Berkley Bedell | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromIowa's6th district | |
| In office January 3, 1975 – January 3, 1987 | |
| Preceded by | Wiley Mayne |
| Succeeded by | Fred Grandy |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Berkley Warren Bedell (1921-03-05)March 5, 1921 Spirit Lake, Iowa, U.S. |
| Died | December 7, 2019(2019-12-07) (aged 98) Naples, Florida, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 3 |
| Alma mater | Iowa State University |
| Profession | Businessman |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  United States |
| Branch/service |  United States Army |
| Years of service | 1942–1945 |
| Rank |  First lieutenant |
| Battles/wars | World War II |
Berkley Warren Bedell (March 5, 1921 – December 7, 2019) was an AmericanDemocratic Party politician and businessman who served as theU.S. representative forIowa's 6th congressional district from 1975 to 1987. After starting a successful business in his youth,Berkley Fly Co., he ran for Congress in 1972, but was defeated by incumbentWiley Mayne.[1] In 1974 however, Bedell beat Mayne and was elected to the U.S. House.
He was known for his support ofrepresentative democracy and hispopulist style. For example, he would hold town halls and let constituents vote on motions to decide what he would do in Congress on their behalf and these meetings helped Bedell understand the problems of his constituents;[2] as a result, he backed issues that were important to his farming constituency, such as waterway usage fees[3] and production constraints.[4]
Bedell did not seek reelection in 1986 after contractingLyme disease from a tick bite.[5] Though no longer serving in Congress, he remained active in Iowa politics, strongly supportingHoward Dean in2004 overJohn Kerry.[6] In the2008 presidential election, he met several times withChris Dodd,[7] but ultimately endorsedBarack Obama.[citation needed]
Bedell was born inSpirit Lake, Iowa, the son of Virginia Viola (Price) and Walter Berkley Bedell.[8] Bedell was educated in Spirit Lake public schools. He graduated from Spirit Lake High School in 1939, where he earned spending money with a business in the midst of the Great Depression.[9] His business involved braiding dog hairs around fishhooks, the result of which could be sold as fish flies.[2] He began tying the fly-fishing lures in his bedroom, then he moved the business into his parents' basement. In time, he got space above a grocery store to continue the business full-time.[10]
After graduating from high school, he attendedIowa State University from 1940 to 1942, where he met fellow ISU student Elinor Healy (March 9, 1923 – March 2, 2017) fromSaint Paul, Minnesota. Berkley and Elinor married in Minneapolis on August 29, 1943, and their son Kenneth was born in 1947, Thomas in 1950 and daughter Joanne in 1952.[11] Berkley's college and personal life was interrupted in 1942 when he joined the army. He served in theUnited States Army as first lieutenant and flight trainer from 1942 to 1945. When he got back, he began to garner success from hisfishing tackle business. His business became larger, with hundreds of employees and international operations; he had become a millionaire by the 1960s. He served as member of the Spirit Lake Board of Education from 1957 to 1962.[9]
By the early 1970s, Bedell had decided to run for political office. In 1972, he ran againstWiley Mayne, a Republican incumbent inIowa's 6th congressional district. Mayne was a staunch supporter ofRichard Nixon and secured victory along with the President in a year favorable to the Republicans. Mayne, however, would politically suffer afterWatergate (he was one of only a few Republicans to vote against impeaching the President on thejudiciary committee.)[1] The damage had already been done, and Bedell defeated Mayne in a 1974 rematch.[1]
During his time at Congress, Bedell took efforts to uphold representative democracy. He held town halls regularly with his constituents, and he would let them vote on motions to decide what he would do in Congress on their behalf.[2] This type of communication told Bedell of the types of issues affecting his farming constituency. Thus, though Bedell had not farmed in his life, he would take steps in Congress to benefit farmers.[2]
Bedell sponsored several bold initiatives during his tenure in theUnited States House of Representatives. One initiative, which came from his constituents' problems with thebarge industry, focused on waterway usage fees. He introduced legislation in 1977 that would require the barge industry to pay a fee for using the waterways which, Bedell pointed out, the Government paid millions of dollars to create and maintain.[3] Bedell's original plan set the rate the barge industry paid as directly related to the amount the Government spent on waterway projects. This would have the additional effect of helping curb unnecessary waterway projects, and it was the same plan proposed byPete Domenici in the Senate.[2]
Congress eventually passed a watered-down version of the original plan put forward by Bedell and SenatorPete Domenici. The compromise version enacted a tax on the gasoline barges used and put it into a "trust" for waterway projects. While other supporters of waterway usage fees, including Domenici, backed the compromise, Bedell gave a passioned plea for his colleagues to oppose it. He viewed it as lacking a crucial element of the original plan – that ofcapital recovery. The trust was optional, and the Government could spend money on waterway projects irrespective of the trust.[2] The compromise was eventually signed byJimmy Carter. Bedell's original plan never made it through theHouse of Representatives, but he continued to introduce it in succeeding sessions. It would not, however, get a floor vote in succeeding sessions.[2]
In 1985, Bedell put forward an agricultural plan that he thought would increaseproduction controls for farmers, thus raising prices for crops. This plan, backed bylabor unions and certainDemocrats, passed theAgriculture Committee as an amendment to farm legislation. It mandated a referendum that would then be used to determine what types of production controls to enact. The purpose of this plan was twofold: production controls would decrease theaggregate supply of crops, thus making individual crops cost more (which would benefit farmers, who were in the middle of an acute debt crisis). Second, by styling it as a referendum, the farmers would get to decide the severity of the controls.[4]
