My Fellow Lost

 One of the pleasures of living in a small state has been meeting virtually all of my elected officials at one time or another, making conversation, telling what I think, and having them respond personally.  With a little luck, this may even include the next President.  The number of active dislikes approaches zero.  We elect decent people who represent a lot of views.  While everyone has been personable, not everyone has been capable.

I latched onto a contemporary last cycle, a man of significant accomplishment and expertise in health care.  We probably crossed paths, he as a senior hospital executive at a place I visited almost daily, but I did not get to know him until he ran for office.  He squeaked by in a multicandidate primary and since we really only have a Democratic Party in my district, and now largely in my state, he took his place in the legislature.

Since we share an expertise in health care, his on the financial end, me on the what happens to the patient end, our correspondence evolved, particularly in trying to address a devastating effect of opioids around our state.  We discussed this coffee and via email a few times.  My new friend also had prior experience as a community representative.  This enabled him to engage in some very direct constituent concerns from traffic lights to flooding or other safety hazards in individual developments.  

Covid-19 changed some of the personal contact.  Constituent coffee hours at the Brew HaHa on his tab ended.  Public gatherings where he could show up and mingle became fewer.  And despite his expertise in some aspects of health care, he never took much initiative on making our Covid lives easier, as these were more executive tasks of the state and county than legislative ones.

As a senior health executive, his strength was as a technocrat, something I greatly admire as a clinical maven myself.  When confronted with a choice of taking $100 now or risking it to get $200, he would go for the sure thing, which is what I think legislators should do, though executives maybe not.  His undoing may have been in his own area of expertise.  His principal legislative initiative was to have the state fund Obamacare expansion by reducing the risk to the carriers that were hesitant to enter this market.  Once the deal with state money became attractive to the insurers, they expanded availability, not massively, though importantly to the 21K citizens who benefited.  I happen to agree that those citizens who went from nothing to something benefited more than the insurers who went from having a lot to having an additional increment, though the sum expended could have been redeployed for projects that were less certain but would benefit more people.

The fellow who lost to my friend by less than 100 votes two years ago renewed his challenge, with the legislation as his issue.  I assumed, incorrectly as it happened, that people including me do not really understand the technicalities of this key legislation that requires some real expertise to assemble.  Moreover, prior to social isolation my representative had done direct constituent intervention capably.  I assumed the primary would not pose a major political challenge.

I met the opponent briefly but did not discuss issues.  He had volunteered at a Covid event.  Seemed like a nice fellow.  I wished him well as I handed him my diagnostic swab and drove off.

The election returns from the primaries had a theme.  Quite a lot of challengers prevailed and even the sure things had a quarter of the party voters opposing what I thought were popular and capable incumbents.  My friend got voted out by the man who handled my Covid specimen.  The mail in ballots totalled pretty even, but the get out to the polls turned out rather lopsided.

As I ran an errand to Shop-Rite, I turned a major intersection crammed with political signs, some now effective publicity, others visual clutter once ballots for the general election was established.  My friend's poster was the largest of the corner, anchored by two stakes.  There he was in plaid shirt, windbreaker and cap with a drill or electric screwdriver, the first to remove a sign from that corner.  Being a Senior VP at a mega institution must invite its own share of failures, not getting your way with the CEO, departure of key subordinates, or initiatives that looked great until implemented but were soon abandoned.  His stay in our legislature was only two years, but to me it seemed a very successful two years.  He did a lot for our community before and I don't expect that to end now.