Gallego and McSally far apart on politics, share military service
WASHINGTON – Arizona's two freshman members of Congress were as busy as any veteran lawmaker last week as the threat of another partial government shutdown loomed and a visit from a world leader stirred conflict between the White House and Congress.
Besides both voting for the controversial Department of Homeland Security funding and attending the speech by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Reps. Ruben Gallego and Martha McSally were meeting with constituents and interest groups seeking their backing.
Gallego, a Democrat elected by a landslide vote in November from a heavily Hispanic district in Phoenix, might seem to have little in common with McSally, a Tucson Republican who squeaked into office after a close race with a Democrat in a border district. But they share one thing: military service in Iraq.
Gallego saw combat there from 2005-2006 as a Marine Corps infantry grunt. McSally, a retired Air Force colonel, was the first woman to fly a combat mission, enforcing a no-fly zone in Iraq in 1995.
To thank them for their service, Maj. Gen. Robert Ashley of Fort Huachuca presented each lawmaker separately with a dinner-plate-size Army seal and letter of appreciation on a visit to Washington.
Ashley told Gallego he was glad veterans such as himself are in Congress because they bring on-the-ground experience to military-related votes.
"That is priceless," Ashley said. "You have instant credibility."
Gallego listed Iraqi towns he helped to clear of insurgents that now have been overrun by extremists with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.
"You don't get any more 'on the ground' than I was," Gallego said. "To watch Mosul fall, to watch the Yazidis at risk... it was disappointing."
Ashley also met with McSally, but The Republic wasn't there to observe it. McSally's office did not make her available to talk or provide access to meetings with constituents. The Douglas Dispatch criticized McSally in an editorial for blocking their access to recent meetings in her district.
"This isn't the type of communication you would expect from a newly elected official who we hoped had a streak of independence outside of Washington politics," the newspaper wrote. "It's difficult to be transparent when sit-downs with constituents are closed to the media. We're told that people will talk freely if the media is not present. That may be true, but all citizens have a right to know what's being asked and how the congresswoman truly views an issue."
McSally is one of the top targets Democrats hope to unseat in 2016.
Another member of the delegation, Rep. Raúl Grijalva, was reveling in the power of being the new ranking member of the House Natural Resources Committee.
Grijalva, a Tucson Democrat who is far to the left of his southern Arizona counterpart McSally, had rejected chances in the past to join a more prestigious committee so he could climb the ranks on Natural Resources and focus on environmental policy.
Now that Grijalva is the top Democrat, he has more staffers to research legislation and a bigger megaphone during hearings. But as the minority party, he can't set the agenda.
Grijalva said he was hopeful for areas of compromise with the GOP. For instance, he thinks there is support on both sides of the aisle to expand federal funding for young people to work in national parks and conservation.
And Grijalva is seeking to engage groups in environmental policy that he says have not played a large role in the past, such as Hispanics and labor leaders.
Still, Grijalva said he would battle Republicans if they sought to roll back the Endangered Species Act, Clean Air Act and other "bedrock laws."
"We're going to put up a strong and intelligent fight," he said.
Source: Rebekah L. Sanders, The Arizona Republic