On the other hand, opponents of the Bedell plan had a very different view of this legislation. Representatives such asPat Roberts claimed that the referendum was redundant because the farmers already voted the politicians into office, and this bill was an example of the politicians not doing their jobs.[12] The Reagan Administration opposed the bill because of their opposition to production controls, and the President threatened to veto the farm bill if Bedell's plan was left in place. When the bill got to the floor, an amendment was proposed to strike this provision, and it was passed 251–174.[13]
While in Congress, Bedell was Chairman of theSmall Business Subcommittee, and he used this position to investigateunderselling on the part of large oil companies.[14] He also claimed that certain large oil companies underpaid their "windfall taxes" in certain cases and wanted to pass legislation to increase regulations on these corporations.[14]
In these investigations, Bedell quickly gained the support of small gasoline marketers and CongressmanBill Nelson. The chief target,ARCO, was accused of not paying all of its taxes onAlaskan crude oil. In the end, the government tried to make a case against ARCO, but it was eventually dropped in 1985.[15] Bedell used this opportunity to attack the Administration for "not caring" about small business owners, and he advocated that Governmental agencies put aside 1–3% of their research and development money for small businesses.[16]
In late 1982, Congress passed a law which forbade the United States from funding groups aiming to overthrow theSandinista government ofNicaragua. Then, in 1983, Bedell visited Nicaragua andHonduras along with RepresentativeRobert G. Torricelli. During the trip, Bedell spoke with soldiers, generals, governmental officials and members of thecontras. His conclusion at the end of the trip was thatRonald Reagan was aiding theContras in violation of federal law. He promised to hold hearings after returning to Congress.[17] Bedell would later join other House Democrats in demanding documents from the White House related to the contras, but theReagan Administration refused to provide them.[18] Bedell became angrier with the Reagan Administration as the decade wore on. He called his Central American policies "sheer lunacy", saying that the mining of harbors was an act of war.[19] Bedell would retire from Congress before Reagan's actions in Central America would culminate with theIran–Contra Affair.[20]
Bedell was a sharp critic of Reagan's agricultural policies, calling forJohn Block to resign after calling his agricultural plan a failure that was "dead on arrival" in both theHouse and theSenate. Reagan's agricultural plan consisted primarily of a gradual reduction in farm subsidies.[21] He also attacked theDepartment of Agriculture for "looking backward" when it dismissed the only expert onorganic farming.[22] Also, as chairman of thesubcommittee on Department Operations, Research and Foreign Agriculture, which was in charge of regulating USDA operations, he opposed the proposals Reagan had for reforming the organization. The proposals generally involved shifting costs for meat inspections and other USDA duties from thefederal government to the industry.[23]
In 1981, it was revealed in internal memos that Bedell may have known about potentialcustoms violations that his company Berkley and Co. engaged in. It asserted that Bedell had gone toTaiwan in 1973 to discuss "prior violations of customs law" in regard to the sale of fishing rods from the company's Taiwan subsidiary.[24] Bedell responded by denying any wrongdoing, saying that he has not been personally involved in the company in years.[25] In the end, no charges were levied against him, and he was reelected after the story was published.[26]
Bedell decided not to seek reelection in 1986 after contractingLyme disease from a tick bite.[5] Afterward, he founded a center foralternative medicine[27] and was a noted advocate ofhealth freedom.[28] Due largely to his friendship withTom Harkin, he remained an important political figure inIowa, with politicians such asHoward Dean meeting him in their trips to the state.[6] Also, theElinor Bedell State Park was established in 1998 on land donated by Berkley and Elinor Bedell. The park is named after the Congressman's wife.[29]
As an opponent of theVietnam War, Bedell signed a petition urging against United States military intervention inIraq. This petition was signed with the names of 70 former Congressmen from the 1970s and was presented in a press conference on March 15, 2003.[30] Bedell said that it was unbelievable for the United States to settle disputes with war, and he said that anIraq war would be similar to theVietnam War.[30]
In the2004 presidential election, Bedell attackedJohn Kerry for voting for Newt Gingrich'sFreedom to Farm Act, which Bedell said wrecked the farm program.[6] Bedell would later officially endorseHoward Dean's candidacy. For the2008 election, Bedell met withChris Dodd.[7]
In the2020 Democratic presidential primary, Bedell endorsedSenator Elizabeth Warren.[31]
Bedell was a member of the ReFormers Caucus ofIssue One.[32]
Bedell died inNaples, Florida, on December 7, 2019, at age 98, from complications of a stroke he suffered three days earlier.[33][34]
Built in 2004,Peace Harbor is Tom and Molly Bedell's former 25,000 square foot home on 1.26 acres with 178 feet ofWest Lake Okoboji shoreline nearSpirit Lake, Iowa.[a] It has a master wing, fifteen bathrooms, eight bedrooms all facing the lake, six garages, an indoor entertainment stage overlooking the water, a gathering room with a Brazilian blue marble floor and seating for over a hundred, a master retreat, master retreat bathroom, receiving room, conference room and private office with sweeping views of West Lake Okoboji, a commercial caterers kitchen, guest suite with its own bar, caretaker suite, caretaker suite kitchen, exercise room, upper level art studio, a movie theater with its ownLakeland Theatre Concession stand, and a large Irish Pub known asKevin O'Sullivan's Pub.[35][36][37][38] In June 2021, it listed for $9.9 million and was one of the most expensive homes in Iowa.[36][39]
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
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| Preceded by | Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromIowa's 6th congressional district 1975–1987 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
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| National | |
| People | |
