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Sen. Robert F. Bennett (R-UT), 82, US Senator from Utah (1993-2011)
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That Derek
May 4, 2016, 11:48:34 PM5/4/16
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/robert-bennett-utah-senator-ousted-by-tea-party-urgency-dies/2016/05/04/4b10e100-0af3-11e6-a6b6-2e6de3695b0e_story.html
Obituaries
Robert Bennett, Utah senator ousted by tea party insurgency, dies
By Adam Bernstein
May 4 at 10:55 PM
Robert F. Bennett, a business executive and three-term senator who epitomized Utah's Republican establishment and became in 2010 the first high-profile political casualty of an anti-Washington fervor surging through his party, died Wednesday. He was 82.
The cause was complications from pancreatic cancer and a stroke, the Associated Press reported, citing Bennett assistant Tara Tanner.
The Bennett family has long been at the center of Utah's political, religious and business elite. Mr. Bennett's father, Wallace, was a U.S. senator from 1951 to 1974, and his maternal grandfather, as well as his wife's grandfather, were presidents of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Mr. Bennett had a lucrative career in corporate management, notably as chief executive of the start-up Franklin Institute, a time management company that holds seminars and makes best-selling day planners.
He stepped down in 1991 from the company, now known as Franklin Covey, with a reported net worth of more than $25 million, and with his eye on the open Senate seat once held by his father. Mr. Bennett, who was elected in 1992, remained one of the richest members of Congress throughout his 18-year tenure on Capitol Hill.
At 6 feet 6 inches tall, and with a bald pate and protruding ears, Mr. Bennett called attention to his looks in campaign slogans, with one proclaiming: "Big Heart. Big Ideas. Big Ears."
Mr. Bennett was a respected and soft-spoken legislative consigliere to Senate leaders including Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and rose to prominence on the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee and the powerful Appropriations Committee. He sprinkled hundreds of millions of dollars on home state businesses and projects through spending bill earmarks.
A vigorously free-market conservative, Mr. Bennett opposed measures to regulate corporations and tighten campaign finance rules. He was a party loyalist but won praise from Democrats for his behind-the-scenes pragmatism and diligence on legislation of broad interest.
Most notably, he worked with Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, on a bipartisan attempt to overhaul the health-care insurance system. Their Healthy Americans Act, first proposed in 2007, was an effort to marry the Democrats' wish for universal coverage with the GOP's emphasis on consumer choice and market forces.
The act drew many admirers but did not reach the floor for a vote. However, one of the Wyden-Bennett provisions involving flexibility for states carrying out a universal health care mandate was included in the Affordable Care Act signed by President Obama in 2010.
Mr. Bennett opposed the Affordable Care Act, citing the excessive spending he said it would require. "I cared about the details because I looked at the accounting," he told NPR. "I looked at the cost, I look at the devastation it would incur on states and the impact it would have on Medicare and all of the other things that were wrong with it."
As he prepared to seek a fourth term, he found himself out of favor with hard-right activists in his party who demanded more than opposition to Obamacare.
Obituaries
Robert Bennett, Utah senator ousted by tea party insurgency, dies
By Adam Bernstein
May 4 at 10:55 PM
Robert F. Bennett, a business executive and three-term senator who epitomized Utah's Republican establishment and became in 2010 the first high-profile political casualty of an anti-Washington fervor surging through his party, died Wednesday. He was 82.
The cause was complications from pancreatic cancer and a stroke, the Associated Press reported, citing Bennett assistant Tara Tanner.
The Bennett family has long been at the center of Utah's political, religious and business elite. Mr. Bennett's father, Wallace, was a U.S. senator from 1951 to 1974, and his maternal grandfather, as well as his wife's grandfather, were presidents of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Mr. Bennett had a lucrative career in corporate management, notably as chief executive of the start-up Franklin Institute, a time management company that holds seminars and makes best-selling day planners.
He stepped down in 1991 from the company, now known as Franklin Covey, with a reported net worth of more than $25 million, and with his eye on the open Senate seat once held by his father. Mr. Bennett, who was elected in 1992, remained one of the richest members of Congress throughout his 18-year tenure on Capitol Hill.
At 6 feet 6 inches tall, and with a bald pate and protruding ears, Mr. Bennett called attention to his looks in campaign slogans, with one proclaiming: "Big Heart. Big Ideas. Big Ears."
