Announcing the A-Lizzie’s
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?
No nominations from me, but really happy to hear that my home state of Minnesota, includes two of your nominees.
1When I was still young enough to wonder what color the water was in the “Colored Water Fountain” at the Bonham courthouse, I overheard the Speaker of the House of Representatives ask about the welfare of all nine kids belonging to a middle aged black man.
2And he asked about each one of them by name.
Thank you so much Chipster! I’m with you, know some local people -some of them, gasp, Republicans!- who are decent and tried damned hard to do the right thing, even when unpopular. A local county judge I know, retired, is one Randy Sims, a great guy who tried hard. Our local sheriff is Chris Kirk, and I personally think he is outstanding. I don’t say I agreed with every decision they ever made, and one funding issue had an awful outcome, but I am not sure Mr Sims was involved in all that; I would be hugely disappointed in him if he had been, because he was always a very up-front guy, and there was nothing up-front about taking a county fund and applying it to the jail/admin/etc building project when the interest from that fund had supported quite a few non-profit projects.
3My confidence in my delightful state and federal officials is, alas, not so high 🙁
4Two that are dead but set a high standard are Barbara Jordan and Ann Richards.
5Yes, they were both fIne women and LADIES too! A couple men from Texas named Bentsen were great and a guy from Houston whose name escapes me. I liked Chet Edwards support of vets; other issues some up, some down. Eight years of Bush had given me a bad case of jaundice, so tell me more-makes me feel better and renews my hope!
I like Gilberto Hinojosa. A lot!
6I nominate the guy who sucked me into this crazy fix-the-politics scene, Howard Dean.
My son and I got to meet him at an event in Denver. Mike has developmental delays, some of which are social. When his hero “Power” Dean (what Mike thought his name was!) offered to shake hands, Mike instead grabbed him in a bear hug. I was a step back and could see Howard’s face. He looked shocked, then you could SEE him professionally assess the situation. Then he gave Mike a big ol’ hug right back.
I also think he is still working for the Democratic wing of the Democratic party. It was his 50 States plan that laid the grassroots groundwork for the steam-roller that got Obama to office in 2008 and will, please God, do the same this year.
7Elizabeth Warren.
Al Franken (remember the comedian/clown jokes when he was finally seated? He has wiped the floor with people, brooking no BS. So much smarter than they thought)
Actually, I want Anthony Weiner back – he just need to not be stupid about private stuff
Russ Feinstein
8I’m not quite sure what “a Lizzie” is. But could I just mention the guy who used to be my State Rep. His name was Rick Noriega. When he was running to be my State Rep, he came to my door, and asked for my vote. He got elected to the Texas Legislature…… which was really, really supposed to kind of “exempt” him from being called to active service… even as he was a member of the Texas National Guard. In that capacity, he coordinated, with the Houston Mayor, Bill White, in getting refugees from Katrina to safety in the Astrodome.
Somebody thought he might make a good candidate to run for United States Senate. So, he did. He lost that race. But, He also went to Kabul, Afghanistan and served with the troops over there.
He got his fill of Texas politics.and works in the private sector, in education……. (his wife now serves as a member of Houston City Council)….
Rick Noriega, would be my pick for any award you want to give out. He’s just an all around good guy.
9Oh, and Dennis Kucinich. He takes a lot of guff about seeing a prototype drone back a few years ago, when a lot of other people also saw it. They keep saying he saw a UFO (which it actually was)
I have a lot of respect for Ron Paul. I only agree with about 40% of his ideas, though. The other 60% belong in a fantasy world. Oh, yeah, don’t like the apparent bigotry. Never mind on Ron Paul.
10KEITH ELLISON … has my district. he’s representing me admirably.
11William Proxmire, senator from Wisconsin 1957-1989. In his last two campaigns he spent less than $200, a combination of the cost of paperwork filing fees, and postage to return unsolicited contributions. He ran no TV or radio ads, instead he walked around the Dane County (Madison) farmers market were he could meet and talk to 15,000 people on a Saturday morning. Really. You could walk right up to him, shake his hand, and tell him what was on your mind.
12My father spent 26 years as a State Senator (in a foreign state). He kept his honor and his dignity with one simple motto: The appearance of impropriety IS impropriety.
I take some personal umbrage when people stereotype politicians as dishonest. There are thousands out there who were born to serve and do so with more honor than their office demands. Thanks for recognizing them.
13Barber Conable was an honest politician — an old time centrist Republican from the 70s when he was the highest ranking Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee. I still use the bread recipe from a copy of Barber Conable’s Congressional Cookbook even though I’ve had to modify it slightly over the years to accommodate whole grain flours and reduced sugar.
Locally the township supervisors are honest — even the Republican ones. Probably because there isn’t much party ideology at the level of trying to keep the roads and bridges functioning which depends on getting grants from the state Dept of Transportation and it’s really difficult to rail against government spending when you’re the recipient of it (unless you’re Bobby Jindall who, when the weather is fine says “We don’t need any Federal dollars!” but whena hurricane approaches Louisiana he changes his tune to “Where the hell are those Federal dollars?”)
