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Memories of Senator Paul Wellstone Kathy Ozer, Executive Director
National Family Farm Coalition
MEMORIES OF SENATOR PAUL WELLSTONE
I woke up this Saturday morning before 6 AM --- stunned and saddened by
the death of Paul,
Sheila and their daughter, Marcia. I woke up hoping this had been a bad
dream but know it's
not. I fell asleep hearing newscasts of Paul and his positions knowing
that he was being
eulogized in his death in a way that he wasn't given that level of
respect and air time for his
views during his life --- during his fights for justice on a whole range
of issues --- from health
care, war on Iraq, welfare reform, fair trade and fair farm policy.
I was planning on working today --- to continue to catch up from almost
a month on the road
--- to pursue our challenge to raise funds and move forward on our
campaign for a new farm
policy. Instead, I am going to the rally against the war in D.C. to add
my feet to the numbers
opposing the war. Paul had stood up against issues that he knew could
jeopardize his political
career --- but his views were deeply held and not to be swayed by
political pundits.
There are many farmers who have known Paul since the 1980's when he
stood with them on
the courthouse steps fighting foreclosure. I first met Paul during the
1990 campaign. NFFC and
FLAG were hosting a farm credit training in 1989 in St. Paul and he came
by to say a few
words. We were working to figure out how to ensure that farmers received
their rights from the
1987 Agricultural Credit Act --- the legislation that grew out of the
class action lawsuit against
USDA filed by FLAG and the grassroots pressure mobilized by groups in
Minnesota and
around the country. He had the same feisty energy, deep convictions,
and a sense that it was
important to raise the issues we are all fighting on that day in a St.
Paul Ramada Inn as he has
had during the past twelve years in Congress.
On the weekend before the election in 1990, I attended a last minute
fundraiser for Wellstone in
Mt. Pleasant. The party was hosted by Minnesotans (it was one of
Mondale's brothers) who
were very excited about the prospect of Wellstone winning as the polls
showed him closing in
on Boschwitz. We viewed the creative ads airing in the campaign and met
the green bus. Paul
spoke via speaker phone and the sense of excitement was very strong. A
few days later he won
the Senate race.
Paul has been there, often too lonely a voice, in the fight to make sure
that farmers earn a fair
price. He understood what it would take to change the situation in the
countryside and he knew
that politically we were locked into a very uphill battle. His decision
to be on the Agriculture
Committee during this past session meant that he could help play an
inside-outside strategy. It
was his persistence that led to some key amendments being debated during
the 2002 Farm Bill.
Paul spoke to the outrageous situation of taxpayer subsidies being at
the core of our farm policy
due to low prices for corporate buyers while at the same time there was
increasing hunger. He
fought for a competition title in the farm bill and his push at the
Committee level helped to
ensure that country of origin labeling was in the final farm bill. In
the closing debate on the farm
bill, he eloquently talked about the work that must continue --- whether
through the Agriculture
Committee or Judiciary Committee. Paul had made a commitment to work
with us to have a
real alternative to this current farm bill drafted --- one that could be
used to help organize
farmers in the countryside. His agenda reflected the real needs of
people not corporate
agribusiness.
I didn't know his daughter, but had met Sheila many times. At
fundraisers, in the halls of
Congress, and in the neighborhood. Sheila was his constant companion and
in her role on Paul's
"staff" expanded her leadership role in the fight against domestic
violence.
He has a very committed staff --- both in D.C. and in Minnesota --- they
worked for Paul
because they believed in what he stood for and they worked hard to make
a difference in these
fights. During the past week, I spoke to each of the Brian's --- Brian
Ahlberg and Brian Baenig
--- both cautiously optimistic about the race.
We need to mourn Paul and Sheila and the others who perished in the
plane but we need to
ensure that the issues Paul cared so deeply about are the ones we
continue to fight and organize
around. There is no replacement for Paul --- but we need to do what we
can to make sure that
whomever continues to represent Minnesota in the U.S. Senate supports
the causes and issues
that Paul and Sheila devoted their lives to.
