This commentary is by Diane Derby, who was a field representative for U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., for the past 10 years.
As I handed over my U.S. Senate-issued phone, laptop, ID card and keys last Thursday at 5 p.m., I officially retired from my job as field representative with Sen. Patrick Leahy and put my political work in the rear-view mirror, at least for now.
I had not expected to leave Sen. Leahy’s office before his current term ran out in 2022, but like many people, I had grown exhausted by the news. As a former journalist and a self-described news junkie, I suddenly found it too hard to read the headlines, something that is fundamental for a Senate staffer to do.
One might have thought the horrors of the Jan. 6 insurrection would have broken down partisan barriers. It only hardened them, as we learned from the impeachment proceedings.
With Sen. Leahy taking the reins of the Senate Appropriations Committee after last year’s election, our work took on critical new dimensions with the needs brought on by Covid. I heard from Vermonters who shared very personal stories of financial distress, stories that I would revisit at 3 a.m. and reach for the CBD gummies. Ultimately, it was the complexity of federal spending that wore me down. I will be the first to admit that my strength does not lie in spreadsheets.
My departure coincided with the 20-year anniversary of my start in the Senate. I moved to Washington, D.C., in September 2001 to become press secretary for Sen. Jim Jeffords. Some of my former journalism colleagues suspected there was more to my leaving, or at least the timing of it. I assure you there was not. I am proud and grateful to have been a Leahy staffer for the past decade. It was rewarding and important work.
As political speculation grows about the “future of Vermont’s congressional delegation” (as evidenced by VTDigger’s virtual conversation of the same title), I’ll just make clear that I have no inside information on the plans of my former boss or our other delegation members. But it is apparent that there is a strong pool of congressional hopefuls waiting — some more eagerly than others — for a signal. My inbox is a pretty clear indicator of that.
Here is what I would like to know of any candidate looking to represent Vermont in Washington:
- How does our country begin to heal from the ideological divisions that make it nearly impossible for one government to govern?
- How will you contribute to that healing?
- Is our country too big and too disparate to continue on the path we’ve been on?
These are not hypothetical questions and they beg a much larger discussion that we are not hearing in the run-up to midterm elections. For reporters on the trail: Please don’t accept that the candidate will “work in a bipartisan manner.” Too late. There is a dire need for a new strategy, perhaps a new way to govern. I don’t know what it is; I just know it is a conversation that we, as a nation, desperately need to have.
When Congress can’t agree on funding government operations, when Congress can’t find its way to punish those who nearly brought down our democracy and killed people in the process, something is very wrong.
We all have our own villains to point to in the discussion, but that does little to further the goal of finding a way forward. It is also not as simple as pointing fingers back at the previous administration.
The seeds were sown decades ago. They matured during the George W. Bush years when, as Jeffords’ press secretary, I saw a new form of political messaging take hold. Short sentences, repeated many times over, suddenly became truth. Or at least someone’s truth. Sheer falsehoods (Mission Accomplished, WMDs, the global warming hoax) were fed to the public long before we heard the term “alternative facts.” And that was all pre-Twitter.
My work in the Senate started with great uncertainty — my first day on Capitol Hill was 9/11. Within my first hour, the Pentagon had been hit and we were being ordered to evacuate. Some Capitol Police suggested we run, not walk, and their tone left little question. The buildings were brimming with sharpshooters.
That night, I started keeping a personal journal in which I questioned, on a daily basis, my decision to leave Vermont. I held on in D.C. for nearly six more years.
When I did move back to Vermont after Jim Jeffords retired, I thought I had left the political world behind. But after a few years out, I missed the vibrancy of Senate work and the connection it brought with Vermonters. I came back as a Leahy staffer, but in Vermont rather than D.C.
I have since learned a lot about our state, particularly from those who don’t have much tolerance for “politics” but who still reached out to our office for help. They might have been struggling with a neighbor or seeking help for a daughter with opioid addiction. Or they just needed someone to talk to. This is perhaps the most overlooked yet critical function of a Senate office and I will miss making those connections.
For now, I am looking forward to some downtime before deciding what comes next. Retirement isn’t really in my game plan. And for the record, I most definitely have no plans to run for office. But I appreciate those who do.
