This is one of several guest columns that were submitted in response to this question: How do you identify yourself politically (liberal, conservative, Democrat, Republican, Green, Libertarian, independent, something else or none of the above) and what does that mean to you?
By Ellen Wedum
I confess I used to be rather apathetic about politics. I only voted in presidential elections and was barely aware of who my congressional representative was, let alone my state representative. As a graduate student at the University of Oregon I did campaign for Eugene McCarthy in the Oregon presidential primary in 1968 — which he won!
He had a rally at UO, and I carried a sign that read “Welcome to Eugene, McCarthy!” Then in 1980 I campaigned for John Anderson, and was appalled when Reagan won (especially when he went on to triple our national debt). That cured me of working for third-party candidates, even highly qualified ones like Anderson.
I had never visited a state legislature until the 1989 Supreme Court ruling in Webster v. Reproductive Health Services. I was living in West Lafayette, Ind., working on my doctorate degree, and a Democratic state representative introduced a bill to add all the limitations that had just been upheld in Missouri to the Indiana laws. The bill passed the House and prospects looked dim in the Senate until Gov. Evan Bayh declared that he just might have to veto that bill.
The Indiana Senate voted it down by a narrow margin. I was watching from the balcony as they voted.
At that time the Indiana House consisted of 51 Democrats and 49 Republicans. The author of the defeated bill was so mad that he changed parties right in the middle of the session, resulting in a 50/50 D/R ratio. He was defeated when he ran for re-election as a Republican, but his defection sure made for some excitement during the session. The House had to set up co-speakers, who alternated days in presiding.
So my first categorization was as a pro-choice Democrat and political activist.
Living in ‘red’ districts
In 1992, while finishing up my doctorate in physical chemistry, I became a candidate for the first time (I had a very understanding research director!). I ran for congress against a 13-term Republican, John Myers. He was known as ‘Kissing John,’ and sure enough the first time I met him he grabbed me and kissed me.
I wish I had slugged him, but he stepped back too quickly.
I scared him some when I put $50,000 of my own money into the race, and he called in the big guns, Bush #1 and Quayle, for a rally at Purdue four days before the election. They lost, but he won.
Somehow I usually end up living in ‘red’ districts of the country, so I keep on invigorating the democratic process by running against candidates in ‘safe’ Republican seats. I consider myself more of a politician than an activist now, and I feel responsible for learning about the viewpoints of the residents in this area. I do continue to speak out on issues in an effort to persuade some of them to my point of view.
Working toward public financing
I have observed that the flaws in human nature lead elected politicians to try to turn their districts into monopolies, just as businesses try to become monopolies. There are some rather weak laws to impede both politicians and businesses from doing this. In the realm of La Politica they clearly don’t work.
I have been advocating for public financing of political campaigns since 1992, and for the 2010 campaign I am working on promoting public financing for the state legislature by walking House District 59 asking for $5 donations from registered voters in the district. My goal is at least 1 percent of the registered voters, which is one of the requirements listed in Sen. Eric Griego’s ill-fated Senate Bill 165.
I hope to see a leaner, procedurally better defined version of that bill introduced in the next session.
As someone who has been sacrificing my money as well as time and energy for the sake of political ideals for the last 20 years, I now classify myself as an idealistic politician. And while campaign finance reform enjoys bipartisan support among such people, most of those ideals are part of the Democratic platform. So I am both an idealist and a Democrat.
Wedum is a retired physical chemist and lives outside of Cloudcroft. She has been the Democratic candidate for the House District 59 seat twice and plans to run against incumbent Republican Nora Espinosa again in 2010.