Mr. Bennett was a respected and soft-spoken legislative consigliere to Senate leaders including Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and rose to prominence on the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee and the powerful Appropriations Committee. He sprinkled hundreds of millions of dollars on home state businesses and projects through spending bill earmarks.
A vigorously free-market conservative, Mr. Bennett opposed measures to regulate corporations and tighten campaign finance rules. He was a party loyalist but won praise from Democrats for his behind-the-scenes pragmatism and diligence on legislation of broad interest.
Most notably, he worked with Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, on a bipartisan attempt to overhaul the health-care insurance system. Their Healthy Americans Act, first proposed in 2007, was an effort to marry the Democrats' wish for universal coverage with the GOP's emphasis on consumer choice and market forces.
The act drew many admirers but did not reach the floor for a vote. However, one of the Wyden-Bennett provisions involving flexibility for states carrying out a universal health care mandate was included in the Affordable Care Act signed by President Obama in 2010.
Mr. Bennett opposed the Affordable Care Act, citing the excessive spending he said it would require. "I cared about the details because I looked at the accounting," he told NPR. "I looked at the cost, I look at the devastation it would incur on states and the impact it would have on Medicare and all of the other things that were wrong with it."
As he prepared to seek a fourth term, he found himself out of favor with hard-right activists in his party who demanded more than opposition to Obamacare.
Bryan Styble
May 5, 2016, 12:00:42 AM5/5/16
to
Not to be confused with the still-living Robert Bennett, Esq., onetime Bill Clinton legal mouthpiece during the impeachment run-up, and older brother of GOP stalwart Bill Bennett.
BRYAN STBLE/Florida
BRYAN STBLE/Florida
Louis Epstein
May 5, 2016, 1:47:23 AM5/5/16
to
Bryan Styble <radioacti...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Not to be confused with the still-living Robert Bennett, Esq., onetime Bill Clinton legal mouthpiece during the impeachment run-up, and older brother of GOP stalwart Bill Bennett.
>
> BRYAN STBLE/Florida
Or for that matter the Robert Bennett who is a past county Democratic
> Not to be confused with the still-living Robert Bennett, Esq., onetime Bill Clinton legal mouthpiece during the impeachment run-up, and older brother of GOP stalwart Bill Bennett.
>
> BRYAN STBLE/Florida
chair and election commissioner where I live.
-=-=-
The World Trade Center towers MUST rise again,
at least as tall as before...or terror has triumphed.
Kenny McCormack
May 5, 2016, 9:20:42 AM5/5/16
to
In article <ngemp9$epb$1...@reader1.panix.com>,
('Cause if it ever happens, there's gonna be zillions of these "Not *that*
John Smith" threads...)
--
Windows 95 n. (Win-doze): A 32 bit extension to a 16 bit user interface for
an 8 bit operating system based on a 4 bit architecture from a 2 bit company
that can't stand 1 bit of competition.
Modern day upgrade --> Windows XP Professional x64: Windows is now a 64 bit
tweak of a 32 bit extension to a 16 bit user interface for an 8 bit
operating system based on a 4 bit architecture from a 2 bit company that
can't stand 1 bit of competition.
Louis Epstein <l...@main.put.com> wrote:
>Bryan Styble <radioacti...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> Not to be confused with the still-living Robert Bennett, Esq., onetime Bill
>Clinton legal mouthpiece during the impeachment run-up, and older brother of GOP
>stalwart Bill Bennett.
>>
>> BRYAN STBLE/Florida
>
>Or for that matter the Robert Bennett who is a past county Democratic
>chair and election commissioner where I live.
How come we never hear about John Smith dying in this newsgroup?
>Bryan Styble <radioacti...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> Not to be confused with the still-living Robert Bennett, Esq., onetime Bill
>Clinton legal mouthpiece during the impeachment run-up, and older brother of GOP
>stalwart Bill Bennett.
>>
>> BRYAN STBLE/Florida
>
>Or for that matter the Robert Bennett who is a past county Democratic
>chair and election commissioner where I live.
('Cause if it ever happens, there's gonna be zillions of these "Not *that*
John Smith" threads...)
--
Windows 95 n. (Win-doze): A 32 bit extension to a 16 bit user interface for
an 8 bit operating system based on a 4 bit architecture from a 2 bit company
that can't stand 1 bit of competition.
Modern day upgrade --> Windows XP Professional x64: Windows is now a 64 bit
tweak of a 32 bit extension to a 16 bit user interface for an 8 bit
operating system based on a 4 bit architecture from a 2 bit company that
can't stand 1 bit of competition.
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