`A quieter place'.

Byline: The Register-Guard

When its current term expires at year's end, Congress will be losing some of its most talented, most controversial, most combative and most outrageous members. U.S. Sen. John Breaux, D-La., may have put it best when he said of the departures: "It may make for a quieter place."

Most of the departing members are simply retiring. In at least three cases - and perhaps more after November's elections - defeat at the polls sent members packing. And in one highly visible case, Rep. John Traficant, D-Ohio, was expelled after his conviction of bribery charges.

Among the most notable of those leaving are:

Sen. Strom Thurmond, R-S.C., who turns 100 in December, is the longest serving member of the Senate - ever. His tenure has been marked by a third-party candidacy for president in 1948 and a career-long opposition to civil rights legislation. He is retiring.

Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., one of the Senate's most combative members, has often been called "Senator No" for his cagy but stubborn procedural blockage of bills or presidential appointments he didn't like. He, too, is retiring.

Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas, a master of procedure within the arcane rules of the Senate, comprised with Thurmond and Helms a conservative triumvirate whose members generally were identified more as "aginners" than supporters of legislation. Another retiree.

Sen. Fred Thompson, R-Tenn., an actor in 18 movies ("The Hunt for Red October," "In the Line of Fire," etc.), gained attention as the chairman of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, which investigated the Clinton scandals, and for his break with Republican doctrine to support campaign finance reform. He's retiring.

Rep. Dick Armey, R-Texas, the House majority leader, known as much for his brusqueness as for his legislative ability (he once told First Lady Hillary Clinton at a House committee hearing that "reports of your charm are overstated"). Yet another retiree.

Reps. Bob Barr, R-Ga., and Cynthia McKinney, D-Ga., who represented opposite ends of the political spectrum (Barr on the far right, McKinney on the far left), but who were best known for their controversial, in-your-face brand of lawmaking. Both were defeated in Georgia's primary election.

Rep. Gary Condit, D-Calif., who gained a seedy kind of fame for his involvement with congressional intern Chandra Levy, whose body was found about a year after her disappearance. He was defeated in California's primary.

Former Sen. Alan Simpson, R-Wyo., summed up the insider's attitude about such controversial members this way: "When you have spirited people, whether you agree with them or not, it adds a little yeast to the dough. In your country club, your church and your business, about 15 percent of the people are screwballs, lightweights and boobs, and you would not want those people unrepresented in Congress."

Whatever one might think of the politics of Thurmond, Helms, Gramm, Thompson and Armey, they added some legislative heft to Congress. Barr and McKinney were simply too confrontational to be effective. And Condit? Despite Simpson's remark, any church or business in which 15 percent of the congregation or work force were people like Condit would be in trouble.