Senators Jump Ship Of State Mark Hatfield Joins At Least 10 Others In Announcing Retirement From The Senate

Oregon’s Mark Hatfield is the 11th senator to announce retirement and, with Sen. Alan Simpson expected soon to follow, there’ll be more Senate vacancies in 1996 than in any election cycle for 100 years.

Could these self-imposed term limits mean being a senator is getting to be too tough?

As he announced his plan to end a 30-year Senate career, Hatfield, 73, a moderate Republican in an increasingly conservative party, noted Friday that the price of public office “has been very high.”

“There are far more demands,” Sen. Nancy Kassebaum, R-Kan., who is leaving after three, six-year terms to have more flexibility in her life to enjoy her grandchildren.

Democratic Sen. James Exon, 74, of Nebraska, cited “the ever-increasing vicious polarization of the electorate” as he announced his plans to return to private life.

“I think that sometimes the civility is not quite what it used to be or should be, although the Senate is less rancorous than the House,” said Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss.

Lott’s not leaving. In fact, the eight Democratic departures, compared with three, possibly four, among the Republicans, have him licking his chops. He sees the GOP expanding its 54-46 majority by four, maybe seven seats.

“We are going to be younger and we are going to be more conservative,” said Lott, 54, a second-termer from Mississippi, who as Republican whip helps Majority Leader Bob Dole lead the party in the Senate.

“This is wonderful,” said Lott.

The expected retirement of Simpson, a 64-year-old Wyoming Republican, would leave 21 incumbent senators - 14 Republicans and seven Democrats - running for re-election next year. The 100 Senate members’ six-year terms are staggered, so one-third expire each election year.

The average age of the outgoing senators is 65 - standard retirement age for most Americans. And while 92-year-old Sen. Strom Thurmond, R-S.C., is seeking another term next year, many senators have said the rigors of the job were taking a toll on their lives.

“The fax messages that come through today in volumes, and e-mail. All the instantaneous involvement,” said Kassebaum, 63. “The proliferation of committee work. We spend more time on a wide variety of issues than in the early years.”

Like so many people in the modern workplace, senators’ days are more jampacked because of the speed of communications and transportation.

Besides that, senators are expected to have answers to virtually any problem that exists in the world.

“It keeps us running from pillar to post, juggling all kinds of balls probably we shouldn’t even be juggling,” said Sen. Fred Thompson, a Republican freshman from Tennessee, who was surprised by the lack of time the Senate leaves for anything else.

“We have invited everyone’s problems and now we are expected to solve them,” he said. “You have to have a real sense of accomplishment and making a difference in order to make up for the lifestyle.”

The partisanship, too, has made life difficult in a body where compromise is essential to legislating.

“I’ve never seen it this ribald. I gather it’s a change in tone.” said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, 62, a California Democrat who came to the Senate in 1992.

“At my stage of life, this makes problem solving very unpleasant,” she said. “No matter what anybody does, if they are of the opposite party they are going to get criticized. And that’s wrong.”

Kassebaum said she hoped those who fill the vacancies will “keep a bridge between the two parties and not just throw brickbats.”

The new House Republicans brought a lot of energy with them, she said, but “they also brought a lot of in-your-face.”

Be not mistaken, though. Senators one and all said they felt honored to serve. And those who are staying on the job or seeking re-election insist they’re vigorous and eager to continue the business of deciding big issues.

Sen. Russell Feingold, a Wisconsin Democrat serving his first term in Congress, said of the retirees: “I assume that they all are just doing this to help me move up in seniority.”