Carl Levin

In an editorial about U.S. Senator Carl Levin, the Detroit News wrote, "He has been above reproach personally and has stuck to his principles, even when they were unpopular. Principled leadership, no matter what political ideology it comes from, is sorely needed in Washington."

Sen. Levin is perhaps best known for his efforts to make government both more efficient and more ethical. He authored the Competition in Contracting Act, which has led to significant reductions in federal procurement costs. His Whistleblower Protection Act protects federal employees who expose wasteful practices. Levin also helped author the Taxpayers' Bill of Rights, which protects individuals and small businesses from IRS harassment. He was the principal author of the Ethics Reform Act in 1989, which simplified and strengthened ethics requirements for the legislative and executive branches of government and prohibited members of Congress from accepting honoraria from special interests. He has never accepted honoraria from special interests, and in 1995 he persuaded the Senate to adopt a strong ban on gifts to senators and paid trips.

That same year, he won passage of strict disclosure requirements for lobbyists in the Lobbying Disclosure Act, the first major overhaul of those laws in 50 years. In December 2001, the Council on Government Ethics Laws recognized Sen. Levin's leadership in this area by awarding him its highest honor. That same month, Taxpayers for Common Sense bestowed its annual "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington " award to Sen. Levin and his colleague Sen. John McCain for their bipartisan effort to cut inefficient Defense Department spending.

In 2002, as chairman of that subcommittee, Sen. Levin led Congress' most in-depth examination into the collapse of Enron. His investigation exposed how Enron used deceptive accounting and tax transactions to report better financial results than the company actually experienced. The subcommittee's investigative work contributed to the accounting and corporate reforms enacted in the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in July 2002.

Sen. Levin also initiated an investigation into gasoline price spikes, and in April 2002 he issued a 400-page report and chaired hearings detailing how U.S. retail gasoline prices are manipulated. In 2002, Levin began a three year investigation into the mass marketing of abusive tax shelters by KPMG and other professional firms, which was cited by The Washington Post as "a path-breaking inquiry . . . that served as a road map for prosecutors." Levin is also a member of the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

Carl Levin was born in 1934 in Detroit, where he graduated from Central High School. In 1956, he graduated with honors from Swarthmore College and graduated from Harvard University Law School in 1959. He practiced and taught law in Michigan until 1964 when he was appointed an assistant attorney general of Michigan and the first general counsel for the Michigan Civil Rights Commission. He then helped establish the Detroit Public Defender's Office and led the Appellate Division of that office, which has become the State Appellate Defender's Office.

He won election to the Detroit City Council in 1969, becoming its president in 1973 by winning the most votes citywide. In 1978, he won an upset victory over the number two Republican in the U.S. Senate. He was reelected in 1984, 1990, 1996 and 2002.

Sen. Levin married Barbara Halpern in 1961. They have three daughters: Kate, Laura and Erica, and four grandchildren. His brother Sander has served in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1983.