Reports: Sen. Mikulski, Longest Serving Female Senator, To Retire

[DonViejo]

Source: TPM

Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) will not run for re-election in 2016, The Washington Post and CNN reported Monday.

Mikulski will announce her plans at a news conference at 11 a.m. on Monday Inn at Henderson’s Wharf. She plans to finish out her current term but not run for another one.

Mikulski, 78, is the longest serving female senator in the history of the country, and was also the first woman to chair the influential Senate Appropriations Committee.

Mikulski served five terms in office. She was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1976 and has served in the Senate since 1987.

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Read more: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/barbara-mikulski-retiring

[yellowcanine]

1. Time for Donna Edwards to run? What do you think Marylanders?

Seems Donna Edwards has the creds to do this and would be a worthy successor to Mikulski.

[Divernan]

3. Edwards, Van Hollen, even O'Malley mentioned as possible successors.

Among potential replacements for Ms. Mikulski are Representatives Chris Van Hollen and Donna Edwards, although the party could try to press Martin O’Malley, the former Maryland governor, to run for the seat. Mr. O’Malley is considering a run for the White House.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/03/us/politics/senator-barbara-mikulski-of-maryland-to-retire.html?_r=0

[Divernan]

2. Animated, at times irascible - what an elected public servant SHOULD be!

She was my Mom's Senator for decades, so I followed her career, and admired her to the max. She's a traditional, REAL Democrat - hate to see her go. Thank you Senator Mikulski!

Ms. Mikulski said that she wanted to spend the next two years in Congress focusing on her work instead of raising money and campaigning. Her decision comes at a time when Maryland Democrats are struggling to rebuild after a shocking loss of its governorship to Republicans last year.

“Because every day, I want to wake up thinking about you — the little guys and gals, the watermen, automobile workers, researchers, small-business owners and families,” Ms. Mikulski said. “I want to give you 120 percent of my time with all of my energy focused on you and your futures. Because it’s always been about you, never about me. That’s what it takes to be a good senator by my expectations and by my standards.”

Ms. Mikulski, a former social worker, served as a mentor to women of both parties, organizing monthly dinners to talk work and family.

She was one of only two women in the Senate when she took office in 1987, and used that experience to build a base of female power in the Capitol.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/03/us/politics/senator-barbara-mikulski-of-maryland-to-retire.html?_r=0

[DebJ]

4. bump

[appalachiablue]

5. Thanks Senator Mikulski for all your years of good work.

[Divernan]

6. Hey DU Women! Kick this for a ground-breaking Democratic woman!

Let's get this on the greatest page!

[elleng]

10. Working on it, Divernan!

This post was locked. We ARE interested!!! http://www.democraticunderground.com/10141027209

[LiberalEsto]

7. At least we get almost two more years of Barbara in Congress

She can kick a lot of Republican asses in two years.

Methinks our next senator will be Van Hollen.

[elleng]

9. Yes she can kick a lot of asses in 2 years, LibEst,

along with Potus.

Could be Van Hollen, and having just re-registered, I'll lose him and her as 2 of my congress-crittters next election time.

Donna Edwards would also do a good job in the Senate, imo.

[elleng]

8. This post, on same subject, was locked as 'duplicate.'

More replies. We ARE interested.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10141027209

[BumRushDaShow]

11. What a firebrand in the Senate

She will be missed! Hope they can get someone groomed for this... I do like the suggestion of Donna Edwards...

[BlueEye]

12. I hope the most progressive candidate wins her seat.

Would that be Martin O'Malley? I don't know much about Donna Edwards, but I'm sure she'd be fine as well.

[Reter]

22. Edited...

Sorry, thought we were talking about the Republican Senator in Alaska. She has a similar name.

[nixonwasbetterthanW]

13. Pompous Windbag

a vote for liberals, to be sure. but an intellectual lightweight.

[kwassa]

14. you talking about yourself?

you should really not indulge in such self-promotion on DU.

