Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Why Congress Will Miss Rep. Jim Moran

I'm sorry to hear Rep. Jim Moran is retiring, a hard-working, underrated fighter for progressive values, especially for our environment & public health.

My favorite Jim Moran moment: I was leading one of my first Arlingtonians for a Clean Environment stream cleanups at Four Mile Run and was told to expect Rep. Moran to attend. I expected him to show up in a suit, make some brief remarks, hold up a few pieces of pre-collected trash for the camera, and be off to his next event.

Instead, Rep. Moran showed up in hip waders, grabbed a trash bag, and took off down the rocks into the stream. Within minutes he was downstream & out of sight around a bend. Moran didn't return until he'd filled the bag with trash & was dragging a bigger piece of junk that wouldn't fit in. As he left, he apologized profusely that he had to leave before others had finished.

The more you work with members of Congress, the more you respect politicians who genuinely care passionately about solving problems, as opposed to those who just know what they're supposed to say. (Bizarrely, it's the latter who are more hailed as "moderate" heroes by the Beltway media.) Rep. Moran has a fire for the solutions he truly believes will improve the lives of average citizens, and that's sorely lacking in Congress these days.

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