WE LOST THREE WHO MADE A DIFFERENCE

My fabulous editor -- maybe a good career move if she sees this --suggested a year end column on the biggest stories of 2024. I just couldn't relive Trump's triumph so instead am writing about significant people in politics we lost in 2024, those who told a larger story:

PETE MCCLOSKEY: For a decade and a half, chiefly in the 1970s, the Californian was a rarity: a thoughtful, gutsy maverick Republican congressman.
Although in the minority for his entire time, he had influence. He authored the Endangered Species Act and had a voice on matters ranging from national security to ethics.

It was the Vietnam War where McCloskey really shined. A highly decorated Marine combat warrior in the Korean War --he was awarded the Navy Cross and a Silver Star -- McCloskey thought Vietnam a tragic mistake. In 1972, to the dismay of fellow Republicans he contested President Richard Nixon in the presidential primaries. McCloskey knew he had no chance of winning but wanted to elevate the debate. Democrats needed a forceful McCloskey type this year to challenge an incumbent President not fit to serve another four years.

Today's tightly controlled politics would be anathema to Pete McCloskey, One evening driving by his Georgetown residence, the door was open amid a lot of chatter. I went in to find a free wheeling discussion/debate about the Republican party as the barefoot congressman poured wine for everyone.

After elective office he still roused controversy like asserting that aid to Israel should be conditional, Another influential, independent Republican maverick, former Iowa congressman, the more mild-mannered Jim Leach, passed away this month. Our politics would be better if there were smart McCloskey/Leach-type mavericks in today's GOP.

TED OLSON: If there were a hall of fame for legal conservative, Ted Olson would be in it. He also might make one for liberals.

A prominent Republican he was a top Justice Department official under President Reagan and was U.S. Solicitor General in the George W, Bush Administration.
He won two of the biggest cases for Republicans, the 2000 Supreme Court decision that handed the Presidency to George W. Bush, Later he persuaded the High Court, in Citizens United, to open the money spigots, gutting campaign finance reforms.
I thought both cases were wrongly decided but admired Olson's skills.
The only tension I had with Ted was when I wrote a critical column about Jonathan Pollard, an Intelligence analyst, convicted of spying for Isael. It was a good column .Olson, who represented Pollard, let me have it; that's what good lawyers do.

What differentiated Olson's legacy was two huge cases he won in the Supreme Court that endeared him to liberals. One was overturning the Trump Administration effort to end protection from deportation of so-called "Dreamers," undocumenteds who came here at a young age. Even bigger he was a co-leader in the case that gave a constitutional right to same sex marriage, telling the High Court, "The right to marriage to choose to marry, has never been tied to procreation," Olson, the conservative icon, called this the most important thing he'd done in his career.
There are few places where America is more polarized than the Supreme Court especially several of the hard right justices. They would do well to remember Ted Olson.
ETHEL KENNEDY; Her husband, Sen Robert F. Kennedy, was assassinated more than 50 years ago. But Ethel, who never ran for or served in any political office, was more than "the widow of ..." She carried her husband's passion for social justice and human rights with a vigor that some suggsted she was "more Kennedy than the Kennedys."

The family has decided the RFK Human Rights will carry her name as well.

"She was able to take an extraordinary amount of pain and loss and turn it into purpose, lifting up others and finding joy," recalls her grandson, former Congressman Joe Kennedy.

She was a presence in Washington all these years. A party at Ethel's always was interesting and fun; you were likely to see a Hollywood glitterati a conservative columnist and liberal cabinet member bantering. That's the way Washington was.

She was the last vestige of what the romantics considered Camelot; critics charge it has been downhill for the family since. There have been family scandals and tragedies. However, for all that, the next generations of Kennedys have notable achievements: three former members of Congress, a Lt. Governor, successful film makers and journalists and important causes like the Special Olympics.

Those are more telling than the outlier of Ethel's second son, Robert F. Kennedy, jr., now a Trump nominee. I only met Sen. Robert F. Kennedy once, in passing; everyone I've spoken with that knew him says he would have despised a narcissistic bully like Donald Trump.

I believe there will be Kennedys in our political future.

Hopefully, 44 year old Joe Kennedy, who lost a Senate primary, but has similar talents of his great uncles and grandfather, will get back in the arena. Waiting in the wings is 31 year old Jack Schlossberg, President Kennedy's grandson with that unmistakable charm.

Pete McCloskey and Ethel Kennedy died at age 96, Ted Olson at 84, Jim Leach was 82. They all had a long life, more importantly ones that gave meaning.