Questions
1. Rep. William Jefferson (D.-La.) has just been indicted on corruption charges. Who was the last sitting member of the House to be indicted while in office?
2. Sen. Craig Thomas (R.-Wyo.) died two weeks ago at age 74, six months after winning his third term. Whom did Thomas succeed in the Senate?
3. Thomas won his seat in the House in 1989 and served until he went to the Senate in ’94. Whom did Thomas succeed in the House?
4. Wyoming’s Democratic governor is required by law to appoint a senator from the same party as Thomas. When was the last time a governor of one party appointed a senator from another?
5. Who was the last senator to die in office?
Answers
1. Rep. Bob Ney (R.-Ohio), who was indicted in ’06 and convicted of corruption and bribery charges, immediately resigning from office.
2. Republican Sen. Malcolm Wallop.
3. Rep. Dick Cheney, who resigned to become secretary of Defense.
4. In 1960, Republican Gov. Mark Hatfield of Oregon appointed Democrat Hall Lusk, the state’s chief justice, to succeed Democratic Sen. Richard Neuberger, who had died. (Lusk did not run for a full term that year and the seat was won by Neuberger’s widow.)
5. Democratic Sen. Paul Wellstone of Minnesota, who died in a plane crash in 2002.
