Baltimore Sun 02/15/2008
By Michael Shank

Not only did the 1st District lose a congressman our Founding Fathers would have been proud of, but Congress lost a representative any democracy would be proud of (“Change-minded electorate ousts Wynn, Gilchrest,” Feb. 13). Rep. Wayne T. Gilchrest was a rare breed on Capitol Hill who chose principles over partisanship, diplomacy over demagoguery and the contemplative over the caustic.

Favoring the diplomatic precedent set by past presidents, such as Dwight Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan, in dealing with Russia and China, Mr. Gilchrest, a decorated Vietnam War veteran who knows well the costs of war, called for conversation before invasion. It’s amazing, really, that such an approach can cost a congressman his seat.

More than this, though, got Mr. Gilchrest in snags with the Republican leadership.

He favored pre-emptive action to prevent global warming.

And environmental conservation was inherent to Mr. Gilchrest’s conservative agenda, much to the chagrin of disbelieving party whips.

That is what Maryland, and Congress, lost this week – a representative who thought it wise to gather all perspectives before a key vote, who preferred pre-emption of the diplomatic sort and who understood that representative democracy meant representing not only his current constituency but the next generation’s as well.

The nation, and nature, will likely be worse off for his loss.

Michael Shank
Arlington, VA