The Passing of A Statesman
Marc Racicot was the Governor of my home state for eight years. During those eight years I can't remember any scaldingly negative comment about him. Well, that's not true. Certain animal rights groups were furious when he allowed hunters to shoot bison that wandered out of Yellowstone Park. As a hunter myself, I didn't really mind. I was with Racicot.
As a matter of fact, I was with Racicot on almost everything he did. He was a very reasonable guy. I worked for the Montana House of Representatives for a session, and I think I heard more grumbling about Racicot from the Republicans than the Democrats. When the GOP tried to eliminate the tax on business equipment, Racicot scaled back their efforts. When there was a projected surplus, they wanted to give a huge tax cut. Racicot viewed the proposal as irresponsible and threatened to veto it. He was pro-choice. He signed an executive order for a pro-homosexual nondiscrimination policy for state workers and supported pro-homosexual hate crimes legislation. He helped defeat an anti-gay bill the GOP tried to push through the legislature. He opposed school choice, and got the endorsement of teacher's unions. He restricted firearms. He doubled the proportion of women appointed to office in Montana.
Sounds almost like a Democrat, huh? Well, as a matter of fact, he WAS. After serving as Deputy Attorney General for a few years, Racicot wanted to run for Montana Attorney General in 1988 on the Democratic ticket. Racicot approached the Dems, but they had already selected a candidate. Perhaps because the Dems rejected him, perhaps because of the political landscape in Montana, Racicot later ran as a Republican. (UPDATE from the Montana rumor mill: Upon learning that his son was running as a Republican, Racicot's father, a staunch old-school western Democrat, told Marc "I'd sooner you told me you were gay.")
But Mr. Racicot remained moderate and exceedingly bi-partisan, and he was well respected on both sides of the aisle. Not only that, he was always very friendly and personable. My dad, who had been introduced to Racicot somewhere along the line, would stop and chat for a bit whenever he saw Racicot in a Helena gym, and Racicot would ask about the family and everything. Just a good guy. He was one of the few politicians who I viewed as a true statesman.
I guess the point of all of this is that today I am disappointed. Racicot has gone on to lobby for Enron, argue against recounting the votes in Florida, and chair the RNC. Now he heads up the Bush/Cheney re-election campaign, a campaign that has stated that Kerry voted to raise taxes 350 times. I heard Racicot on NPR arguing that Bush actually volunteered to go to Vietnam. I saw him complain that Kerry once "proposed" a 50 cent gas tax. I saw him on Fox News throwing out pithy jabs about Kerry's SUV (sorry about the possessive apostrophe, Mr. Senator).
Whether Racicot's attacks are true spin or blatant falsehoods, it makes me sad to see him reduced to this. I feel kind of like Mr. Smith when he went to Washington and found out that his hero, Senator Paine, was on the take. Marc Racicot once helped me see beyond my own partisanship. Thanks for that, Governor Racicot. I'm truly sorry that era has passed.
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