Congressman Elijah Cummings - A Chesapeake Champion

Congressman Elijah Cummings at the Choose Clean Water Coalition’s first conference in Washington, DC.

The loss of Congressman Elijah Cummings has left a gaping hole in America’s heart. At a time in this country’s history when our daily dialogue has become so divisive and bitter, we need his vision, compassion and kindness more than ever.

I didn’t know Elijah Cummings well, but our paths crossed numerous times over the years on our work to protect and restore the Chesapeake and clean water for everyone. As he did with so many people, he inspired me to be better and to do more.

My first interaction wasn’t even with the Congressman, but with his staff. Back in 2005-2006 there were a lot of discussions about how to get more Farm Bill conservation funding for the Chesapeake region. I was at the Northeast-Midwest Institute in DC at the time and was working with a number of folks on some ideas. A few of us hatched an idea to draft a Chesapeake Bay Farm Bill, try to get as many members of Congress in the region as possible to cosponsor the bill, and then try to utilize that block of votes to extract funding for the Bay in the final Farm Bill.

The previous Farm Bill (they are passed every 5 or 6 years) had been very contentious and the Congressional Black Caucus in the House had been very influential on its final passage. Doug Siglin, the Federal Lobbyist for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation at the time, and I, decided to try to pitch our idea on the Hill to see if it had any legs. Doug and I chose Congressman Cummings’ office as our first test case, and met with one of his senior staffers. The fact that he was a leader in the Congressional Black Caucus and also a member from Maryland who cared about the Bay led us to start there.

That first meeting went very well and we were told that Congressman Cummings would support the idea and would help to get us support. I was a bit player in the 2008 Farm Bill, and many others carried a lot more water than I did, but this first meeting set up the strategy that was ultimately shepherded through Congress by then Congressman Chris Van Hollen from Maryland. That final provision in the 2008 Farm Bill – the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Initiative – led to a $238 million six-year program for conservation practices to be implemented by farmers in the six state Chesapeake Bay region. Where would the Bay be now without that funding?

2009 was a very busy year for the Bay. President Obama, in his first year in office, issued a Presidential Executive Order on the Chesapeake. Much of the Executive Order was laying the final groundwork for the issuance of the Chesapeake Bay TMDL the following year. The Bay TMDL (total maximum daily load) would set the legal “pollution diet” for the Bay and at around the same time a number of Bay advocates got together and started a new entity to push for Bay restoration – the Choose Clean Water Coalition.

Also in 2009, Senator Ben Cardin and Congressman Cummings worked together on House and Senate bills that would ensure that the Bay TMDL would be successfully issued in 2010. I started at the Choose Clean Water Coalition in September 2009, and a big mission for me at that time was to work on the Cardin-Cummings bill to try to get them passed. I spent a year working on these bills, but In the end they did not pass and become law. The Bay TMDL was still issued at the end of 2010 and it was upheld by the Federal courts.

The Choose Clean Water Coalition had our first two annual conferences in Washington, DC. And anyone at those first conferences remembers the incredible and uplifting speech Elijah Cummings gave to us all. He had no notes, no teleprompter and no competition in his ability to inspire all of us to continue the work we were doing. It was talked about for a long time.

The Coalition also holds a Chesapeake Bay Lobby Day on Capitol Hill every year. Congressman Cummings has attended a couple of these events and came to our luncheon to speak and inspire all of us – and as was his unique talent, he touched everyone in that room. At the last Lobby Day talk he did, I remember meeting him at back of the room and chatting for a few minutes and then suggested he go to the podium to say a few words to the 100+ people who were gathered. In a very quiet, subdued voice he told me he didn’t really feel like speaking and thought he’d just walk around the room and say hello to a few people. I gently but continuously urged him to at least go to the podium and say “hello” to everyone. Finally, he reluctantly agreed to go up there, and then suddenly a switch was turned on. Elijah Cummings spent 10 minutes preaching to the crowd about how important the work was they did, what it meant to him and what it meant for people around the country. Everyone was on their feet when he was done. Just in the past few days, I had so many people telling me how inspired he made them feel that day. I was too.

As an American and a Marylander I feel a great sense of loss, but I also feel lucky that my life was touched by Elijah Cummings and that he was on my side. Abraham Lincoln, an optimist like Elijah Cummings, always thought that all Americans would eventually be touched “by the better angels of our nature”. I think that Lincoln was a bit too optimistic, but there is no doubt that Elijah Cummings always followed the better angels of his nature. We were all better for that, and our nation is a lesser place without him.

Peter Marx is the federal contractor with the Choose Clean Water Coalition.