In the late 1990s, a Brewer woman, who had escaped both war-torn Eastern Europe and an abusive marriage, learned that her application for asylum in the United States was rejected. A form letter instructed the woman to prepare to return to her native country — ravaged by civil war — with her 11-year-old daughter.
It was, almost certainly, a death sentence for both.
Thankfully, the woman turned to her local congressional delegation which, at that time, consisted of two Republican senators and a Democratic congressman. We worked on that case — along with hundreds of others — to ensure that Maine people were our first priority.
This particular case ended with a surprise party at the home of the woman’s sponsor — a Bangor dentist. She came into the house, saw one of us waving a small American flag, and instantly knew her dreams had come true: She and her daughter were on the way to becoming American citizens.
There were enough tears that day to flood the Penobscot River.
This wasn’t just an empty show of the spirit of bipartisan cooperation, it was simply how we worked — in unison — to help our neighbors, who also happened to pay our salaries. It’s extremely important to note that this was during the Republican takeover of Congress during the Clinton years which, at the time, seemed to divide America politically the most deeply since the Vietnam War.
Today, that sometimes seems like unicorns and cotton candy, but it was a vastly dark time. And yet, those of us charged to serve the public kept our eye on the ball.
To set the stage: Maine has two statewide U.S. senators and two members of the US House of Representatives, each representing a district. Many pockets of population — from Portland to Rockland to Presque Isle — have offices for each. Within each office there are congressional aides who perform a plethora of duties — chief among them solving constituent problems that include cutting red tape with the federal government.
They are your front-line defense and, usually, decidedly non-partisan. In fact, a constituent once came to the door of U.S. Rep. John E. Baldacci’s office, announced he didn’t vote for Baldacci, and asked if we could help him anyway. The aide smiled and explained that the congressman was a Democrat on one day every two years — Election Day. The Senate offices felt and operated the same way.
The conventional wisdom is that these things are divided by party but — in reality — that simply didn’t matter. We might have debated over subtle things, like protocol during a parade, or we might race to beat the other on a press release, but we considered each other colleagues in a common fight, and friends who would often share a beer after work.
Most of us remain friends to this day.
And here we are, a generation later, each of us exasperated and saddened not by the partisan air that strangles today’s political climate but by the expectation that this is the only way, that this is normal.
As anyone who has studied Maine history in even the most cursory manner knows, we have a storied legacy of bi-partisan teamwork: Smith/Muskie. Cohen/Mitchell. And, none of this is to remotely say that the current congressional offices don’t work together as we all once did; these offices are staffed by consummate professionals.
The purpose of this column is to highlight that the vast majority of public servants might belong to a political party but we are not partisan — we work, together, for you.
The lessons we practiced 20 years ago — based on the legacies of the giants of Maine politics — are easily repeated today. It might seem that the country is torn by partisan strife, and that the damage is irreparable. But that also discounts our history: The Civil War, the Civil Rights movement, and the Vietnam War, among other divisive eras from which we had made progress and a return to civility.
There’s no secret ingredient to this recipe other than what everyone should expect from each other: To not only listen, but to hear. To not only abide, but to respect. Don’t allow the negative shouts of the minority to drown out the amens of the positive; there is so much more power in respect and love.
After all, when you shed the lawn signs and bumper stickers and social media posts, we are, really, simply neighbors. And if we don’t take care of one another, who will?
Gail Kelly Sheehan and Patty Morneault Richter were aides for former US Sen. Olympia J. Snowe. John Ripley was an aide for former U.S. Rep. John E. Baldacci.