Sen. Quentin Burdick; N.D. Democrat

Sen. Quentin Burdick, who followed his father to Congress and over three decades earned a pork-barrel reputation for his unabashed pursuit of federal funds for his home state, died early Tuesday at age 84.

The North Dakota Democrat, who had battled heart disease in recent months, died of heart failure at 3:05 a.m., his office said. He had been in St. Luke’s Hospital since suffering a mild heart attack 10 days ago, a spokesman said.

At the time of his death Burdick ranked third in U.S. Senate seniority, serving in the Senate longer than all but two other men--Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.) and Robert Byrd (D-W. Va.)

Known for his scrappy personality and tireless constituent service, Burdick maintained a low profile in Washington for most of his career.

Although Burdick won his first Senate election in 1960, he did not become a committee chairman until 1986 when he took over the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. He was also chairman of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on agriculture.

Democratic Gov. George Sinner said he expects to appoint an interim successor to Burdick within a week. A special election must be held by Dec. 7 to fill out the remaining two years of Burdick’s term.

In Washington on Tuesday, President Bush said Burdick “served his country with great distinction.”

On the U.S. Senate floor, Majority Leader George J. Mitchell (D-Me.) said of Burdick, “His accomplishments were many, his integrity unimpeachable, his character high. He worked very hard right until the end.”

Burdick faced a serious reelection challenge in 1988 from Earl Strinden, 56, Republican leader of the North Dakota House, in a campaign in which his age was the major issue.

Asked if an 80-year-old was too old to serve in the Senate, Burdick snapped, “Hell no.”

He built up a liberal voting record, winning high marks from such groups as Americans for Democratic Action and the AFL-CIO.

But his efforts on behalf of his home state also brought criticism, especially a $500,000 federal grant he obtained in late 1990 to help build a German-Russian museum in Strasburg, N.D., the birthplace of bandleader Lawrence Welk.

The Welk project was called a prime example of pork-barrel projects, and Congress voted in the spring of 1991 to withdraw the grant. Burdick himself was labeled by critics the “King of Pork” because of the federal dollars he helped bring to North Dakota.

But he saw it as a plus, once boasting, “I’ll get everything North Dakota is entitled to now.”

Burdick was born June 19, 1908, in Munich, N.D. A football standout in high school, he went on to the University of Minnesota, where he was blocking back for gridiron legend Bronco Nagurski. He graduated from law school there in 1932.

His father, Usher Lloyd Burdick, was a congressman from 1935 to 1945 and again from 1949 to 1959. The elder Burdick had been a Republican, but he supported his Democrat son’s campaign to replace him in Congress when he decided to retire in 1958. When Quentin Burdick was elected that year, he was the first Democrat North Dakota had ever sent to Congress.

In June, 1960, Burdick won a special election to fill the unexpired term of William Langer in the U.S. Senate. He was elected to a full six-year term in 1964, and reelected four times more.