WELCOME

After 28 years of service in Arlington County’s local government, first on the School Board and then the County Board, I have stepped into a new role and life chapter: Private Citizen. My career has equipped me with extensive experience, valuable connections, and an unwavering passion for fostering good local government in Arlington and in the D.C., Maryland and Virginia (DMV) region, an area I call home.

February 9 Blog: Lee Hamilton and the Hard Work of Democracy

Dear Friends:

We lost a great public servant last week: Lee Hamilton of Indiana. Lee represented Indiana's 9th Congressional District from 1965 to 1999. His many positions included Vice Chair of the 9/11 Commission, President and Director of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and Professor and Distinguished Scholar at the Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies at Indiana University Bloomington.

I had the privilege of working for Lee Hamilton in the late 1970s and he’s been a role model for me my whole career. He believed in good government, worked really hard, and respected all his constituents. His approach was most clearly represented for me by his dense newsletters that were single spaced, small font, filling a legal size paper and mailed to his southern Indiana district every week. Rather than write about his accomplishments to make himself look good to his voters, he viewed these newsletters as a way to educate his constituents about what was happening in Congress. He would carefully present the pros and cons of the issues before

the Congress, sometimes saying what he thought, but often inviting his readers to think it through themselves. Staff would help write them (we staff worked hard, too). Lee would send back both draft newsletters and draft letters multiple times with edits until it was the way he wanted it. Working with Lee taught me how to write for regular people, not academics and experts, and how to serve constituents.

I think Lee was a role model in how to age as well. He continued working almost until the day he died at age 94. He lectured and wrote two regular op-ed columns. I highly recommend his last Comments on Congress written January 27 titled 'Congress Needs More Friendships'. His comments are, I think, spot on. His writing style and wise, kind approach to people never changed.

Democracy is hard work, but I’ve felt more than ever before that millions of people are now engaged in this work. The weekly Indivisible calls with Ezra Levin and Leah Greenberg are always inspiring and helpful. You can see the Resistance growing each week with new members, including some international members. Many questions for this week's call were about election interference. Leah recommended we all remember her mantra: “They are losing. So they will try to steal the election. They are going to fail because we are going to stop them.” How? There are many ways that are not all clear yet, but what is clear now is that we must keep exercising our Resistance muscles with non-violent protest and quietly helping those in our communities who need help. Minneapolis is setting an awe-inspiring example of how to fight back peacefully. The Regime’s

violence and brutality only strengthens the resolve of the people, who are proving over and over that they will not back down, no matter what. And support for this cruel despotic regime is crumbling because of it.

Lee Hamilton is quoted on the Hamilton Lugar School home page:

Our Democracy is not a product, but a continual process.

It is preserved not by monuments but by deeds.

Sometimes it needs refining; sometimes it needs amending;

sometimes it needs defending. Always, it needs improving.

What can you do?

Donate (or donate more) to a church or non-profit that is helping our immigrant neighbors.
Join one of the small regular protests at Tesla or on a bridge overpass or downtown.
Put March 28, No Kings III on your calendar.
Share this blog with a friend.

As always, I hope you find this blog helpful. If you have any suggestions on what information would be helpful to you, please let me know.

Yours in peaceful resistance,

Townley