ex-congressman Rostenkowski dead

CHICAGO – With his rumpled suits and gruff, growling voice, former Rep. Dan Rostenkowski was far more comfortable behind closed doors than in front of the camera or behind a podium.

Rostenkowski left speeches to others, but he quietly wielded enormous power on Capitol Hill for more than 30 years, becoming one of the most powerful lawmakers of his time — and a potent symbol of Washington's excesses after he pleaded guilty to corruption charges.

[url=http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2010/08/dan-rostenkowskis-lega cy-will-cast-a-long-shadow.html]Dan Rostenkowski's legacy will cast a long shadow[/url]
August 17, 2010 7:42 PM

Even at his funeral, Dan Rostenkowski's clout could be felt.

As hundreds of Chicago politicians and family members mourned this morning, traffic hummed past St. Stanislaus Kostka church on a stretch of the Kennedy Expressway that one eulogist called "Rostenkowski's Curve."