Our Man in Arlington

The Bartons spent a week on Hatteras Island preparing our house for the summer onslaught of kids and grandkids and participating in a reunion of Arlington neighborhood friends whose relationships date back more than fifty years.

This gave us a brief respite from the Arlington political scene. When we returned, however, we were met with the first barrage of congressional campaign literature preparing us for the 8th District Democratic primary on June 8 between incumbent Jim Moran and challenger Andy Rosenberg.

As every regular reader of this column knows, I am both an active Democrat and a supporter of Jim Moran. That doesn’t mean that I am not right, however, in my opinion that he is still the best person for the job! The literature many of us received proves the case.

There were two pieces each from the two campaigns. They all were very slickly done and left little to the imagination as to what their respective platforms were.

The two pieces from Moran were fairly dramatic lists of achievements and positions on major issues. One lists twenty-three major programs for which Moran’s support has been remarkably important, from both a financial and a public awareness standpoint. These projects and programs range from homeland security research programs at George Mason University, health clinic and hospital grants, expanded regional transportation services, and law enforcement programs, to restoration of the natural habitat of Four Mile Run and funding for a joint replacement program. These dramatize my comments in a previous column that Jim’s presence in the 8th District is ubiquitous, unmatched as far as I can see by any other major politician including Andy Rosenberg.

The second piece outlines several broader public policy issues in which Moran has on occasion gone against the grain of powerful and influential interests. These include strong gun control measures, privacy rights, free trade, pro-union stands in areas such as the minimum wage, strong espousal of major women’s issues, and alternatives to the disastrous administration policies in Iraq.

Rosenberg’s pieces concentrate on Moran’s controversial behavior. in three general areas: acceptance of significant financial help from lobbyist friends and a mortgage from a bank with interests in a major banking bill, remarks on the Iraqi war that were considered by some to be anti-Semitic, and some personal public behavior problems.

One of Rosenberg’s pieces also outlines four broad public policy positions on health care, stimulation of the economy, the Iraq “quagmire,” and a woman’s reproductive rights. I agree with these positions and admire him for them. The problem is that from a political perspective Rosenberg’s positions are virtually indistinguishable from Moran’s positions on the same issues. They certainly don’t provide a good reason to vote against Moran.

So, it mostly comes down to Moran’s highly public behavior problems. Don’t get me wrong, there are several matters listed in Rosenberg’s piece in which I wish Moran had exercised better judgment, or at least some discretion. But they do not disqualify him from office. Moran is a hotheaded Irishman (no ethnic slur intended here!) whose mouth sometime jumps in front of his brain. There is not a mean bone in his body, however.

His convoluted financial behavior arose from the huge expenses from the illness of his daughter and a bitter divorce. While some of this behavior may have been ill advised, it certainly was neither unethical nor illegal. The House Ethics Committee has totally cleared him of all charges of that nature, and the banking measures that he allegedly supported because of the loans were strongly supported by major 8th District banking and business interests, too. Jim was merely reflecting the best interests of his district, which is what he is supposed to do.

As for the charges of anti-Semitism because of remarks on the “Jewish community’s” role in the Iraqi war, they are totally absurd. Anyone who knows Moran knows that he is definitely not anti-Semitic, even if they disagree with his remarks as to why we got involved in the Iraqi quagmire.

Don’t get me wrong, Andy Rosenberg is a good man and a good Democrat. He might even make a good Congressman, but not now. Jim Moran deserves our vote and we deserve his continued representation.