[nixonwasbetterthanW]

16. Maybe, but that's irrelevant --

Mikulski was a dependable vote for the left. She was not a leader.

[kwassa]

17. and who was?

[nixonwasbetterthanW]

18. She treated her staff like shit. That tells me a great deal about her as a person.

[kwassa]

19. and how would you know this?

[nixonwasbetterthanW]

20. Look up any survey of Capitol Hill staff satisfaction. Mikulski is always among the least popular.

[kwassa]

21. but does she get the job done?

"She set the tone to reach out and make the appropriations work," says Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., the top Republican in the Senate Appropriations Committee, who first began working alongside Mikulski when they both were serving in the House of Representatives. "She is very able, very intelligent. She is a worker. She is involved and we differ on a lot of issues, but she always makes sure we come together for what is good for America."

Monday, the "Dean of the Senate," as she is affectionately called by her 19 female Senate colleagues, announced a bipartisan appropriations bill, reminding Congress it doesn't have to remain the broken institution it has become. In less than a month, Mikulski managed to balance the competing requests of colleagues directing $1.1 trillion to be funneled into every federal agency from the Department of Homeland Security to the Pentagon.Standing 4 feet 11 inches tall, Mikulski remains an authoritative force on Capitol Hill. A New York Times profile of her earlier this year noted while her contemporaries on the appropriations committee were respected and loved, Mikulski is feared.

..........................................................

She's the longest serving woman senator – and for that matter longest in Congress period. Mikulski was the first Democratic woman elected on her own merits and not for the purpose of filling a vacancy. She's a squeaky wheel, a rasping advocate, an impatient lawmaker with square shoulders and an aptitude for writing legislation and in the 1990s, two political thrillers. Colleagues who have served with her say she is a fierce representative of the old-school Senate she entered into in 1987, but armed with an obstinate belief in how to forge ahead in the changing institution she now helps to lead.

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2014/01/16/barbara-mikulski-the-iron-fisted-woman-who-helped-congress-find-common-ground

[nixonwasbetterthanW]

23. Perhaps she gets the job done. But she treats her staff horribly. That is a legacy I do not admire.

[Divernan]

26. Tough but effective.

More from
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2014/01/16/barbara-mikulski-the-iron-fisted-woman-who-helped-congress-find-common-ground

Unlike some show horses in Congress who glamorize the appropriations process, Mikulski curtly describes the sausage making.

There are no "cute and funnies" she says about appropriating.

"This wasn't kind of fun and Kumbuya. This was hard work," Mikulski says of the long slog that required both Republicans and Democrats to make concessions on issues like health care and defense. "It was at times tense and it was always intense, but always courteous and civil."

Standing 4 feet 11 inches tall, Mikulski remains an authoritative force on Capitol Hill. A New York Times profile of her earlier this year noted while her contemporaries on the appropriations committee were respected and loved, Mikulski is feared.

[kwassa]

24. Sorry, can't find anything to support your views ..

after several Google searches.

Maybe you should provide a link to support your assertion.

[Divernan]

25. Intellectual lightweight? That's you, if you refuse to document your attack on her.

You claim she treated her staff poorly based on staff surveys. So provide a link to same.

On the thread which was locked as duplicate, there was this post:

Star Member elleng (53,586 posts)
15. A friend who worked for her years ago wrote:

'You had to work hard because she did. Learned not to say or write "I feel", "I think", "maybe". She always said say what you mean, and mean what you say. "It is", "I will", You can". As a women, you did not want to be perceived as "wishy washy".'

(I add another "wishy washy" qualifier, whether used by women or men, is prefacing one's opinions with, "I'm sorry, but . . . " I've learned never to use that phrase - it weakens your point before you even make it.)

Your undocumented hostility suggests that you or someone you personally knew had a problem with the senator. Feel free to share.

[kwassa]

15. 50 years in Congress. A great senator, my senator, and she will be truly missed.

I've met her. She is wonderful.