Da Chipster

On the subject of Eric Holder, yesterday, thus spake Aggieland Liz: “…he’s a politician! The only one I’ve ever known to be trustworthy is Ronnie Earle! Jimmy Carter tried hard though. I’ll take nominations from the floor if anyone has any suggestions for me…”

I have a couple of nominees; in fact, I have a plethora, but most of them exist at the local level, and there’s a reason for this. I once aspired to be an elected politician, but I lived in the Most Republican District in America. Henry Hyde was my Congressvarmint. My State Senator was the Republican President of the Senate. My State Rep was the Republican Leader (and sometime Speaker) of the Illinois House. So, as a young man in a hurry, I joined the GOP.

And therein lies my point: politics is a dirty business. It always has been. You can rise, but I found that with every step you take up the ladder, you leave a little bit of yourself behind. I started as a RINO, Republican in Name Only, and ended up a few years later in a 3-way primary for county board pledging not to raise taxes. One butt-whipping and actual nervous breakdown later, I got out of the candidate biz and pledged to work to elect good people. None of them ever prosecuted himself but they were good people, most of them laboring in relative obscurity. Let’s lift them from that!

So for the coveted Aggieland Liz Award (the A-Lizzie) I nominate two guys I’ve worked for. One was a local blogger (and DeadHead) who provided a community forum for folks to talk about their town, then ran for his village board in a Very Red Town by knocking on over 4000 doors with a pony tail and a tie-dye t-shirt…and won! Dave Hegland, this bud’s for you.

The second is much more well-known, world-famous, in fact, but still one of the most genuine, graceful, generous guys I’ve ever had the pleasure to have met, with a wonderful wife: Al Franken. Someone brought a puppy to HQ during the recount. This guy got down on the ground and rolled around with it.

Not from personal knowledge, but more from second-hand, I’d also nominate Keith Ellison.

The floor is open: whom would you nominate for an A-Lizzie?