FREDERICKSON, WA — Congressman Denny Heck was the guest speaker at the Frederickson Clover Creek Community Council Saturday. He arrived with his assistants Lauren Adler and Latasha Wortham.
His first comments were related to the process of moving to Washington D.C. The first thing you do is get an apartment. Congressman Hack is roommates with Congressman Derek Kilmer. Both have families that continue to reside in this Washington. The second thing to do is hire a staff. Heck hired people local to his district. The third thing is to find an office, a process fraught with superstition in D.C. He ended up with Cannon 425. The fourth thing is to choose your committee assignments. Heck chose and managed to get Financial Services. No other representative from our state in on the committee.
Because the Financial Services Committee is very intense with material to cover, it is the only committee assignment for Congressman Heck. His particular interest this year is the Export Import Bank. This institution, helpful in selling goods from our state to foreign countries (think Boeing) needs to be reauthorized in October of this year.
Heck said there are two questions he is typically asked.
1) What can you do to fix that mess? (meaning Congress)
- Always look for common ground
- Always be civil
2) How do you put up with it?
- By trying to figure out how to make a difference
He referred to Congress as a, “Brutally dysfunctional institution.”
When asked if the partisanship in Congress is really as bad as it looks, he indicated it was. There used to be 103 swing district, but the gerrymandering that has occurred in far too many Congressional districts had lowered that to 25. The swing district campaigns are incredibly tough on candidates.
As far as doing anything about the redistricting process which seems to create these gerrymandered districts, he noted this is a process determined by each state legislature. Although he would prefer to see this as a blind, non-partisan process, it is not.
[Note, in 2001, Editor Marianne Lincoln blogged the meetings that Pierce County held to redistrict the council districts. It has a great deal of insight into the heart of the process.]
The new 10th Congressional District is made up of Thurston County (39%) and Pierce County (61%). The district also contains about 20% of Tacoma.
So his number one priority between now and the end of the year is to re-authorize the Export-Import bank. This will help grow the economy by helping foreign entities purchase good from the USA. Selling goods is what stimulates job creation. Heck hopes that he can help see to it that if our next generation works hard and plays by the rules, they can have a good life.
When asked what he suggested we can do to help get the Cross Base Highway built he replied, “Start building a coalition.” He noted there was significant organized opposition. The community needs to lock arms and continue making the case for the road.
[Editor note: The opposition is the sierra Club and the Audubon Society]
Another audience member asked, “Does Congress really consider its role as an employer?”
Heck replied, “I don’t wish to cast aspersions.” He commented that he gets a kick out of colleagues that say they want the government to run more like a business. He said, “I’ve started many businesses and every one of them would tell you – you don’t trash your employees, you don’t refuse to pay your bills and you don’t randomly cease operations and expect to have a successful business.”
At this point the meeting paused and Congressman Heck left for another engagement.
The regular meeting for the Frederickson Clover Creek Community Council continued. There are upcoming meetings for Cross Park, the Freddy Fest Chili Cook-off and the events committee which plans the Freddy Fest and Movie Night.
Pierce Prairie Post 