[img]1048|left|Jim Clarke||no_popup[/img]Sixth in a series
Re “How Someone in the Background Can Make Congress Work”
Given the ear-pounding screaming that has exploded in the 48 hours since U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was shot, the timing was perfect to pose a question to Jim Clarke:
When he went to Washington to begin a four-year stay as the chief of staff for now-retired Congresswoman Diane Watson (D-Culver City), did he find the state of hyper-partisanship exaggerated?
“It got worse,” said Mr. Clarke, now Director of Federal Relations for Mayor Villaraigosa, and one of the least partisan political operatives to be found.
“I was there in 2007 for one of the five most important events in my life. I was in the gallery when the gavel was handed to Nancy Pelosi as the first woman Speaker of the House of Representatives.
“There was so much excitement about the First One Hundred Hours, and all the things we were going to do. Nancy Pelosi was successful when the Democrats were in the minority because she was able to mobilize the Democratic caucus and turn it into a unified bloc. But the problem with that was, you were always in the minority. You could get every Democrat to vote, but then the Republicans would get all of the Republicans to vote, and you would lose the issues.
“She also did an effective job of mobilizing the Democrats for the past two years, although people don’t like the outcome.
“But here is what happens with that:
“Look, I am a liberal. Usually, liberals are left. Just like the compromise tax bill the lame duck Congress passed last month. Liberals were upset about it.
“The reality is if you consolidate your bloc, the other side consolidates its bloc, and you have gridlock.
“What happened, interestingly, in last November’s election was that 48 Democrats were running for re-election in districts John McCain had won in 2008. Thirty-six of them lost.
“In the new Congress, you will see that the Democrats who are left are more liberal than the ones who were there before. The Republicans who got elected are more conservative. So you will see a greater divide, and less ability to reach across the aisle.
“Most members came in (last Monday), but several days later they were out of there. They spend very little time with each other. They don’t get to know each other. They don’t get to develop the kind of cooperative bi-partisan relationships that used to exist.”
(To be continued)
