Forward Janesville - TheReport - First Quarter 2021

FIRST QUARTER 2021 • 7 My first real job after college was as an unpaid volunteer on a congressional campaign. Bob Etheridge, the man I was working for, was seeking to represent the people of the second district of North Carolina in Congress. Among other things, I served as the campaign’s “driver,” meaning that I spent a lot of time ferrying Mr. Etheridge to campaign events in his battered old Buick LeSabre. After six months of barbeques, parades, and door knocking, Mr. Etheridge was elected to the House of Representatives, where he would go on to serve seven terms. One of the highlights of my young career was telling him that the Associated Press had called the race and that he had been elected to Congress. A few days after the election, the Congressman-elect offered me a position in his Washington, DC office, which I gladly accepted. Just like that, I was off to Washington. My first job in the Congressional office was as a “staff assistant,” which was often lovingly shortened to “staff ass” by my office mates. I was responsible for answering phones, sorting mail, and handling tour requests, of which there were many. The office got 15 White House tour tickets per week, and those were snapped up months in advance. Our constituents were often disappointed when they learned they would not be visiting the White House. Eager to show my worth in a new job and to please our visitors, I would offer them the next best thing: a private tour of the U.S. Capitol Building. You see, back in those days, any member of a Congressional staff could give group tours of the U.S. Capitol. I was the designated Capitol tour guide in our office, and I threw myself headfirst into the building’s history. I learned everything I could, from the location of the whispering spot in Statuary Hall to the significance of the “Modesty Curtain” in the old Senate chamber. (Quick aside: the strangest, most secret thing I showed people in the Capitol was the Lincoln Catafalque, a wooden stand that was hastily constructed to support President Abraham Lincoln’s coffin as he lay in state. Every person who has lain in state at the Capitol has rested on that stand. The catafalque was hidden in a small chamber known as Washington’s Tomb under a set of stairs beside a random government office. The site was quite creepy, but the tourists loved it. The catafalque has since been moved to an appropriately reverent spot in the Capitol Visitors’ Center.) So, I got to know every little nook and cranny of the Capitol. The Capitol is unique in that it is equal parts a museum and an office building. For a political junkie like me, visiting the Capitol Building was like going to the Oscars. You never know who is around the next corner in Washington, as politicians scurry from meeting to meeting. A recent example: we have run into Bernie Sanders multiple times on the Forward Janesville Washington, DC Trip. After a few years as Staff Assistant, I was promoted and got out of the Capitol tour business. Even thereafter, the Capitol complex was the scene of several life-altering events: I met my future wife, a cute and friendly gal from Wisconsin, on the steps of the Longworth House Office Building, and eventually we worked in Congressman Etheridge’s office together. (I recall asking her, “where exactly is Wisconsin?”) I was there on a scorching day in 1998 when a madman shot and killed two Capitol Police officers. I ran like hell on September 11, when we feared that the Capitol was about to be attacked. 9/11 and its immediate aftermath was the beginning of the end of my time in Washington. A year or so after the attacks, my then-fiancée and I decided to move to Wisconsin. Leaving DC was one of the hardest things I have ever done, but things have worked out well in the nearly 20 years since we hopped in the U-Haul. The best part is that both of my Midwest jobs have allowed me to lead trips to Washington. For each of the last seven years, I have led Forward Janesville members on our annual trip to Washington. Our connections in Washington allowed us to do things I never could have imagined, including visits with two House Speakers, tours of the West Wing of the White House, and meetings with those at our nation’s highest levels of power. We have also gotten to see many parts of the Capitol building that are not open to the public, including the Speaker’s Office and Balcony and the Floor of the House of Representatives. Every time we got to do or see something cool…or unexpected…or kind of secret …I felt the same wonder and awe I felt as a 23-year-old kid walking into the Rotunda for the first time. The United States Capitol Building is a sacred place. When you are a tour guide, part of the building becomes yours. I was always proud to show off the wonders and secrets of the Capitol to the public; to see the light in people’s eyes as I told them stories of the giants that walked its halls. Like many Americans, I watched in horror as the siege on the Capitol unfolded on January 6. It actually hurt to watch the mob desecrate the same corridors that we traveled with hushed reverence and respect. As I reflect on the events of that day, a few thoughts come to mind. At the risk of stating the obvious, American political discourse really didn’t use to be this way. You could disagree with the other side—sometimes vehemently—but at the end of the day, there was respect and often friendship. We all came to Washington to make our country a better place. After work, Capitol Hill bars were filled with Democrats and Republicans, often discussing the battles of the day. These battles were fought with our words and minds, not with our fists. The pure hatred on both sides is a new and dangerous thing. That hate was palpable on January 6; you could almost feel it. But the mob did not win. The Capitol building and our government does not belong to the mob; it belongs to us. To all of us. I think we can agree that the last year has been rough. Unity, not division, is the way forward. America is at its very finest when we are truly united. We must unite to fight this terrible virus and the other challenges we face. Unity will help us achieve the more perfect union that our ancestors fought for. They are watching us, and we must make them proud.