And hats off to the fellow who taught me that Justice Scalia is an oxymoron just as good as military intelligence, jumbo shrimp, and Christian Rock.
14Jim Hightower, former Texas Secretary of Agriculture, who was beaten, to the State’s great shame, by Rick “Oops” Perry. Jim was an old style progressive, and a tremendously funny speaker, who was unequalled at firing up the delegates at a State Democratic Convention. Also most of the famous “dirty thirty” members of the Texas House of Representatives who stood up to the Lobby and Speaker Gus Mutscher, a few decades ago. And President Harry Truman as the standard setter. Actually there are many more who could be named; unfortunately, we best remember the crooks and the sinners.
15The honorable Henry B. Gonzalez. First Mexican American to be elected to the House of Representatives. When he left office, he only had his retirement salary to live on. He had not made himself rich at the expense of his voters.
Charles (Charlie) Gonzalez. Followed admirably in his father’s footsteps.
The Castro brothers out of San Antonio. I know their mama, Rosie, and if she thought they did anything to disgrace their position she’d have those boys by the ear in a second.
We’ve elected some good ones out of San Antonio.
16Senator Tom Harkin, IOWA, Elizabeth Warren, MA, and two from my state: Howard Dean and U.S. Rep. Peter Welch, quietly and politely advancing a very progressive agenda.
17Alan Simpson, former Republican Senator from Wyoming has been very open about the mistakes his party has made and as a result is a pariah. He’s an honest man who is trying to right an otherwise sinking ship.
On the other hand, LBJ was a politician deluxe but look at all the good he did with voting rights.
18Bob Eckhardt. In the Texas House he wrote the 1959 Texas Open Beaches Act that the Ooops! Perry crowd is now dismantling. As a six-term U.S. Congressman (8th District) he sponsored the War Powers Act and the Toxic Substances Act and supported other good works in addition to being an engaging character.
19Being in Vermont I would have to second Peter Welch who is doing a great job after Bernie left to go to the Senate, of course Howard Dean and though he isn’t a Democrat, Bernie Sanders.
20We had a lot of good Republicans in this state, you might remember Jim Jeffords he left the GOP before it became fashionable, George Akins of the “Leave Vietnam and declare victory” fame were good men.
BTW, when Bernie ran for the Senate, Al Franken and Obama both came to Vermont along with Russ Feingold to help campaign for him.
Former State Representative Patrick Murphy (Pa), who sponsored the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell….an Iraq war veteran who sacrificed his political career for this cause. A true American hero.
21I do hafta admit, I knew about many of these folks and had forgotten about them. As I said (with special apologies to Ralph, my father is an ultra honest and upright man of integrity too, and he worked at NASA for 25 years – more about him another time) the recent crop of statehouse guys, Bushes planted in the White House by the SCOTUS, Bush in the Guvs mansion (it didn’t burn down…) and all these rich people who think they are too good to lend a hand, cuz, well, you know, they’re rich dangit! – it has got me down 🙁
22I will rescind my snarky comment, and I’d like to thank everybody for the kindly reminders – even in politics, my glass just really is never half empty, it’s at least half full 🙂
Mr. Speaker. Sam Rayburn.
23Oh, Liz, I didn’t think it was snark! I think it’s mostly true, and even some of these nominees have one or two toes – if not a whole foot – made of clay. Just look at how many people we had to REACH BACK IN TIME for. I really think almost all politicians with major name recognition had to compromise something to get there.
I’d love to hear more nominees, but I think our first A-Lizzie for the category of Former Politician should go to Ralph’s dad.
24Thanks, My dad has been dead for 15 years but I know he would appreciate you kindness. He never lost an election and never publicly said an unkind word about his opponents. And although Bill Clinton took credit for it, my dad worked for twenty-four years to end water pollution in Arkansas’ five major rivers. He beat the oil companies, he beat the paper mills, he beat the municipalities, and he beat the poultry industry. He ended water pollution in Arkansas. And he let Bill Clinton take the credit.
Here is a brief example of his “straight and narrow path.” When his sons came home for holidays we would frequently drink a few beers and watch some football. When it was time to go home, we had to take our empty beer cans with us because he did not want his garbage collector to think that excessive drinking was taking place at the Senator’s residence.
He had a clean conscience and slept the sleep of an honest man. I’m honored and proud to be his son. (Thanks for letting me brag)
25If the nominations aren’t closed, I would like to suggest Senator Patty Murray (let’s hear it from the veteran’s), Bernie Sanders, Al Franken, and yes, Barney Frank (I’ll miss his straight talk). And if there’s an award for GOP Puppet Slime Dog, I’d like to nominate my congressvarmint, “In-This-Office-Forever” Doc Hastings, who ran on term limits over 25 years ago and hasn’t done a damned thing since unless his handlers told him to.
26@Ralph, we will encourage you to brag w enthusiasm! Bet some sons and daughters and nieces and nephews feel the same way: about their Grandpa, n probably their daddies n uncles too! After all, the apples don’t fall far from the tree!
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