The following remarks were given by Bradford Fitch, President & CEO of CMF, at the orientation program conducted for senior aides to Members-Elect of the 115th Congress, conducted in collaboration with the House Chiefs of Staff Association.
I want to close today's proceedings with a reference to cookies. Donkey cookies and elephant cookies were left at your tables and served as your place cards today. This was not an accidental seating chart, but an expression of hope. The hope that we have done more here today than simply tell you about budgets and websites and correspondence management systems. The hope that perhaps working relationships that began here today will continue to grow and blossom.
Some years ago the great journalist Cokie Roberts was interviewing her old family friend, former President Gerald Ford. Only the historians in the room will know the connection between Cokie Roberts and Gerald Ford. Their families have been friends for many years, because Cokie Roberts' father was the Democratic leader in the House of Representatives, Hale Boggs, when Gerry Ford was Republican leader.
At Betty Ford's funeral, Cokie gave the eulogy. And she talked about the time she interviewed former President Ford. After the cameras left, President Ford, turned to Cokie and said the following.
"You know, Cokie, I just don't understand what's happened in Washington. When your father was Majority Leader and I was Minority Leader, we would get in a cab together on the Hill and we would go downtown to some place like the Press Club and we'd say 'Ok, what are we going to argue about?' Now, it was a real debate. We had different views about means to an end. We genuinely disagreed with each other, we were certainly partisans. But after we went at it, we'd get back in the cab together and be best friends." Cokie Roberts went on, saying, "That friendship made governing possible – they weren't questioning each other's motives, much less their commitment to the country."
The lessons we shared this week are quite easy on some levels. Setting up budgets, hiring staff, and managing an office are not the really hard parts of working in Congress. Governing, that's hard.
What you don't know is there is a quiet movement afoot in Washington DC to help you with that governing process. Led by the Democracy Fund, the Hewlett Foundation's Madison initiative, and the Bridge Alliance - all these groups are helping other nonprofit organizations and helping the Congress to govern. They are building bridges across that great divide in our country, building relationships across party and across chamber in the spirit of building a more perfect union. We encourage you to embrace those efforts and work with our organizations to solve the problems and the challenges that are facing the nation.
There will be many other voices urging you not to do this, to resist reaching across the aisle, and focus only on the next election, on beating the other guy. We hope, instead, that you will listen to those voices seeking to bridge the divide. Welcome those efforts to help you solve the problems that we all face, whether they are advising you on how to build a website that will educate citizens on how Congress really works or how to improve our healthcare system.
We at the Congressional Management Foundation stand ready to help you and support all of these endeavors. We know very well the challenges you will face, and look forward to helping you and the members that you serve address those very challenges. I thank you, good luck, and welcome to the House of Representatives.
