Praise for Getting to the Heart of the Matter
[Carl Levin is] the model of serious purpose, principle, and personal decency, whose example ought to inspire the service of new and returning senators.
U.S. Senator John McCain in a speech honoring Senator Levin upon his retirement
Carl and I served together for five termsthirty yearsand we developed a very strong bond of personal trust. Our word was our bond and the security of our nation was always foremost. Even though we are from different political parties, we share a love of country, a commitment to do what is right, and a deep mutual admiration and respect for each other. We never let our policy differences turn into personal differences. And we served in a Senate where bipartisanship was something to be sought after, where compromise was not a dirty word but an essential ingredient to make our government function better.
Senator John Warner
Getting to the Heart of the Matter reminds us there are patriots like Carl Levin who define honesty, integrity, and civility. In a lifetime of dedicated service, he made government more accountable, the nation more secure, and fought for opportunity for all. He is an American hero.
U.S. Senator Jack Reed
The Dingell and Levin families have shared decades of friendship and public service. Getting to the Heart of the Matter is a heartfelt, thoughtful narrative of his career, which had a positive impact on so many people. Everyone interested in public service should read this.
Congresswoman Debbie Dingell
Carl Levins life and work continue to be an inspiration to each of us who have had the privilege of knowing him. His commitment to public service and the leadership he exemplifies have made a remarkable and historic contribution to the country. His beautifully written autobiography makes me wish we had more like him now.
U.S. Senator Tom Daschle
Care about integrity? Read this book. Given up on finding truly selfless politicians? Read this book. Senator Carl Levins riveting biography is food for our decency-starved souls and is a page-turning must-read for future public servants and all who love Michigan.
Jennifer Granholm, 47th governor of Michigan
Over fifty years of immersion in the Senatewriting about it, interacting with its members, and working inside itI have seen very few of its members garner the universal admiration and respect of Carl Levin. Getting to the Heart of the Matter is a memoir, but it is much more than that. Writing about his six terms in the Senate, Levin gives us an intimate, inside portrait of thirty-six years of key policy decisions and political developments in the countryand his role, often a pivotal one, in many of them. Along the way, we get a sense of how the Senate worked during those decades. This book is a tribute to a remarkable, important career and is a must-read for all who care about the country, its values, and the workings of its institutions going forward.
Norman Ornstein, resident scholar, American Enterprise Institute
Senator Carl Levin is the epitome of a dedicated statesman. His wise, effective, and collegial service to our nation is admirable. His memoir is a must-read for those who seek to understand how our government should work.
Reginald Turner
Carl Levin served as the de facto conscience of the United States Senate for thirty-six years. He never forgot the people he grew up with in Detroit where he started out driving a taxi and working in an automobile factory. As chairman of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Levin ferreted out wrongdoing, abuses of taxpayers, and failed policies, its reports all issued with bipartisan agreement, a remarkable feat of dignity, duty, and moral strength in our era.
David Cay Johnston, Pulitzer Prizewinning investigative reporter
Getting to the Heart of the Matter
Getting to the Heart of the Matter
My 36 Years in the Senate
Senator Carl Levin
Wayne State University Press
Detroit
2021 by Carl Levin. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced without formal permission.
ISBN 978-0-8143-4839-0 (jacketed cloth); ISBN 978-0-8143-4840-6 (ebook)
Library of Congress Control Number: 2020947287
Wayne State University Press
Leonard N. Simons Building
4809 Woodward Avenue
Detroit, Michigan 48201-1309
Visit us online at wsupress.wayne.edu
On cover: Carl Levin questions a witness at one of the hearings he led on the 2008 financial crisis. (Photo courtesy of Carl M. Levin Papers, Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan)
I lovingly dedicate this book to my wife, Barbara; our three daughters, Kate, Laura, and Erica; and our six grandchildren, Beatrice, Ben, Bess, Noa, Olivia, and Samantha.
Contents
I first came in contact with Carl Levin in 1974 as a twenty-six-year-old law student assigned to help Detroits Central Business District Association (CBDA) develop legislation to create a tax increment financing district. Working at CBDA enabled me to come to know and appreciate the workings of a big, complicated city like Detroit and to follow Carl Levins work on the City Council in some proximity. I liked what I sawan honest, down-to-earth, compassionate, smart public official.
Four years later Carl won election to the U.S. Senate, and I pulled out all the stops to get my rsum in front of him and have a chance at a job as a legislative assistant. It worked, and for twenty-four years I never looked back. I had what I frequently termed the perfect professional marriage: working for a person who was whip-smart, hardworking, prescient, decent, funny, and thoughtful. His love of opera and stamp collecting were both enlightening and endearing. And, ohhe also smoked cigars at the time, but I could live with that.
He had a passion for fairness and facts, and that led to dozens of investigations and hearings into greedy schemes where people sought a shortcut to either power or money at the expense of anyone who was in the way. After two years I became Carls staff director for various subcommittees on the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee that did oversight, ethics legislation, and investigations into everything from defense contracting to sweepstakes solicitations to money laundering by some of our biggest banks. I couldnt have asked for a more satisfying and enjoyable career.
So when Carl left the Senate, several of us worked on the establishment of the Levin Center at Wayne State University Law School to carry on his legacy of good government, civil discourse, and, most prominently, fact-based, bipartisan, in-depth legislative oversight. I also encouraged him to write an autobiography, which he resisted. (He is almost biologically unassuming.) But at the urging of family and friends, he finally saw the value of writing this memoir.
As you will see from reading this book, Carl is a man of impressive accomplishments, always working to make government better and wiser and the world fairer. What you may not see enough of from this book is his kindness, his humor, his empathy, his love of children and family, his courage, and the respect in which he was held by his colleagues.
When I decided I needed to cut back my hours to have more time with my children, Carl would often be the person reminding me to leave the office. Didnt you want to be home by now? he would say. Go. Weve got this here. And his thoughtfulness is best reflected in how he answers the phone almost every time: How are you? or Hows it going? hell sayand mean it. He wants to know.
