Dan Rostenkowki: 1928 -2010

Washington Unplugged, Buried In The Archives, 08.10.09 — CBS

Former Illinois Rep. Dan Rostenkowski, a powerful Democrat who shaped tax policy in the 1980s but later went to prison, died Aug. 11, 2010, at his home in Wisconsin. He was 82.

U.S. Rep. Dan Rostenkowski, D-IL, greets supporters March 15 1995, at a rally in Chicago following his victory in the Democratic primary. Rostenkowski at the time faced allegations of financial misdealings in the House post office scandal. He pleaded guilty in 1996 to two counts of mail fraud and served 17 months in prison. Then-President Bill Clinton pardoned him in 2000.

Dan Rostenkowski, a former Democratic chairman for the House Ways and Means Committee, attends a panel discussion at "To Heal the Nation: The Gerald R. Ford Symposium" Feb. 23, 2001, at the Chapman University Center for Cold War Studies in Orange, Calif.

In this Jan. 31, 1994, file photo former Illinois Rep. Dan Rostenkowski is seen in Chicago. Rostenkowski was a powerful Democrat who shaped tax policy in the 1980s but later went to prison.

President Bill Clinton speaks to the press as Speaker of the House Thomas Foley D-Wash,right rear, and Rep. Dan Rostenkowski, D-Ill, look on during ceremonies in the Oval Office of the White House Nov. 3, 1993.

Dan Rostenkowski, a former Democratic chairman for the House Ways and Means Committee, attends a panel discussion at "To Heal the Nation: The Gerald R. Ford Symposium" Feb. 23, 2001, at the Chapman University Center for Cold War Studies in Orange, Calif. The once-powerful congressman was indicted for misusing taxpayer money, pleaded guilty in 1996, and served time in a minimum-security prison in Wisconsin.

In this June 9, 1994, black-and-white file photo, Rep. Dan Rostenkowski, D-Ill, former chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee sits in during a hearing on health care reform before the committee, on Capitol Hill in Washington.

Rep. Dan Rostenkowski, left, former chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, confers with an unidentified legal aide at a press conference in Washington, D.C., after pleading not guilty to 17 counts of corruption in Federal Court June 10, 1994.

President Bill Clinton, left, meets with Rep. Dan Rostenkowski, D-Il., during a meeting of at the White house April 29, 1993. Clinton is trying to persuade Congress to take stiffer action in Bosnia.

President Bill Clinton, right, discusses the nation's economy with House Speaker Thomas Foley, left, and Rep. Dan Rostenkowski, D.-Ill., during a Jan. 27, 1993, meeting in the White House Oval Office in Washington, D.C. Rostenkowski was chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee.