Guest Blog by Kathryn Carroll: On Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, My Congresswoman

This is a guest blog by Kathryn Carroll, who is a twenty-six year resident of Tucson, Arizona. Prior to moving to Tucson, she resided in the Hudson Valley of New York, where she served two terms as an elected member of the Town of Poughkeepsie Town Board. She has also been involved in the state and local chapters of the Democratic Party of New York and Arizona.

Representative Gabrielle Giffords is my Congresswoman. I am very proud to say that I have voted for her in all three elections that she has been a candidate in the 8th Congressional District of Arizona, and served as a volunteer in her last two campaigns. She is the best Representative that this District has ever had, and I have lived in this District for nearly 26 years.

Congresswoman Giffords does not fit the mold of most members of Congress who many complain show up at election time when your vote is needed, and then forget about their constituents until election time rolls around again. No one will argue that Gabby Giffords, as she is affectionately called, is one of the hardest working members of Congress. Her constituents are, and always have been her first priority. She returns to her District almost every weekend and when Congress is not in session to conduct town hall meetings and meet with constituents. The carnage that took place on Saturday was just such an event which she calls "Congress on Your Corner." You all have no doubt read and heard the details of this tragedy and the innocent lives which were taken as a result of one deranged individual who, from reading passages on his social networking sites, took the rhetoric and hatred spewed in what has become a politically charged atmosphere which preaches hatred and distrust of all government actions.

The 8th Congressional District of Arizona had been a Republican stronghold for over 20 years, starting with the election of Republican Congressman Jim Kolbe, who took office in January, 1985, to what was then the 5th Congressional District, just six months before we arrived in Tucson. Redistricting resulting from 2000 census, when Arizona gained additional seats, turned it into the 8th District.

During the 22 years that he served this District, Representative Kolbe faced token Democratic opposition and was easily re-elected in spite of the fact that this District has arguably the highest Democratic enrollment in the entire state of Arizona. In December, 2005, Kolbe announced that he would not seek re-election in 2006. Gabby Giffords, who was serving her second term in the Arizona State Senate, did what most politicians do not do. On January 9, 2006, with one year left on her term, she resigned her seat and announced that she would seek the Congressional seat being vacated by Kolbe. She resigned because she felt that she could not do justice to her constituents by serving in the Senate while seeking another office. This ethical action is a far cry from your newly elected Governor who just completed an eighteen month campaign while collecting a taxpayer-funded salary. However, comparing the ethics of my Congresswoman to your new Governor would yield volumes, and, furthermore, Martinez does not belong in the same sentence, let alone article with the gracious, ethical, fair-minded and classy Gabrielle Giffords.

Gabby won both the 2006 and 2008 elections rather handily with token Republican opposition. Her re-election campaign this past year, however, was much different. The Republicans and the tea partiers were determined to win back this seat. The Republican primary brought out numerous candidates who represented various ideologies of the Republican Party, including an unknown tea party-backed candidate by the name of Jesse Kelly. From the beginning it was evident that it would be a very nasty campaign, but it went beyond decency and civility once the tea party candidate won the Republican primary. The Republicans and the tea party right-wingers were relentless in their attempts to trash her voting record and paint her as a far left-wing liberal, primarily because of her support for the new health care legislation. The truth of the matter is, Gabby Giffords is perhaps one the most centrist Democrats in Congress - even a little too far right of center for many of us progressives. All one has to know is that she is a member of the Blue Dog Democrats to realize that Gabby Giffords is not a raging liberal, as the Republicans tried, without success, to pin on her voting record. To her credit, she never backed down, but instead maintained a gracious and cordial tone to her campaign.

There were signs during the campaign which gave pause for some to wonder if her safety might be in danger even then. There were numerous incidents, such as opponents wielding weapons at rallies, and, like other Democrats throughout the country, her district office was vandalized following her vote for the health care legislation.

However, perhaps the most egregious and appalling indication was a campaign event scheduled to take place on June 12, 2010 by her opponent, Jesse Kelly, which advertised on the Pima County Republican website and elsewhere as:

"Get on Target for Victory to November - Help Remove Gabrielle Giffords from Office - Shoot a fully automatic M16 with Jesse Kelly."

If it was intended as a joke, it was a very bad joke, and had no place in a civil society or a democratic campaign. What was perhaps most appalling is that the Republican Parties of both Pima County and Arizona voiced not one word of disapproval or opposition to the tenor of this event, or the message it was intended to deliver. Not the Republican Senators McCain and Kyle, the Republican Governor Brewer, nor any Republican local or state elected officials voiced any outrage. The event was eventually canceled after the local Arizona Daily Star pointed out that Jesse Kelly was evidently not bothered by the Sarah Palin controversy involving her detailed list of targeted races which she marked in crosshairs and urged her followers to "reload" and "aim", as he was planning his own "shootout". Congresswoman Giffords was one of Palin's "targeted" districts.

When word came Saturday that she had, indeed, been shot with a semi-automatic rifle, we could not help but think back to how her opponent invited all to "help remove" her from office with a "fully automatic M16". It appears that this one individual took him very seriously, but his weapon of choice was a semi-automatic Glock 9 equipped with an illegal extended magazine.

When Gabby's 75-year-old wheelchair-bound Father was wheeled into the University Medical Center on Saturday following the brutal attack on his daughter, he was asked by a New York reporter if his daughter had any enemies. His response was quick - "Yes, the Tea Party".

As Representative Giffords lies in a drug-induced coma fighting for her life, we can only hope that she will have a full and complete recovery with no debilitating life-long brain damage, but the predictions for anyone with a brain injury is that the rehab will be long and painful. Will it take this kind of tragedy and the loss of six innocent individuals, all of whom were present only to meet and talk with their Congresswoman, change the discord in this country? Predictions are that those responsible for the high pitched rhetoric will continue without skipping a beat, because those who spew this hatred live in total denial that their public words and actions might have consequences. The reality is, they will never accept any responsibility for the root causes of what prompted a deranged government-hating individual to put into action the veiled threats of the Sara Palins, the Glenn Becks, the Rush Limbaughs and Jesse Kellys of this world on a warm January morning in Tucson, Arizona.

This is a guest blog by Kathryn Carroll, who retired recently as a licensed real estate broker following a 40 year career both in New York and Arizona. Prior to that she worked in administrative positions, including IBM and Dartmouth College. She writes, "my love affair with your beautiful State of New Mexico began several years ago and continues to this day."

BW Note: Arizona Rep. Raúl Grijalva posted on his Facebook page today that folks wishing to send well wishes to Congresswoman Giffords, her family, or the victims and their families, should please email giffordswellwishes@gmail.com.

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