Bill Christison, President
National Family Farm Coalition
ON THE TRAGIC DEATH
OF SENATOR PAUL WELLSTONE
The membership and staff of the National Family Farm Coalition are
shocked and deeply
saddened with the news of the tragedy which has befallen the Wellstone
family, their friends and
co-workers.
We extend our most sincere sympathy and condolences to the surviving
families and to all who
mourn this great loss to the nation.
Senator Wellstone was the conscience, heart and soul of the United
States Senate. He always
spoke his convictions with commitment and dedication that reflected his
ability, expertise and
wisdom.
Senator Wellstone was a true representative of the people. He spoke for
farmers, workers, and
the many who have little or no voice. Sheila was his constant companion
and in her role on
Paulís "staff" expanded her leadership role in the fight against
domestic violence.
Over the years, farmer members of the National Family Farm Coalition
have been blessed by
his presence and his representation of our needs and goals in the U.S.
Senate. The loss of Paul's
voice and action at this critical juncture is particularly devastating
as we face the issues of
terrorism, probable war, and bad economic times fueled by an unjust
trade and agricultural
policy.
The Senator's position will soon be filled. The Senate will be made
whole, but the Senate will be
forever changed, in fact in a larger sense, the void created by the
absence of Senator Wellstone
may never be filled.
We, as a people, must remember and use what Senator Paul Wellstone has
taught us. We must
come together and move forward in the fight for social and economic
justice.
John Hansen, President
Nebraska Farmers Union
LOSS OF OUR GOOD FRIEND
PAUL WELLSTONE IS A NATIONAL TRAGEDY
The loss of our good friend Paul Wellstone is a national tragedy,
because while Paul was elected
to represent Minnesota in the U.S. Senate, he adopted everyone in the
world in need of social
and economic justice. He loved us, and we loved him. He was our guy in
the Senate. We knew
that he deeply and passionately cared about us and our well being.
Paul not only fought many good fights on our behalf, he fought them in a
good way. In a world
of confusion and compromise, Paul was a man of clarity and principle.
Always the educator,
Paul not only articulated our problems and pain, he put them into
historical, political, and moral
context. Through the power of his intellect, heart, soul, passion,
example, and courage he taught
us to do more than beg for mercy, he taught us to stand up for ourselves
and demand remedy
and justice.
He taught us that self esteem is the building block of political
empowerment. He implored us to
believe in ourselves, hang on to our dreams, trust our core values, and
to never ever quit until
we succeeded.
Paul Wellstone taught us to see the big picture and think structurally.
He reminded us that in
our political system there are two kinds of power: money and people. He
reminded us that the
way people get power is to get educated on the issues of the day,
harness the power of
organization, build broad based coalitions with like minded people,
educate every single person
we can, focus on concrete objectives, and participate in our political
system and make it work
for us. Long before Paul was our political leader, he was our educator
and organizer.
I mourn the loss of my good friend Paul Wellstone, Sheila, his best
friend and wife, their
daughter Marcia, the other victims and their families. But I also cry
tears of loss for our nation.
We have lost one of our very best. People of Paul Wellstone's stature
cannot be replaced. But,
we can begin to fill the holes in our hearts and our souls with our own
commiments to pick up
the sword of our fallen leader and carry on his mission to make
the world a better place. Thank you Paul and Sheila for your lifetime of
good work. We are a
better world for your efforts.
John Nichols,
The Nation
PAUL WELLSTONE, 1944-2002
For grassroots economic and social justice activists, there was never
any doubt about the
identity of their representative in Washington. No matter what state
they lived in, the senator
they counted on was the same man: Paul Wellstone.
But for the family-farm activists with whom Wellstone marched and
rallied across the 1980s and
1990s and into the twenty-first century, the Minnesota Democrat was more
than a
representative. He was their champion. And the news of his death Friday
in a Minnesota plane
crash struck with all the force of a death in the family.
