David Durenberger - U.S. Senate

U.S. Senate

On November 7, 1978, Durenberger was elected in a special election to complete the unexpired term of Senator Hubert Humphrey, whose position had temporarily been filled by Humphrey's wife Muriel. He was reelected in 1982 and again in 1988, serving from November 8, 1978, to January 3, 1995, in the 96th, 97th, 98th, 99th, 100th, 101st, 102nd and 103rd Congresses. He served as the chairman of the Select Committee on Intelligence during the 99th Congress. Durenberger was unanimously denounced by the Senate on July 25, 1990, for unethical conduct relating to outside income. He was also disbarred for his actions.

In 1994, Durenberger was also a principal in the withdrawal of the nomination of Admiral Stan Arthur to become Commander, U.S. Pacific Command (USPACOM). At the time, Arthur was the Vice Chief of Naval Operations, effectively the Navy's number two officer, and was also the Navy's most senior Naval Aviator on active duty immediately after the 1991 Tailhook Incident. During the Senate confirmation process for Arthur to assume command of USPACOM, Durenberger questioned Arthur's handling of sexual harassment allegations brought by one of the Senator's constituents, a female Navy student helicopter pilot, LTJG Rebecca Hansen, who was attrited from flight training for repeated, documented, poor performance in the flight phase of training. To pressure the Navy for information, Durenberger placed a hold on the nomination of Arthur to command USPACOM. Rather than let the USPACOM post continue to go unfilled during what might have been protracted Senate hearings, Arthur elected to retire from the Navy on February 1, 1995 as a four-star admiral.