Wisconsin Senator Known for Influence, Eccentricity : Proxmire Won’t Run in ‘88, Ending 30-Year Career

Sen. William Proxmire (D-Wis.), one of the nation’s most enduring political mavericks, announced Thursday that he will not run for reelection in 1988, closing out a 30-year career of legislative influence and eccentricity.

“I am 71 years old. I’d be 73 when I took office (for another term). I’d be almost 80 years old when I retired,” Proxmire told reporters in Madison, Wis., where he made the announcement. “That’s too old.”

Nevertheless, he said, retirement was a painful choice. “It’s been a great job because you can advance the interests of the country,” he said.

Could Aid Cranston

Proxmire’s retirement could open the way for California Democratic Sen. Alan Cranston to assume the chairmanship of the powerful Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, which has broad authority over the financial industry and federal programs for cities. Cranston, second to Proxmire in seniority among committee Democrats, could not be reached for comment.

In his long tenure in the Senate, Proxmire has achieved recognition as the prime author of several major laws, as the creator of the monthly Golden Fleece award for government waste and as the man who took over the seat held by Communist-baiting Republican Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy.

Elected as a traditional liberal in 1957 after McCarthy’s death, Proxmire has firmly pursued his own unique course. He has served as a champion of the interests of the little guy while fiercely fighting large government spending programs, the federal bureaucracy and many of his congressional colleagues.

He helped win passage of truth-in-lending bills that require financial institutions to tell consumers the actual interest rates on their loans, a major banking deregulation act and measures forbidding American companies from paying bribes overseas. He led the opposition that killed President Richard M. Nixon’s high-ticket plan to build a supersonic passenger plane and that failed to stop the government’s bailout of Chrysler Corp. in 1979.

But Proxmire, who has been in the Senate longer than all but two other members, has been known less for his legislative accomplishments than for his peculiarities. They included his hair transplants, his face lift, his government-mocking Fleece awards and his virtually obsessive attachment to his pet causes.

Marathon Campaigns

For years, he took the Senate floor every morning while it was in session to deliver a speech urging ratification of the international treaty against genocide. He made more than 3,000 speeches on the issue before the Senate finally approved the pact in 1986. In April, 1982, he began a speech-a-day marathon on arms control that has continued into this congressional session.

Since 1966, he has missed not one of the Senate’s thousands of roll- call votes, setting a Senate record. “Voting is the single most important function of a senator,” he often said.

This year, Proxmire has been pushing for Congress to complete work on a new law to reorganize the banking industry. In that effort, he has been a strong defender of small, local banks against the spreading influence of large “money center” banks. (Cranston is generally considered more sympathetic to the interests of the larger banks.)

“The senator and I have had our differences over the years,” said Alan S. Greenspan, the new chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, “but I never questioned his integrity or competence. The Senate will be a lesser place without him.”

Proxmire has often infuriated his colleagues with his strident attacks on Senate pay increases and the perquisites of office. In an age of heavy campaign spending, he spent almost nothing, returning to his state virtually every week to meet with constituents but buying no advertising and printing no brochures. When he ran for reelection in 1976, his campaign spending totaled all of $177.73, and most of that went for envelopes and stamps to mail back campaign contributions. He got 73% of the vote. In 1982, he spent even less and got 67%.

“I ran twice for reelection without accepting contributions,” he said. “I really think that about two-thirds of the incumbents could run for reelection without spending a nickel.”