I know, because I had to deliver that news. Family farm activists from
across the upper Midwest
had gathered Friday morning for the annual rural life conference of the
Churches' Center for
Land and People, in Sinsinawa, Wisconsin. I had just finished delivering
the keynote speech ---
ironically, about the need for activists to go into politics --- when a
colleague called with the
"you'd better be sitting down." news. Sister Miriam Brown, O.P., the
organizer of the
conference and one of the most tireless crusaders for economic justice
in rural America, and I
talked for a few minutes about how to tell the crowd.
We knew the 150 people in the room well enough to understand that this
news would change
the tenor of the day. But we did not know just how much until I
announced from the podium
that Wellstone, his wife of thirty-nine years, Sheila, their daughter
Marcia, and several campaign
aides had been killed two hours earlier.
Cries of "No!" and "My God! My God!" filled the room, as grown men felt
for tables to keep
their balance, husbands and wives hugged one another and everyone began
an unsuccessful
struggle to choke back tears. The group gathered in a large circle.
People wept in silence until,
finally, a woman began to recite the Lord's Prayer for the son of
Russian Jewish immigrants
who had touched the lives and the hearts of solid Midwestern Catholic
and Lutheran farmers
who do not think of themselves as having many friends in Congress.
"He was our flagbearer," said Cathy Statz, education director for the
Wisconsin Farmers Union.
"There are plenty of people in Congress who vote right, but Paul did
everything right. We didn't
have to ask him, we didn't have to lobby him, he understood. It was like
having one of us in
Congress."
That was how Wellstone wanted it. "People have to believe you are on
their side, that someone
in the Senate is listening," the senator once told me. "If there is
someone in Congress, maybe
just one person, it gives them a sense that change is possible."
Wellstone's deep connection with progressive activists across the
country was something that his
colleagues noted again and again as they recalled the rare senator who
was, himself, as much an
activist as a politician. "He was the pied piper of modern politics ---
so many people heard him
and wanted to follow him in his fight," recalled Senator John Kerry of
Massachusetts, who is
considering a bid for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004,
just as Wellstone
considered a similar run in 2000.
Mourning in St. Paul, where he had come to campaign for Wellstone's
re-election, Senator
Edward Kennedy hailed his fellow liberal. "Today, the nation lost its
most passionate advocate
for fairness and justice for all," Kennedy said of Wellstone, who was
the No. 1 political target of
the Bush Administration this year but had secured a lead in the polls
after voting against
authorizing the President to attack Iraq. "He had an intense passion and
enormous ability to
reach out, touch and improve the lives of the people he served so
brilliantly."
For Wisconsin's Russ Feingold, the loss was doubly difficult. Wellstone
and he were the truest
mavericks in the current Senate, lonely dissenters not just from George
W. Bush's conservative
Republicanism but from the centrist compromises of their own Democratic
Party. Yet,
Wellstone was something more: an inspiration. Recalling that the
Minnesotan won his seat in
1990 with a grassroots campaign that relied more on humor than money,
Feingold, who was
elected with a similar campaign two years later, said, "He showed me
that it was possible for
someone with very little money to get elected to the Senate."
Before his election to the Senate, Wellstone was a professor at Carlton
College, in Northfield,
Minnesota. Officially, he taught political science. Unofficially, he was
referred to as "the
professor of political activism." He created a course titled "Social
Movements and Grassroots
Organizing," and he taught by example. In the 1980s, Wellstone organized
Minnesota campaign
events for the Rev. Jesse Jackson's presidential campaigns, marched with
striking Hormel
workers in Austin, Minnesota, and was arrested while protesting at a
bank that was foreclosing
on farms.
That was when Denise O'Brien, an Atlantic, Iowa, farm activist, first
heard of Wellstone. "I
remember hearing about this professor in Minnesota who cared so much
about what was
happening to farmers that he was willing to get arrested with us,"
O'Brien said Friday. "That
had a big impact on me. I always remembered that he had stood with us."
