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Michigan: Senior Senator Sen. Carl Levin (D) Last Updated July 25, 2003
Carl Levin, first elected in 1978, is a durable and likable liberal Democrat, a member of one of Michigan's most respected political families. He is rumpled, unfashionable, speaks articulately but without apparent political artifice and takes unpopular stands on issues he cares about. He grew up in Detroit, graduated from Swarthmore and Harvard Law School, worked for the state Civil Rights Commission and the appellate public defender's office, and was elected to Detroit's city council in 1969 and 1973, with substantial support from both blacks and whites. In 1978 he ran for the Senate and was helped when incumbent Robert Griffin got out of the race and then back in; Levin won 52%-48%. In 1984 he won by a similar margin against a former astronaut who had given a public testimonial for his Japanese car; in 1990, 1996 and 2002 he was re-elected by wide margins. He is the longest serving senator from Michigan in history. Levin was Armed Services Committee chairman from June 2001 to January 2003. He brought to the Senate the skepticism about defense spending and military involvements common among Democrats in the 1970s, and has built up an impressive expertise in military affairs. For a time he opposed the B-2, he voted against selling AWACS planes to Saudi Arabia in 1981 and he voted against the Gulf War resolution in 1991--on the advice of Colin Powell, he says now, and adds that he was mistaken. On taking the chair, he said he would not concentrate on major weapons systems, but on military pay, health care and housing, plus purchasing systems; unlike his predecessor and successor, John Warner, he favored another round of base closings--one issue on which he agreed with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, but neither prevailed. Where he disagreed most strongly with Rumsfeld was on missile defense, of which he has been the Senate's most persistent critic. He led a filibuster on the issue in September 1998, arguing that missile defense would undermine chances of Russian approval of the 1993 START II treaty. In January 2001 he warned that a missile defense system would irritate our allies and provoke countermeasures from Russia and China. In June 2001, on becoming chairman, he said more testing was needed and a system was unlikely to be fielded until after the next presidential election. "There is a serious possibility that if we take the wrong approach, it would decrease our security and increase the risk of nuclear proliferation. I think we could even start a second cold war, Cold War II." He set out his own conditions for the program. "Under the right circumstances--and only under the right circumstances, we ought to deploy it. Those right circumstances include operational effectiveness, cost effectiveness, impact on arms reductions, whether we are more or less secure with such a deployment." When Rumsfeld called the ABM Treaty "a Cold War construct," Levin replied, "I think it would be useful for you to at least attempt to understand" why some people fear abrogation could provoke Russia to boost ballistic missile capacity. On defense bills he worked to freeze any money that might conceivably conflict with ABM Treaty. On September 7, 2001, he got the committee to move $1.3 billion from missile defense to anti-terrorism programs. On September 16 John Warner said he was ready to file his own defense bill. On September 21 Levin backed down, saying he did not wish to "create dissent where we need unity." In December 2001 Levin was outflanked when George W. Bush invoked the clause in the ABM Treaty allowing him to abrogate it with six month's warning. Russian President Vladmir Putin responded nonchalantly: Levin's fears of a second cold war were not realized. Still, in May 2002 he got the committee to approve a defense authorization bill that cut the Bush administration missile defense request by $812 million; in June, a Senate compromise was struck on the final version that gave Bush the authority to restore the cuts. Levin was very skeptical about the need for military action in Iraq and argued fervently that any such action must be taken multilaterally. He welcomed Bush's announcement in a White House meeting in September 2002 that he would consult with Congress on military action. He argued that it was not necessary now because Saddam Hussein would be deterred from using weapons of mass destruction. He argued that the United States should not act without first receiving the approval of the United Nations. In October 2002 he offered an alternative resolution on military action in Iraq, calling on the administration to get the UN to vote a more vigorous weapons inspection program, but not authorizing military action until it was approved by the UN. It was defeated 75-24. In February 2003 he continued to argue that the United States should not take military action without another resolution from the United Nations, even if that meant that action could be stopped by a veto from France. He has remained skeptical about the Saudis: in January 2002 he proposed that American troops should be withdrawn from Saudi Arabia and restationed in "a place that is more hospitable," as indeed some of them were. Working from the Governmental Affairs Committee, Levin was chief sponsor of the Senate gift rule, setting a limit of $50 on gifts to senators and staffers. As ranking member of the Permanent Investigations Subcommittee, he and Chairman Susan Collins held hearings in March 2001 on money laundering. These bore fruit in October 2001, when Levin successfully pushed his money laundering bill forward as an amendment to the anti-terrorism bill. The bill attempted to force banks to give greater scrutiny to transactions involving banks in countries like the Cayman Islands and Antigua with loose banking laws exploited by criminals and terrorism. In June 2001, with Levin now as chairman, the subcommittee held hearings on gasoline prices, after Levin noticed that prices in Michigan had spiked even though oil prices had not moved; the oil companies blamed a shortage of refineries. In July 2002 Levin held hearings on Enron in which Levin carefully avoided political posturing and instead focused on the need to provide accurate information to investors. Levin argued that stock options should be treated as expenses by corporations, and in July 2002 pushed an amendment to the corporate accountability bill to require the Financial Accounting Standards Board to consider the issue and vote on it within a year. The board later decided that options should be treated as an expense. Levin generally has one of the most liberal records in the Senate, with some Michigan accents. He opposed NAFTA and has complained about Japanese auto-parts and Korean car trade restrictions. When John Kerry and John McCain proposed raising CAFE auto mileage standards to 36 miles per gallon by 2015, Levin and Christopher Bond responded with an amendment requiring NHTSA to raise the standard for light trucks (including SUVs) within 15 months and for cars within two years; it passed 62-38. One issue on which he is passionate is capital punishment (abolished in Michigan in 1855), and he has often led the fight against it, calling for a moratorium on the federal death penalty in 2000. Levin was angry when the Republican majority blocked votes on Michigan appointees to federal judgeships when Clinton was president, and since Bush has become president, has blocked all appeals court nominees for the 6th Circuit, which includes Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee. Levin's reputation for candor and hard work, and his rumpled persona have given him great political strength in Michigan. Every six years his percentage has crept a little higher. Governor John Engler looked high and low for a candidate to oppose him in 2002, considering at different times his own chief of staff, a pizza heiress and a software publisher who appeared on CBS's Survivor. The nominee turned out to be Andrew "Rocky" Raczkowski, a term-limited state representative, who put "Rocky" on his bumper stickers but could not get it on the ballot though it is part of his legal name. Levin won 61%-38%, carrying Outstate Michigan as well as metro Detroit.
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