Reports of the death of former Rep. Jim Ramstad, R.-Minn., Thursday immediately brought to mind a virtual scrapbook of memorable interviews, conversations, and shared events.
Ramstad, who died at 74 after a long bout of Parkinson’s disease, was always available for on-the-record interviews or background material on Congress. A Republican House member from 1990-2008 and member of the Ways and Means Committee, he could offer valuable insight and stories about tax legislation, as well as behind-the-scenes maneuvering among House Republicans.
But inevitably, an interview with James Marvin Ramstad was a session with a born raconteur who brought to life some stimulating personal stories.
He vividly recalled being governor of the American Legion’s Boys State in his native North Dakota and how all the Boys State leaders got to meet President Kennedy at the White House in 1963 — among them the Arkansas representative named Bill Clinton.
“Bill made it clear to me then he was going to be president someday and we regularly met at reunions of the Boys State class of ’63,” he told me in 1999. “And I voted for his impeachment last year — never hesitated. He broke the law and deserved what he got.”
Ramstad also got to meet Robert Kennedy in 1966, when he was a page for North Dakota’s Republican Sen. Milton Young and introduced himself to the then-senator from New York. RFK promptly invited him to join a group of pages he and wife Ethel were hosting for dinner that evening at their Virginia home known as Hickory Hill.
“Bobby was bright and charming and attentive to all,” he reminisced.
When I asked if he got to meet Sen. Ted Kennedy, D.-Mass., during his page stint, he replied: “Yes. He was about like he is today.” Ramstad offered no further expatiation.
Ramstad’s most moving recollection, however, was of events leading up the evening of July 31, 1981.
As a young lawyer and U.S. Army Reserve officer, he had found himself drinking increasingly and sometimes forgetting what he had done while drunk. That evening, while in his first term as state senator, he was in Sioux Falls, South Dakota for a charity event. He got drunk, blacked out, and was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct. Awakening in jail and with no memory of how he got there, Ramstad promptly joined Alcoholics Anonymous.
For the rest of his life, he would never touch a drink.
And he would seek out others with addictions to help them become fellow “overcomers.” Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D.-R.I was sponsored into AA by Republican colleague Ramstad and always thanked him for helping him to get off “the highway to hell.”
Although Rep. Ramstad played a significant role in sculpting tax legislation, he nevertheless considered his greatest achievement the Mental Health Parity Bill to end discrimination against Americans suffering from addictions and mental health problems.
Passed in the House by majorities in both parties, the bill was signed into law by President George W. Bush in December 2008.
Born and raised in Jamestown, North Dakota, he graduated with honors from the University of Minnesota and George Washington University Law School. Much as he loved his stints with Boys State and as a Senate page, self-described “political junkie” Ramstad held part-time jobs in congressional offices while going to law school.
Elected to the Minnesota senate, he quickly became known as a centrist — conservative on spending, taxes, and crime issues, but moderate-to-liberal on social issues such as abortion and education.
Positioning himself in the middle of the political aisle served Ramstad well. When moderate Republican Rep. Bill Frenzel announced his retirement in 1990, Ramstad was the natural successor in the 3rd District (suburban Minneapolis). He wrapped up the Republican nomination with ease, won by a 2-to-1 margin in November, and never had trouble at the polls.
Shortly before retiring from Congress, lifelong bachelor Ramstad married Kathryn Christen at age 62. The couple were described by those who knew them as “inseparable.”
“If there was ever a gracious and pleasing person, then it was Jim Ramstad,” former Rep. Cliff Stearns, R.-Fla, who came to Congress two years before Ramstad, recalled to Newsmax, “So often he and I would be together on the back railings of the House of Representatives floor talking about issues and life. Jim had a personal elegance about him. You can never forget him ... and I never will.”
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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