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313 6 Going Home Wendy Pays Me Back After my defeat in the primary election in 1992, I had to complete my last year in the Senate as a lame duck. I can tell you this was not the most fun period in my long career of public service. I could sense the discomfort of my colleagues as I still went about my business in committees and on the Senate floor, but I did my job. At the same time, I never forgot the kind comments of both Democratic and Republican members of the Illinois congressional delegation when it met for the last time while I still remained in the Senate. As noted earlier, regular meetings of the delegation were something I had organized. Senator Paul Simon and other Democrats lauded me, of course, at the September 17, 1992, meeting. I remember Paul saying, “Senator Dixon is the reason we meet.” Congressman Henry Hyde rose on behalf of my Republican colleagues and said, “If a successful life is determined by earning the respect and esteem of your peers, then Alan Dixon has led a successful life. Alan, you will be sorely missed, and America is the loser in losing you.” The delegation gave me a standing ovation. Not long ago, my friend Scott Shearer, who’d been my agriculture adviser during my Senate years, told me of a large meeting of Illinois interests in Washington where Congressman John Shimkus of Collinsville spoke. John, a Republican, succeeded Dick Durbin in a south central Illinois seat in the House in 1996 when Durbin was elected to the U.S. Senate. In addressing the meeting, Scott said, Shimkus praised the bipartisan work of the Illinois congressional delegation—notwithstanding the extreme partisan discord on the Hill as I write this book. John credited me for bringing the delegation together. I truly was honored to see this effort for unity continued after all the years. 314 | Going Home In my free time during my lame-duck months, I began to investigate future employment options. I had offers from Washington law firms, and one in particular offered great opportunity for substantial monetary gains. My wife and I discussed it at length, since the firm’s chairman was an excellent person and a good friend. I’m sure everyone in the country has heard the old saying, “Once you’ve been on the Potomac, you never go home.” And, in a sense, this is true. Examine the major law and lobbying firms and other fixtures in the Washington establishment, and you see most are larded with former members of Congress. And all of them do very well. But I concluded I was a country boy who loved his home and lifelong friends. There always were plenty of opportunities in Chicago dating back to my years as a state official. I determined to stay home, though. Chicago is the greatest big city in the world, but don’t forget I am a downstate Saint Louis Cardinals fan. So, what did the future hold for me in view of my decision to return home and stay there? As it turned out, Dan Nester, a son of my pal A. J. Nester, was an associate at the Saint Louis office of the Bryan Cave law firm in 1992, working in the litigation section. He went to his boss, Veryl Riddle, and suggested that the firm, in existence since the Civil War, pursue me. The Saint Louis office was in the downtown area behind the Arch, only fifteen miles from my home. That seemed stable enough for me. I negotiated an arrangement with the firm’s chairman, Bill Van Cleve, a lovely Princeton University man who had admired and recruited Missourian Bill Bradley, later a U.S. senator from New Jersey, to play basketball for Princeton. One of the assurances I received in joining the firm was that I could serve on outside boards and earn income from such service—as long as there was no conflict with the business of the law firm. This understanding has worked fine over the years with one exception. I reveal it now. In most states, lawyers are required to spend a certain number of hours each year continuing to refresh their professional skills. They are required to report on such efforts to their respective bar association. In Missouri, there was a requirement for fifteen hours of continuing legal education annually . In early June 2001, my secretary reminded me that I was six hours short...

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