[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 26 (Thursday, March 9, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E277-E278]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  GRANNY D'S CROSS-COUNTRY WALK IN SUPPORT OF CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. CHRISTOPHER SHAYS

                             of connecticut

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 9, 2000

  Mr. SHAYS. Mr. Speaker, my colleague Marty Meehan of Massachusetts 
and I rise to commend 91 year old Doris Haddock--known throughout the 
country as Granny D--for her cross-country trek in support of campaign 
finance reform. Granny D began her crusade on January 1, 1999 in 
Pasadena, California and walked 3,200 miles across the country until 
she arrived at the Capitol on February 29, 2000.
  She traveled through the snow in Maryland, dust storms in 
California's Mojave Desert, and heat of a Texas summer--all the way to 
Washington, DC. We are happy to place the attached statement into the 
Congressional Record, which in Doris' own words, describes how she 
chose to undertake such an amazing feat.
  A native of Dublin, New Hampshire and an activist since the 1960s, 
Granny D felt compelled to push for campaign finance reform--and thus 
began her idea for walking cross-country. She has walked 10 miles a 
day, six days a week and stayed with people she met on ``the road.'' 
Granny D inspired citizens from around the nation to walk with her for 
a day or so as she helped raise awareness of such an important issue--
campaign finance reform.
  In an age where cynicism and low voter turnout has become a norm, 
Granny D has demonstrated that civil activism is alive and well in 
America. We join Granny D in support of reforming our campaign finance 
system by eliminating the unregulated, unlimited campaign gifts known 
as soft money, applying our campaign laws to sham issue ads, and 
increasing disclosure. Combined together, these reforms will slam shut 
the open door that currently allows anyone--corporations, labor unions, 
wealthy individuals, even foreign nationals--to purchase limitless 
influence in our political system.
  We believe this is a crucial first step to protect our democracy and 
thank Granny D for raising awareness of this issue by courageously 
walking across our nation in support of campaign finance reform. As 
Helen Keller stated: ``I am only one; but still I am one. I cannot do 
everything, but still I can do something; I will not refuse to do 
something I can do.''

                         Statement of Granny D

       I have been asked to speak briefly this morning about the 
     spiritual side of my journey across the United States.
       I would like to share three brief thoughts.
       The first thought is that God often speaks to us with crazy 
     ideas. He is full of them, I think.
       When I first received the thought of walking across America 
     for campaign finance reform, I knew it was a rather crazy 
     idea. It would have been easy to brush it off as such, and to 
     change the subject as my son and I drove along that Florida 
     highway where the thought first came.
       What is calling, anyway? It is a picture window that 
     suddenly appears, revealing a possible alternative life.
       Possible, yes. I indeed might be able to walk the country--
     as I have kept up my physical conditioning with cross-country 
     skiing and walking. Possible, yes--for such an undertaking 
     (if it were not in fact an undertaking!) might bring some 
     needed attention to the issue. And possible, yes--it might in 
     fact be more interesting than staying at
       If God sends us a crazy idea and we toss it off as such, I 
     think He understands. He will be happy to send it along to 
     someone else, or try some other ideas on us later.
       If it keeps coming back, slightly revised, earmarked, 
     highlighted, perhaps it is a calling. So we consider it more 
     seriously.
       If it seems immediately appealing, however, and we jump for 
     it, is there some test to know if it is a proper calling and 
     not just our own harebrained senility?
       Well, I think there may indeed be a test, and that is the 
     second spiritual aspect of my journey that I would like to 
     share.
       Despite all my best efforts before I left on my walk to 
     arrange help along the way, I got almost no response from the 
     churches or police departments along the way to whom I sent a 
     thousand letters of self-introduction.
       So my first steps were little leaps of faith into the kind 
     heart and soul of America, and my faith was of course 
     rewarded. Most remarkably, though there were troubles along 
     the way, and a hospital stay and so many breakdowns of my 
     support van and so many little traumas and troubles, what I 
     saw on the whole was an opening up of heaven, and a flowing 
     down of all the resources and all the right people I needed.
       After my difficult crossing of the Mojave Desert in 
     California, I crossed the bridge into Parker, Arizona on my 
     89th birthday. The Marine Corps Marching Band was at the 
     bridge, playing Happy Birthday to me. The remarkable part of 
     that story is that they just happened to be there on other 
     business. It also happened to be Parker Days, and they were 
     delighted to have me lead the parade and tell the whole city 
     about campaign finance reform, which I did. When, some days 
     later I walked into Wickenburg, Arizona, it happened to be 
     Wickenburg Days and again I found myself in a parade and 
     telling everyone about campaign reform.

[[Page E278]]

       Now, the parade organizers did not know me or care about 
     this issue, but the family who kindly put me up there, after 
     my stay in the hospital for dehydration, happened to be good 
     friends of the parade chairman. It was like that every step 
     of the way--always just the right person at just the right 
     moment.
       It continued across the country. Let me remind you that 
     last Sunday it rained heavily in Washington, and last Monday 
     it was very cold and windy, and Tuesday, when a nice day 
     would be good for the big march across town to the Capitol 
     steps, why, the weather here was a perfect springlike day.
       The blessings have been uncountable.
       I do not mean to suggest that the Lord makes doing the 
     right thing easy. My walk was not easy. But he seems to clear 
     the field for you when you are ready to do serious battle. He 
     does appreciate, I think, our moments of courage and He does 
     not mind showing His hand at such times.
       Finally, let me make a spiritual note regarding the issue 
     itself.
       Is it not so that we are charged in this life with doing 
     God's work where we might? Are we not the keepers of our 
     brothers and sisters? Are we not to be agents for justice and 
     equality and kindness? Surely we cannot fulfill our high role 
     if we do not have the power to manage our collective 
     resources. Surely, only a free and empowered people can 
     properly take care of one another. If we allow ourselves to 
     lose our ability to manage our considerable common wealth to 
     best address the great needs of our people, we abdicate our 
     earthy responsibilities to our God, do we not?
       If we allow the greedy and the inhuman elements to steal 
     away from us our self-government, because we did not have the 
     energy or the courage to fight for it and to use it as a tool 
     of our love and our wisdom, how shall we answer for that?
       Is campaign finance reform a religious issue? It is one of 
     the central religious issues of our times, and I of course 
     speak to the condition of the entire world, not just our few 
     states. If we are to do the right things for our people and 
     for the lovely home given us by God, then we must, as free 
     adults, have the power to do what is right. I do not mean 
     that churches and states should mix: it is enough that our 
     civic values, which we all share with only a few arguments 
     around the edges, are informed by our deeper beliefs in the 
     equality of people and basic rights of all God's creations.

     

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