Rep. Swalwell: Ellen Tauscher’s wisdom, guidance and friendship will be greatly missed

Ellen Tauscher was a force: a force who passionately served her constituents as a member of Congress, a force for good in the world as one of America’s top diplomats, and always a force of loyalty for any friend who counted on her. We will miss her dearly.

I would not be where I am, or who I am, if not for Ellen Tauscher. When I joined her congressional office as an intern in 2001, I was a college athlete unsure of what I wanted to do with my life. The example she set with her public service, her leadership and her character inspired me to think beyond my own pursuits and set my goals around helping others.

{mosads}She broke the mold again and again. She was first in her family to go to college. She was one of the youngest and first women to become a member of the New York Stock Exchange. She created the Tauscher Foundation in 1980 to help California and Texas schools buy computer equipment for primary school students. She created the ChildCare Registry, the first national research service to help parents verify the background of child-care workers. And she chaired two successful Senate campaigns – all of this before serving in Congress for seven terms.

She ran in 1996 against Rep. Bill Baker, the last Republican to represent a Bay Area-centered House district, by calling him out on issues including women’s right to make their own medical decisions and taking the most dangerous firearms away from the most dangerous people.

Her service on the House Armed Services Committee – where she chaired the Strategic Forces subcommittee overseeing our nuclear weapons arsenal, missile defense, and national labs – made our nation safer and stronger on the outside, while her service on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee made us safer and stronger on the inside. 

She was so bipartisan in her efforts that, as an intern, I remember being confused about which party she was in – so often I saw her at hearings and in her office working with Republicans. It defied my expectation of how Congress could work.

And her nonproliferation and disarmament work as Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security during the Obama administration made our world safer.

After surviving Stage 3 esophageal cancer, she became a board member of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network and chaired the NCCN Foundation, becoming a vocal advocate for more information, more funding and earlier screening.

{mossecondads}As her family so eloquently put it, “Ellen’s were among some of the most remarkable stories of survival and strength, of living to the fullest and giving to others with every ounce of her strength. Those stories will live on inside the broken hearts of her friends and family on whom she has left on an indelible mark. Ellen came and made a difference in the lives of her neighbors and perfect strangers who trusted Ellen with their votes and their futures. And she never let them down.”

Amen to that. Ellen Tauscher was a bold and selfless champion who strove at every turn to make our world a better, safer, healthier place. 

She was also a great mentor and friend. She taught me, she believed in me, and she encouraged me to run for Congress in 2012 when we had the advantages of California’s first top-two primary and newly-drawn district lines. She pushed me to knock every door, whether it was a Democratic home or otherwise, and trust that my vision of new energy, ideas and leadership would connect with all kinds of voters – the same trust she had put in her own voters back in 1996. And she publicly endorsed me, even as all her former colleagues lined up behind my opponent. 

In late 2016, she advised me as I wrote the Protecting Our Democracy Act, to create an independent, bipartisan commission to investigate foreign interference in our election. Later, she led a bipartisan group of statespeople – including former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, former U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, and former 9/11 Commission Vice Chair and Congressman Lee Hamilton – in a letter supporting that bill, once again working across the aisle to shield our nation.

I think back to when she introduced me to the happy crowd at my Election Night victory party in 2012, remarking, “Aren’t we lucky that people still want to be in public service?”

It wasn’t luck, Ellen – it was, in large part, your inspirational example. Thank you. I will miss your wisdom, guidance, and friendship every day.

Swalwell represents the 15th District of California.