Sunday, March 06, 2005
Tillie Kidd Fowler: A Tribute
The former Congresswoman was always steadfast and loyal. Her death reminds us how rare that is in today’s poisoned and partisan political arena.
Newsweek -By Eleanor Clift-For Complete Article (Click Here)
There is a picture of Tillie Fowler at age six standing on the desk of the legendary Georgia governor Herman Talmadge as her father, another Georgia legend known as “Silver Fox,” proudly looks on.
Fowler was born into politics. Her father, Culver Kidd (Of Milledgeville Ga.), a lifelong Democrat, served 40 years in the state legislature before he was defeated at age 78. He lived to see his prized daughter elected to Congress in 1992, but he never reconciled to the fact that she became a Republican.
Maybe it was her family heritage, but Fowler was a Republican who hearkened back to an earlier time, when our politics were not so partisan and poisonous. She was expansive and inclusive, fiercely loyal to friends on both sides of the aisle, and a committed feminist.
She wasn’t known around the country, but in Washington, especially among the community of women active in pressing women’s issues, she was a popular and familiar figure who could be counted on when it mattered.
Fowler was one of only a few Republican women active in the Congressional women’s caucus, and she tried (unsuccessfully) to get her party to moderate its position on abortion. “Enough is enough,” she counseled when the GOP scheduled more than a hundred votes to restrict reproductive rights in the Congress led by Speaker Newt Gingrich.
Her story was emblematic of women a generation ago entering the political arena. She agonized about the impact on her family, consulting her pediatrician and her preacher before running for the city council in Jacksonville, Fla., where her husband is a tax attorney.
When a Congressional seat looked promising after the 1990 redistricting, Fowler spent six months studying the pros and cons of the job. She flew to Washington to consult with other women lawmakers about how to balance a Congressional career with her responsibilities as a wife and mother.
The older of her two daughters was in college by then and got exasperated with her mother’s diligent decision-making. Running for Congress was a no-brainer, she said. “Mom, you should have done it before.”
Fowler’s signature issue was term limits. She campaigned on the pledge, “Eight is enough,” meaning she would step down after four terms. When her time was up in 2000, she must have felt like Cinderella at the ball with the clock about to strike midnight just when she was coming into her own as a legislator.
She was then the only Republican woman serving on the House Armed Services committee, and when the Army was charged with sexual harassment, she was given a lead role in the investigation.
Her expertise on defense matters was not limited to gender issues, and she earned respect as an authority on a range of military issues. Suspecting that she may be having second thoughts about keeping her pledge to leave office after eight years, an advocacy group for term limits taunted her with ads calling her “Slick Tillie.”
But Fowler kept her commitment, announcing early in 2000 that she would retire. Her steadfastness is one of the qualities for which she will be remembered. She took principled stands and stuck to them, a rarity in today’s politics. She took no money from the tobacco industry; her mother was dying of lung cancer. She also refused contributions from the National Rifle Association, another major backer of GOP officeholders.
Prim and proper with dark, coiffed hair and oversized glasses, Fowler looked like the Junior League President she once was. Nothing about her said radical or feminist or women’s libber, yet she was an unabashed cheerleader for getting more women into politics, and for championing issues the sisterhood cares about.
As the politics around her grew more partisan and poisonous, she held her ground. She had become friendly with a number of Democrats through her active participation on the Congressional women’s caucus, and she wouldn’t campaign against incumbents she had a working relationship with. “I can’t sit next to them one day and campaign against them the next. If I’m your friend, then I’m your friend.”
Newsweek -By Eleanor Clift-For Complete Article (Click Here)
There is a picture of Tillie Fowler at age six standing on the desk of the legendary Georgia governor Herman Talmadge as her father, another Georgia legend known as “Silver Fox,” proudly looks on.
Fowler was born into politics. Her father, Culver Kidd (Of Milledgeville Ga.), a lifelong Democrat, served 40 years in the state legislature before he was defeated at age 78. He lived to see his prized daughter elected to Congress in 1992, but he never reconciled to the fact that she became a Republican.
Maybe it was her family heritage, but Fowler was a Republican who hearkened back to an earlier time, when our politics were not so partisan and poisonous. She was expansive and inclusive, fiercely loyal to friends on both sides of the aisle, and a committed feminist.
She wasn’t known around the country, but in Washington, especially among the community of women active in pressing women’s issues, she was a popular and familiar figure who could be counted on when it mattered.
Fowler was one of only a few Republican women active in the Congressional women’s caucus, and she tried (unsuccessfully) to get her party to moderate its position on abortion. “Enough is enough,” she counseled when the GOP scheduled more than a hundred votes to restrict reproductive rights in the Congress led by Speaker Newt Gingrich.
Her story was emblematic of women a generation ago entering the political arena. She agonized about the impact on her family, consulting her pediatrician and her preacher before running for the city council in Jacksonville, Fla., where her husband is a tax attorney.
When a Congressional seat looked promising after the 1990 redistricting, Fowler spent six months studying the pros and cons of the job. She flew to Washington to consult with other women lawmakers about how to balance a Congressional career with her responsibilities as a wife and mother.
The older of her two daughters was in college by then and got exasperated with her mother’s diligent decision-making. Running for Congress was a no-brainer, she said. “Mom, you should have done it before.”
Fowler’s signature issue was term limits. She campaigned on the pledge, “Eight is enough,” meaning she would step down after four terms. When her time was up in 2000, she must have felt like Cinderella at the ball with the clock about to strike midnight just when she was coming into her own as a legislator.
She was then the only Republican woman serving on the House Armed Services committee, and when the Army was charged with sexual harassment, she was given a lead role in the investigation.
Her expertise on defense matters was not limited to gender issues, and she earned respect as an authority on a range of military issues. Suspecting that she may be having second thoughts about keeping her pledge to leave office after eight years, an advocacy group for term limits taunted her with ads calling her “Slick Tillie.”
But Fowler kept her commitment, announcing early in 2000 that she would retire. Her steadfastness is one of the qualities for which she will be remembered. She took principled stands and stuck to them, a rarity in today’s politics. She took no money from the tobacco industry; her mother was dying of lung cancer. She also refused contributions from the National Rifle Association, another major backer of GOP officeholders.
Prim and proper with dark, coiffed hair and oversized glasses, Fowler looked like the Junior League President she once was. Nothing about her said radical or feminist or women’s libber, yet she was an unabashed cheerleader for getting more women into politics, and for championing issues the sisterhood cares about.
As the politics around her grew more partisan and poisonous, she held her ground. She had become friendly with a number of Democrats through her active participation on the Congressional women’s caucus, and she wouldn’t campaign against incumbents she had a working relationship with. “I can’t sit next to them one day and campaign against them the next. If I’m your friend, then I’m your friend.”
