Political Waves by Alex Ray

 

The Gilchrest Example

 

            Crossing the Bay Bridge on my way back from a lunch on Capitol Hill last Thursday, I realized how lucky we are to have someone like Wayne Gilchrest represent us on the Eastern Shore .

 

            I was having lunch with two old friends, one from Virginia, the other from Philadelphia .  We had been involved in several campaigns since 1976 and every once in a while we enjoy getting together and solving the problems of the world. 

 

            We know each other well; we know each other’s families.  The son of one of the men appeared in a commercial I wrote, produced and filmed about education at my daughter’s home in Easton .

 

            These are good men with outstanding reputations for honesty and integrity.

They love their wives and children. One has a daughter who is a nun.  They are also (gulp)… lobbyists. 

 

            Yes that evil profession which many Americans believe corrupts our public officials. Current events have brought lobbying and contributions to the forefront of American political discourse. 

 

            And as I looked out over the mighty Chesapeake Bay and thought to myself,

if Wayne Gilchrest can run successful campaigns for Congress without any special interest money, or even any contributions from outside the 1st District, then why can’t the rest of the 434 Members of Congress do the same thing?

 

            When Wayne announced several years ago that he wouldn’t take political action committee contributions, I thought he’d been working too hard.  He must have made that decision when he was over-tired, because no incumbent in their right mind would turn their back on the cash cow of politics.

 

            Raise money from personal contributions? How 1950’ish.  It can’t be done.

The cost of campaigns has grown so rapidly over the past two decades that you have to start raising funds for your next campaign on your first day in office.

 

            Wayne will give up that lame-brained idea before his next campaign I thought Well, he didn’t; and he hasn’t in every succeeding election.  Gilchrest is one of those rare politicians who are rooted in humility and principle.

 

 

 

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            When I trained young campaigns managers, I’d explain to them why people become involved in politics.  I taught them about the 4 Ps – power, prestige, profit and principle.

 

            Few of the elected officials will ever admit to anything but “principle”, but we all know better.  However in Wayne Gilchrest’s case, there is no doubt that he is

a man who puts principle above everything else when it comes to making decisions on what legislation to support.

 

            It has cost him.  There have been times when Republican leaders in the House have been upset with him.  There have even been a few times I have disagreed with the way he voted.

 

            The difference, as I see it, is that you support someone not only on how you expect them to vote, but on character and intelligence.  We saw an example of that playing out in the hearings for Judge Sam Alito.  Unless excessively partisan, a Supreme Court nominee should be judged on the qualities of character and intelligence, not on how they will vote on abortion.

 

            The same is true about a Member of Congress to an extent.  Political philosophy comes into greater bearing in congressional races because no one wants to vote for someone who believes the exact opposite from them. 

 

            Gilchrest manages to trump differences in political philosophy, at least with 3/5ths of the people in our sprawling congressional district and he manages to do it

without the influence of outside political groups who would each gladly write out a check for $5,000 to Wayne ’s campaign.

 

            What makes that so remarkable was brought home to me during my Capitol Hill lunch.  As we began to leave the club, another gentleman stopped to say hello to my two friends.  He was also a lobbyist. 

 

            From the get-go, the conversation between the three of them focused on ways to stop the House leadership from eliminating “earmarks” from the budgeting process.  Earmarking is “the process by which members secure special pork projects such as Alaska's infamous $223 million bridge to nowhere" according to the Wall Street Journal’s John Fund.

 

            Needless to say I didn’t bring up Congressman Gilchrest’s name because lobbyists don’t know how to explain away anybody who won’t take their money.  But the Gilchrest example of running for office would have saved the Republican Party from all the embarrassment it is going through now with the Jack Abramoff scandal.

 

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            Congress would be wise to follow Wayne ’s example.

              

 

Please say a prayer for the brave men and women in uniform.

 

 

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