the of the die in three

Not that I am a superstitious person but this sure does fall into the category of they die in threes.

GOP Congressman Rep Paul Gillmor

D. James Kennedy of the Coral Ridge Ministries

and now I am reading former GOP Congresswoman Jennifer DUNN apparently succumbed to a blood clot.

So myth or no myth they did die in threes, today anyway.

"My name's Dr. Multimillionaire and I kicked your ass." -- Rep. Steve Kagen D-WI to Karl Rove

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by: walja @ Wed Sep 05, 2007 at 17:30:49 PM UTC

additionally

this is the third SITTING congressman to die this year.

26, Male, Democrat, TX-26

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by: trowaman @ Wed Sep 05, 2007 at 19:31:48 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Is that unusual?

There are 435 representatives, so I'd expect several deaths per year. The death rate for people in their 50s is somewhere around 0.5% per year or more.

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by: KCinDC @ Wed Sep 05, 2007 at 21:32:48 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

I wonder

How he died. Norwood and Millender-McDonald had cancer, so their deaths weren't a big surprise...well the latter was somewhat of a surprise.

Jennifer Dunn too surprised me. I always found her a respectable, forminable opponent on the other side. It's a shame that she succumbed to a blood clot so young.

Liberty Avenue Politics - a place for politics in Southern Queens

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by: nrafter530 @ Wed Sep 05, 2007 at 21:57:23 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

I also always ...

rather liked her.  If all of the other side were like her we would have a lot less to worry about!

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by: IndianaProgressive @ Wed Sep 05, 2007 at 23:26:18 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

actually, if you look

there's a compartively low death rate for congressman, compared to the country as a whole. No sitting congressman that I know of, died in 2004, 2005, or 2006. The last sitting congressman to die in office was former Majority Leader Matsui I believe his name was, who was a long time U.S. Representative from California. His wife won his overwhelmingly Democratic seat. He died in 2003,  believe.

Call no man happy until he is dead-Aeschylus

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by: ArkDem the Ragin Cajin @ Wed Sep 05, 2007 at 22:12:25 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

probably because of

their health insurance, something not all of us are able to have.  is it me, or has something gone wrong when our public SERVANTS live better than we do?

Top ten signs you're an SSPer #1: your favorite song is "Panic At Tedisco" and no one understands what you mean.

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by: doug_tuttle @ Wed Sep 05, 2007 at 23:27:54 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

IMHO...

"public servants" have always lived better than most if for no other reason than access to intangible benefits or perks of holding power.  But the current salaries of sitting members of both houses of Congress definitely put them in more affluent classes than most of the rest of us.  Their health insurance is also far better than what most other insured people in this country have, not to mention the fact that a substantially large proportion of their constituents have none.  And they have the assurance of access to pensions while most of the rest of us must consider pensions as a quaint relic of the past.

In light of all that, if we weren't surprised before by the spate of deaths in the Congress this year, we should be now in light of these facts.

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by: phonatic @ Thu Sep 06, 2007 at 05:46:07 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

oops, Matsui

died in 2005, but I believe then that there were no deaths in 2003.

Call no man happy until he is dead-Aeschylus

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by: ArkDem the Ragin Cajin @ Wed Sep 05, 2007 at 22:14:49 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

PLUS

there's Craig Thomas, who also died of Cancer.

One thing though, is as NRCC and DCCC tries to keep its incumbents from retiring, and has been more successful lately, that we'll probably see more of these happen.

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by: KainIIIC @ Wed Sep 05, 2007 at 22:56:07 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Very Sad

Condolences to the family.

progressive, NY-8 (home), PA-7 (college)

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by: pierredude @ Thu Sep 06, 2007 at 02:41:25 AM UTC

Stuart Rothenberg

is claiming that Rep. Paul Gillmor's widow has let it be known she is not interested in attempting to claim the seat of her departed husband.

And the Police are now claiming he died from injuries sustained in a fall without providing further details.

"My name's Dr. Multimillionaire and I kicked your ass." -- Rep. Steve Kagen D-WI to Karl Rove

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by: walja @ Sat Sep 08, 2007 at 00:10:02 AM UTC