By Giovanni Roverso
“We the people, must step up to the challenge of governance that George Washington gave us when handing power back to congress after the revolution,” Rep. Derek Kilmer (D) said, as he recalled the scene depicted by his
favorite painting at the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol. Here General Washington refused the opportunity to be King, favoring instead a presidential democracy.
The congressman met with Peninsula College students on Friday, Oct. 17, hot on the heels of a 6th Congressional District forum held the previous Wednesday in Port Townsend with his adversary Marty McClendon (R); and just days after ballots for the November general election had begun to show up in mailboxes across Clallam County.
“I like to think of myself as just Derek from Port Angeles,” Kilmer said as he began to introduce himself. He recounted how, since he was a child, a propensity to complain and ask too many questions served to propel him forwards as he gained valuable assets that eventually landed him at his current position at the House of Representatives.
At the national level, he supports raising the minimum wage to $10, reducing interest on student loans to the same rates enjoyed by big banks and amending the Affordable Care Act, as opposed to repealing it entirely.
“I think congress is a total mess,” Kilmer admitted. He expressed concern about his children’s future if the current state of affairs were to continue. “There’s way too much focus on partisan bull,” he said. When asked what was being done to straighten congress out, he replied: “It’s a big turnaround project. Frankly it’s worse than I thought it would be.” To shed more light on the root of the problem, he spoke of an off-putting conversation he had at a burger joint while on a road trip with fellow members of the House. When Kilmer asked those sitting at his table what they could do together to start fixing things, a Republican from a mid-west state explained that the strategy he’d used to out-compete his predecessor, who was also a Republican, was to accuse him of not being extreme enough in his positions. He knew he’d continue to have good GOP support, because he understood that his job was not to work with Democrats, but to stop them.
“Information is the most powerful thing in the democracy—Information and engagement,” he said in closing, as fliers promoting internships with his campaign were passed around the PUB conference room. Kilmer called for everyone to dial down the politics, with greater focus on no-nonsense problem solving.
“It’s important to keep the faith. It’s easy to get disheartened in the current state of play,” the congressman said. He concluded that a way out was possible, but only by charting a targeted and strategic course correction over time.
Although, as Kilmer said, the situation in Congress is in near gridlock, he was positive in the steady progress he is making on issues at the state level, with special attention given to boosting the economy, increasing educational opportunities and safeguarding the environment.