Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865), the sixteenth President of the United States and a Republican, once said, “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time.”
Many people recognize Lincoln as someone who was outspoken in his views against slavery and redefined the conservative movement by insisting that the Declaration of Independence served as a foundation for defining freedom and equality for all more than laying all bets on preserving what his political opponents interpreted as sanctity of the U.S. Constitution. Essentially, Lincoln was a true maverick for conservatives without ever proclaiming that he was one.
Lincoln had no “Straight Talk Express” campaign bus. Lincoln did not believe in mudslinging. Lincoln did not believe in making unfounded accusations and statements. Since he became a member of the Whig Party in 1832 at the age of 23, Lincoln had ambition driven by the truth which he aggressively sought, but that’s what made Lincoln unique. Because of this, he was truly a maverick.
Arizona Senator and past current GOP presidential nominee John McCain developed a reputation in the media as a “maverick” for disagreeing with common, popular Republican legislation and ideas. Among those disagreements, in 1983 when John McCain was inducted into congress as a representative of Arizona’s 1st congressional district, he opposed the creation of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. King, a proud supporter of Abraham Lincoln and his push to create the Emancipation Proclamation and give African-Americans a chance to live — the ways that an American with freedom should — was a legacy that took a long 25 years for John McCain to acknowledge.
Some maverick.
From 1982-1987, John McCain received $112,000 in political contributions from Charles Keating Jr., a retired American lawyer, politician, and banker and his associates at the Lincoln Savings and Loan Association. McCain was one of five senators who was contacted by Keating, who pleaded with McCain to prevent the government from seizing Lincoln. In a March 1, 2007 article by the Arizona Republic on recanting the Keating Five scandal, McCain said, “The appearance of it was wrong [...] It’s a wrong appearance when a group of senators appear in a meeting with a group of regulators because it conveys the impression of undue and improper influence. And it was the wrong thing to do.”
See, that’s interesting. If the appearance of meeting with a group of regulators and lobbyists was wrong then, why, in 2008, is McCain’s presidential campaign’s staffed with lobbyists (from telecom immunity lobbyists to a mish-mash of overall lobbyists in general) including McCain’s chief political advisor, Charles R. Black Jr., who happens to be chairman of BKSH and Associates, a known lobbyist business in Washington — and even though Black still works with clients like AT&T, JPMorgan, and U.S. Airways, he says that he keeps business seperate from the McCain campaign. Scout’s honor.
In Los Osos, California, a town I live in, there is a heated political campaign for two open seats on the Los Osos Community Services District. Long story short, the Regional Water Quality Control Board (fixed) placed a moritorium on Los Osos until a sewer is built and effectively replaces supposedly polluting septic tanks. We had several incarnations of the LOCSD since the moratorium was put into place including one board, which had three board members booted out of their seats due to a recall. That board had illegally decided to go through with a project without a proper 218 assessment vote and dedicated source of revenue that would cost taxpayers at least $150 million and at least $200/month. The project was later scrapped by the new board incarnation.
Maria M. Kelly, former and current CSD board candidate, had been described as a “maverick” by her close friend, former CSD board candidate Lynette Tornatzky in 2006 at a candidates forum, which my father, Ed Ochs, also participated in.
The word “maverick” had haunted me as much then as it does now.
Kelly wrote on September 4th on Calhoun’s Cannon regarding her connection to Richard LeGros, one of the recalled board members of the LOCSD, “Richard and I became neighbors in March of 2005. If there is something insidious about buying a house in LO and having it be next to someone who may be for a sewer then we are in some serious trouble.”
Not only is LeGros a neighbor, he is also a representative of Taxpayers Watch, a non-profit organization suing the LOCSD for public waste of taxpayers money. LeGros and Gordon Hensley, also a recalled board member, chairman of the San Luis Obispo Coastkeeper and proud supporter of Taxpayers Watch, are well-known in the community as Kelly’s campaign consultants and active supporters. In spite of this, Kelly has often claimed that she is objective and has no strong opinion in favor of the new board or the recalled board.
Some maverick.
I believe that once you attribute a label to yourself like “maverick” or “reformer,” you will only come across points of irony — in your life — that will undercut the very message you are trying to communicate to your peers and constituents. This is an inexplicable yet acknowledged dissonance in politics. Nobody can truly escape this irony but one can admit to it and take accountability. I just wish that accountability was enforced more often in society so that people would feel more comfortable about coming to terms with it in the public.
EDIT (7:09 PM): Removed a few typos and edited for clarification.
EDIT (9/26/08 at 1:15 PM): Fixed a slight inaccuracy about the Coastal Commission.
