Larry Pressler

Larry Lee Pressler was born in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, on March 29, 1942.

Education

 * 1964 graduated from University of South Dakota, Vermillion
 * 1966 attended Oxford University, England, as a Rhodes Scholar
 * 1971 received a graduate degree from the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard
 * 1971 graduated, Harvard Law School

Congressional career
He was a member of the U.S. House (R-S.D.) from 1974-1979 and a member of the U.S. Senate (R-S.D.) from 1979-1997. In 1980 he had a brush with the Abscam bribery scandal when undercover FBI agents attempted to bribe him. Pressler refused the bribe, but seven other members of Congress went to jail in the scandal. 
 * See the main Congresspedia article on the Abscam bribery scandal.

He lost his seat to Tim Johnson in the 1996 election.

Lowest of the low
Senator Abourezk criticized Pressler:
 * Pressler, whose Senate career was largely unremarkable, took offense to a chapter in one of Alex’s [Cockburn] books, Washington Babylon (with Ken Silverstein), in which he quoted various people as saying Pressler was gay, among other descriptions of Pressler’s moronic stumble through his Senate career. Like the time he left a Senate Committee hearing and tried to exit through a closet.  Waiting what he thought was an appropriate amount of time so there would be no one left in the hearing room, he came out of the closet to find everyone staring at him.Not satisfied to ignore the chapter in Alex's book, his television consultant for his 1996 re-election campaign decided to denounce both Alex and me in a massive television advertising buy, calling attention to Alex’s book.  Incidentally, Pressler’s advertising consultant whose brilliance conceived the idea of attacking Alex on the issue of gayness was a Pressler consultant named Art Finkelstein, described in part in his Wikipedia entry:
 * In 1996, Boston Magazine outed Finkelstein as a homosexual in a feature story. In April, 2005, Finkelstein acknowledged that in December, 2004, he had married his partner of forty years in a civil ceremony at his home in Massachusetts.
 * Finkelstein, who is credited during his opportunistic career with making “liberal” a dirty word, has consulted for such statesmen as Avigdor Lieberman and Bibi Netanyahu, as well as a host of other Republican luminaries.

Abourezk concludes:
 * Alex Cockburn was one of the few honest men left in America, someone journalism sorely needs. Pressler is first among a number of persons who are not fit to shine Alex's shoes.

Post-congressional career
He was a member of the 'Congressional Advisory Board' of the Center on Regulation and Economic Growth of the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution (AdTI) in 1994 and 1995. 

Larry Pressler is chairman of Pressler & Associates, a government relations/consulting firm in Washington DC and Sioux Falls South Dakota, specializing in telecommunications and transportation.

Since leaving the Senate "he has practiced law, taught, lobbied, and served on corporate boards of Directors. He was a Senior Partner at O'Connor & Hannan Law firm in Washington, D.C. He formed his own law/consulting firm, Pressler Group LLC (www.senatorlarrypressler.com). He is presently affiliated with Alcade & Fay," his biographical note states. 

"Pressler served as a member of Republican Presidential Candidate George W. Bush's IT Steering Committee 2000, and was a member of the Bush Transition Team in January and February 2001," a biogrpahical noter on his website states. 

Contact details

 * 800 25th Street, NW
 * The Plaza, Suite 504
 * Washington, D.C. 20037
 * Telephone: 202-546-5959
 * Fax: 202-546-5958
 * Web: www.larrypressler.com

Other SourceWatch resources

 * Center on Regulation and Economic Growth
 * Alexis de Tocqueville Institution

Related Links

 * "Biography 2004, LarryPressler.com, accessed October 2004.
 * "PRESSLER, Larry Lee", Biographical Directory of the American Congress 
 * "Advisory Board, Senator Larry Pressler", Sky Capital Holdings Ltd., 2003