Political Gridlock

Hey, Kimberly,

Years ago, I was working on a piece of legislation called the Crime-Free Communities Act. I was collaborating with a Democratic senator and a Republican congressman, both of whom were in positions of leadership.

I spent $100,000 in lobbying fees, traveling to the congressman’s district and the senator’s state. I had marched the ball about 99 yards down the field, and it almost passed.

At the last minute, I had a meeting with the senator. I said to her, “You need to have a meeting with this congressman.” One was a Republican, and she was a Democrat. I said, “You have to meet in order to get to budget reconciliation.”

She replied, “I’m not going to meet with that son of a bitch.”

I said, “What do you mean?”

She said, “He constantly lies.”

And that was it. The bill died because the two of them could not come together and have a conversation.

The $10 million that had been allocated for this project was taken over by the congressman, who did some amazing things in his own state—but it never became a national initiative.