Stevenson laments lobbyists' influence
Speaking to students at the Lincolnshire high school that bears his father's name, former U.S. Sen. Adlai E. Stevenson III on Wednesday was quick to point out what he feels is wrong with politics today: lobbyists.
But Stevenson blamed himself and other Democratic reformers for the rise of special-interest groups. Their efforts in the 1970s to open Congress' doors to the people and shed light on the legislative process allowed lobbyists to move in, he said.
"They proliferated as soon as they could get access," Stevenson, 77, explained. "And, of course, they started influencing that process."
They also helped drive the price of running for office sky-high, Stevenson said. He recalled that when his father successfully ran for governor in 1948, the campaign cost the elder Stevenson $135,000 -- a pittance by today's multimillion-dollar campaign standards.
Stevenson, who left politics in the 1980s after two unsuccessful bids for governor, doubts he could garner enough financial support for a campaign today.
"Who would invest in me?" said Stevenson, who now leads an investment banking firm and lives in northwest Illinois.
Stevenson is a member of one of the nation's most notable political families. His great-grandfather Adlai E. Stevenson was vice president under Grover Cleveland in the 1890s; his grandfather Lewis G. Stevenson was Illinois secretary of state; and his father, Adlai E. Stevenson II, served as Illinois governor and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and twice was the Democratic nominee for president.
Stevenson first met with an American government class Wednesday and then addressed a larger crowd in a campus theater. Other student meetings were scheduled for later in the day.
During the morning classroom discussion, Stevenson seemed disappointed that none of the students voiced interest in political careers.
"This is the most important business there is," Stevenson said. "There is no nobler calling. And it really needs you, more than ever."
He also talked about the plans for his family's former home in Mettawa. The property, owned and recently renovated by the Lake County Forest Preserve District, has been the site of educational gatherings and is to be converted into an international center for democracy.
It was at a rally at the rustic home -- often referred to simply as "The Farm" -- that Stevenson decided to run for the Senate in 1970, following the death of Sen. Everett M. Dirksen.
According to Stevenson, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, former Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley and other notables got a crowd of 15,000 people so worked up that someone suggested the candidate "walk to the banks of the Des Plaines River and see if the waters would part."
Stevenson, who served in the Senate from 1970 to 1981, had little to say about the upcoming presidential election. He said he hoped Democratic voters choose Sen. Barack Obama or Sen. Hillary Clinton to be their party's nominee before the summertime convention because Republicans already are united behind Sen. John McCain.