O'Brien, who went
on to become president of the National Family Farm Coalition, recalled
how amazed she was
when Wellstone was elected to the Senate.
"But, you know what, he never changed. He was always that guy I first
heard about, the one
who was willing to stand up for the farmers," she remembered. "When the
black farmers from
down South were marching to protest their treatment by the Department of
Agriculture, he
would march with them. When no one was paying attention to this current
farm crisis, he
organized the Rally for Rural America."
At that March 2000, rally, Wellstone delivered one of his trademark
speeches, a fiery outburst of
anger at agribusiness conglomerates mixed with faith that organizing and
political activism could
yet save family farmers. "When Wellstone got going, he was so
passionate. He was like the old
populists, the way he would tear into the corporations," recalled John
Kinsman, the president of
the Family Farm Defenders.
At the children's camp run by the National Farmers Union, Cathy Statz
says, "We use the video
of his speech to the Rally for Rural America to teach the boys and girls
that there are people in
politics you can really look up to, that there are people who speak for
us."
Then Statz stopped herself. Tears formed in her eyes. "I can't believe
he's dead," she said. "I
can't imagine the Senate without him."
The emotions ran deep after the announcement of the senator's death. But
the people gathered
at Sinsinawa were activists in the Wellstone tradition. So after they
had wiped away their tears,
they gathered to hear a panel of farm activists discuss running for
local office. Greg David, of
rural Jefferson County, Wisconsin, got up to tell the story of how,
after two losses, he was finally
elected to the county board of supervisors.
His voice catching as he spoke, David concluded, "I think if Senator
Wellstone was here today,
if he could speak to us, he would say: Don't be afraid. Go out and run
for public office. Put
yourself in the contest. Running for office, serving in office, that's a
part of building our
movement. Maybe we didn't know before that it could be a form of
activism, but we know that
now. Senator Wellstone showed us that."
Helen Waller, Montana Farmer
National Farm Action Campaign
PAUL WELLSTONE: A MAN
OF AND FOR THE PEOPLE
Senator Paul Wellstone was a man of and for the people. He was a bundle
of contagious energy,
driven by an uncompromising determination to do what was right and just
for the common
folks.ÝIn his work as a Senator, he voted his conscience and drew deeply
from the values of a
caring and gentle man.
Scores of the late Senator's colleagues from both sides of the aisle
have risen to praise him as a
man of principle --- and that he was.ÝOne described Paul as the "Soul of
the Senate"Ý He
fashioned his political actions around his well defined populist
principles --- never sacrificing
principle to do the politically expedient!
Those in Congress who will miss his presence, will bring honor to his
memory by cultivating for
themselves the very attributes that they found so worthy of
praise.ÝThen, once again we
Americans would be able to boast of a government "of the people, by the
people and for the
people."
Dan McGuire, Policy Chairman
American Corn Growers Association
AS A DEMOCRAT PAUL WELLSTONE
DISPLAYED THE TRUE SOUL OF THE PARTY
As a Statesman, Senator Paul Wellstone was an honorable giant among
leaders. As a politician,
Paul was a man of character, displaying honesty and integrity when those
traits seem in short
supply. As a Democrat, Paul proudly displayed the true soul of the party
as a reminder to the
world. As a warrior for the people of Minnesota, for farmers and for all
Americans Paul stood
toe-to-toe against corporate giants, willing to make the federal
government assume its proper role, as a referee to regulate the
marketplace and reign in
corporate power. As a good friend, Paul will be deeply missed. America
and the World have lost
one of the greatest leaders and heros of our time.
Missouri Rural Crisis Center
PAUL WELLSTONE UNIQUE AMONG SENATORS,
UNDERSTOOD AND LENT SUPPORT
TO GRASSROOTS ORGANIZING
Family farmers in Minnesota and throughout the nation today lost a
champion of economic
justice in rural America when Senator Paul Wellstone was killed in a
tragic airplane crash. Paul's
wife Sheila died with him and six others in the crash.
