sen. Joseph McCarthy.

Proxmire said he was retiring “Because I am 71 years old. I’d be 73 when I took office (for a new term in 1989). I’d be almost 80 years old when I retired in 1994 or whenever it is.” He said he is in good health now.

Government Spending Foe

Proxmire is noted for his monthly attacks on government spending, his devotion to physical fitness and his low-spending re-election campaigns.

He is third in seniority among U.S. senators, after John C. Stennis (D-Miss.), who is 86, and Strom Thurmond, 84, (R-S.C.). He is chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee.

Republicans and Democrats alike expressed surprise at Proxmire’s announcement.

Proxmire said he did not discuss the decision to retire with anyone until he had made up his mind.

“I didn’t discuss this with anyone. Not my wife or children, and I think their nose is a little out of joint because I didn’t,” Proxmire said.

Free-for-All Expected

The decision is expected to set off a free-for-all in both parties for the nomination.

Proxmire prides himself for having the best roll-call record in the Senate’s history and spending very little, if anything, on reelection campaigns.

In his last two campaigns, he did not accept campaign contributions, Proxmire said. He said he felt that two-thirds of the incumbents in Congress could run for reelection “without spending a nickel.”

In March, 1975, Proxmire issued his first Golden Fleece award for “the biggest, most ridiculous or most ironic example of government spending or waste.”

The National Science Foundation was cited that month “for squandering $84,000 to try to find out why people fall in love. They say they want to study this especially between men and women,” Proxmire said.

Always conscious of his looks, Proxmire had the Senate’s first hair transplant and a face-lift.