Clem Miller

Back in the fall of 1969 I was a college student, and I was on Washington Term, an opportunity my school provided to students who wanted to study in Washington, D.C. My brother, Ted, had done Washington Term before me, and will be attending a reunion of participants this weekend.



When I was there, we had a course taught by a curator at the National Gallery, a course taught by a lobbyist, and an independent study. (I did a study of the groups opposed to the development of anti-ballistic missiles, and their tactics. Fascinating, huh?) It was a great time to be in D.C. The anti-Vietnam War movement sort of climaxed on November 15 of that year, with the Mobilization to End the War, which brought hundreds of thousands of people to the city. It scared the wits out of Nixon's Attorney General, John Mitchell. Mitchell's wife, Martha (remember her, anybody?), said it reminded her of the Russian Revolution, much to their delight.

Washington was a different city then than it is now. A scruffy student, I was allowed to wander aimlessly around the halls of power. There was a little electric subway, with open-top cars, that ran between the Capitol building and the Senate and Congressional office buildings, and anybody could ride it. You just got on and sat down. The only time it was restricted was when there was a quorum call, and then a bell would ring and the legislators would stream out of their offices and back to the floors of their respective houses of Congress. I don't remember everybody I sat next to on that subway, but I do remember chatting with Senator Howard Baker. I did a little volunteer work in a tiny basement office used by Senator George McGovern's staff. I typed mailing lists into a machine that produced long strips of yellow paper, translating the letters to holes in the paper, which were later translated back to letters. I have no doubt McGovern's failure to win in 1972 was the result of my failure to do this more diligently.

Well, anyway. The lobbyist who taught our government class gave us a book to read, a collection of letters to his constituents from Congressman Clem Miller of California. I don't think Clem served very long -- he was killed in a plane crash in the early 60's -- but his letters were one of the best explanations of how our government works that I've ever read. I had my own copy, but the last time I remember seeing it was when we lived in Pittsburgh (five homes ago).

And though I may be conflating this with other memories, I'm pretty sure he had a discussion of lobbyists. Clem actually thought lobbyists served a useful purpose, because they provided information, and he thought intelligent legislation required information. I have no doubt that some lobbyists provided money to candidates in those days, but I'm pretty sure it was described as "corruption". Nowadays Congressmen say there's nothing wrong with taking money from lobbyists who support your positions. Of course, we don't know which came first, the money or the position, do we?

Obama is refusing to take money from lobbyists for his campaign. Now that he is in charge of the party, he has established the principle that the Democratic National Committee will not accept money from lobbyists. This is in contrast to John McCain, whose entire campaign staff is awash with lobbyists of the most venal sort. Let's keep our fingers crossed.