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Health & Fitness

Lynn Woolsey, a Woman of Character

Retiring congresswoman made red-eye flights back home to be here at important moments in our history.

Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey has just announced her retirement after 10 terms in office – that’s a long time. It is up to each individual constituent to decide if she adequately represented the majority voice in her district, and I am sure opinions will differ.

I just wanted to relate two personal stories about her that I believe reflect the character of the woman. Neither has anything to do with her politics, characteristically left wing. By way of disclosure, I am a registered independent voter, always have been and always will be. I am keenly interested in the political scene on every level. I believe it’s imperative that we understand what our government is for and what it is about. My company produces political TV ads and videos for clients on both sides of the aisle. If you Google companies like mine, who just do Democratic races or Republican races, you will find many, but not mine. I think it is our obligation to scrutinize the person who represents us, not the party line they follow.

In the fall of 2003, the Novato Fire Protection District commissioned my company to create a video of the return of fallen firefighter Steve Rucker to Novato, and to his final earthly resting place, after his death in a horrendous San Diego wildfire. This video would air at his memorial service the following week at the Marin County Civic Center. Filming from a secreted location on the tarmac at Sonoma County airport where his coffin was brought home, down Highway 101 and into the cemetery, we captured scene after scene of firefighters across the country who came to honor him and his family with respect and sorrow. Leaving the airport, there were thousands of people lining the road — thousands more stood on every freeway overpass from Santa Rosa to Novato. Each overpass had two engines from a local fire department with ladders crossed and extended, an American flag flying from the apex. At San Marin Drive we would exit the freeway and I would find Lynn Woolsey on the overpass above.

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I noticed her standing quietly among the crowds, alone. She told me she would not be able to attend the service next week due to an important vote in D.C., so she thought it was important that she honor Steve in some small way on this day, so she flew back home.

This spring, due to another sad and untimely death, we were similarly commissioned to produce a video for the memorial of Marin County Supervisor Charles McGlashan, who died of an apparent heart attack after a day of skiing in Lake Tahoe. This time, Woolsey was a scheduled speaker at the event; however, once again her schedule on Capitol Hill became problematic, as the House vote on the 2011 budget bill didn’t end until late into the night before the ceremony.

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I caught up with her in the green room at the Marin Civic Center where she told me she hopped a red eye and made it back just in time. She told me his death was a terrible loss to all of us, and she needed to be here in her district at this time.  On stage minutes later, her words about the late supervisor were profound, and I believe for all the family, friends and colleagues in the audience, worth every moment of her sacrifice to get there.

I have written about the moral misconduct of government leaders such as former Sen. John Edwards and Rep. Anthony Weiner. I have questioned, wryly (I hope), whether male politicians are more prone to this vice than females. I have written about my own experience on Capitol Hill with a congressman when I was a young woman and how that rankled me. But I have not written about a person who has honored the position to which they were elected ... until now, as I write these words about Lynn Woolsey.

I hope we fare as well with her successor. I hope we elect a candidate who has a steadfast character because whether we agree on the particulars of one issue or another, mutual respect between our elected representative and the constituency she/he represents will be what melds us as a community in the challenging years ahead.

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