Paul Wellstone gladly waded into the fight for justice because he knew
it was right. Unlike
nearly any other member of Congress, Wellstone understood and lent
support to grassroots
organizing, the only way that ordinary Americans have to impact the
major decisions that affect
their lives. Paul found the issues he championed the old-fashioned way
--- democratically. He
listened to the people.
Wellstone's leadership was of both the heart and the mind, and no voice
was more effective,
more genuine, and more enduring. Paul Wellstone stood with us on
courthouse steps and
Capitol steps in the 1980's, fighting against the foreclosures of family
farms by the Farm Credit
System, major insurance companies, and the banks --- and fighting for
fair prices and fair
treatment for family farms.
He stood with us in the past year, introducing the ban on corporate
meatpacker ownership of
livestock in the U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee, and fighting hard
and winning its passage
on the Senate floor over the intense lobbying of corporate agribusiness
and proponents of
factory farms. He stood firm for the environment as well, becoming a
champion of the
Conservation Security Program in the 2002 Farm Bill and working to stop
huge subsidies for
factory farms.
Paul Wellstone was never afraid to speak truth to power. Most
importantly, he was never afraid
to help ordinary people build real political and economic power against
the entrenched moneyed
power of corporate America. Wellstone even shared this with family
farmers and working
people --- he did his work despite constant physical pain and long, long
hours.
Paul Wellstone is gone, tragically and too soon. What remains is the
commitment to the cause
--- economic justice, environmental stewardship, long-term social change
for the good of our
communities and our nation. We will continue the good work in the spirit
of Paul Wellstone.
>From the bottom of our hearts we thank him and thank Sheila Wellstone
for their years of
leadership and service.
We call on public officials in Minnesota to respond to this tragedy by
assuring that Paul's work
is carried forward by whomever replaces him on the ballot or by
appointment.
Food First
MOURNING PAUL WELLSTONE,
CONSCIENCE OF AN INCREASINGLY
UNCONSCIONABLE U.S. SENATE
Today, the dream of America mourns.
Paul Wellstone died in a plane crash, together with his wife Sheila, and
his daughter Marcia. We
feel the stab of this loss, because Paul was always one of us; walking
beside us in protests,
leading us through his words and campaigns, teaching us of the world,
and how it might be
different.
Although Paul had been a senator for only twelve years, he was an
inspiration all his life. His
work as a teacher, at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota,
inflamed generations of students
and teachers to fight for justice in America. When he ran for office in
1990, he was the only
senator to unseat an incumbent. He did this not through vast campaign
contributions, but
through the seemingly forgotten art of grassroots organizing and
mobilizing. By talking to us,
by listening to us, by acting for us. Not for him the choleric negative
television campaigns or the
big ticket endorsement. Instead, he ran his campaign from the back of a
schoolbus; "If you want
to vote for me, give a dollar."
When in the Senate, he fought for the marginalized in U.S. society, for
pensioner's rights, for
healthcare for the poor, for the prosecution of trafficking in women,
for a farm bill to protect
small farmers from the predations of agribusiness, for schools in
Minnesota, for the protection of
the Arctic from Big Oil. He was the conscience of an increasingly
unconscionable senate. When
the conscience of the Senate resides in only one man, something is wrong
with our society. Paul
knew this --- "America has disappeared," he once said. And Paul spent
his life trying to get it
back. He lived the very best of lives, fighting the bravest of fights,
putting into action Langston
Hughes' words:
"Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death,
The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies,
We, the people, must redeem
The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.
The mountains and the endless plain--
All, all the stretch of these great green states--
And make America again!"
Our world won't be the same without him. In memoriam, Paul, our grief is
a cry for justice.
Sometimes, the weight of the day is too much for prose to bear.
JOHN SWEENEY,
PRESIDENT, AFL-CIO
Senator Paul Wellstone stood up for the little guy, but he never had
small thoughts. He was
tireless and unapologetic for championing the rights of working men and
women --- even when
he stood alone, and he often did. | |
