His Advice To New Members: Eat Healthy, Exercise, Take The Stairs
I only ever met Earl Blumenauer once when nearly a decade ago John Amato and I sat in a hotel lobby getting to know him for over an hour. He struck us both as a smart guy with good values— and a straight shooter. After close to 30 years in Congress he’s decided, at 76 years of age, to go back to Portland to continue his career there. He’ll be teaching at Portland State University's Institute for Metropolitan Studies. He has said he intends to work with community groups to focus on issues such as transportation, land use planning, and environmental sustainability, continuing his lifelong dedication to making Portland a model of a livable community.
In an exit interview with Conor Friedersdorf, he offered some good advice for newly-elected DC lawmakers. He told Friedersdorf that “We have seen in the last couple of years sort of a guerrilla, performative approach to the legislative process, where people are more than willing to just blow things up because they are not interested in passing legislation. They’re not interested in outcomes that normal people would anticipate. They are there to get clicks, command eyeballs, and get online contributions... I advise people to keep healthy food at their desks because mealtime is wildly unpredictable. I advise making a habit of taking the stairs and riding a bike to work because that builds exercise you wouldn’t otherwise get into your routine. And it’s easy to get caught up in the job and neglect family if you don’t set aside family time on your calendar and instruct your staff to respect it… You’ve got a bunch of people who are far from home, inadequately nourished, overly caffeinated, perhaps drinking alcohol, often sleep deprived, cranky, and constantly plunged into uncertainty about their schedule and travel.”
Friedersdorf: You urge new members to invest a lot of time and effort in how they staff their new offices. How does better-than-average staffing translate into better results for members?
Blumenauer: You can’t be an expert on every issue. And there is the added responsibility to represent the people at home who have problems. You must learn to empower staff to sort through issues and to help us reach out and represent constituents. We are, I think, woefully understaffed. So hiring men and women who are dedicated to being problem solvers, who are loyal to their member, loyal to the district and their oath, makes all the difference. I advise being slow and deliberate while staffing up, and moving on quickly if it’s not working. Non-performers sap the enthusiasm of people on your team who do perform.
But as Congress has gotten more performative, some members have de-emphasized staff expertise. They hire for PR skills, while doing few constituent services and hiring no policy people at all.
Friedersdorf: On votes, you advise, “Don’t vote against your conscience” or your “best judgment.” You call that “one thing that you cannot explain to your family and close supporters.” What tempts members of Congress to cast votes that they can’t defend?
Blumenauer: It’s how we got the Iraq War. A number of us saw very clearly this was a mistake. But in the aftermath of 9/11, the Iraq War was popular, and there was a sense among a number of members that if they didn’t go along with popular opinion, despite their reservations, they’d pay a price. A lot of foreign-policy decisions have had tragic consequences because it’s so difficult for people to cast votes on the merits and their conscience. At times, I’ve heard from other members, I admired what you did. I wish I could have done that. But the job is to do that. I make the point that the perceived political cost doesn’t really matter on a lot of such votes, because people twist, distort, or lie about your voting record anyway. So straddling difficult issues ends up not helping anyway.
Taking his seat in Congress is state Rep. Maxine Dexter, who won the primary with 47.4% in a race with 2 other serious candidates. She wasn’t the most progressive candidate but she says she supports a single-payer health care system, backs reducing greenhouse gas emissions, stricter gun controls and increased resources for public housing. Unfortunately, she’s also an AIPAC extremist.
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