Rhonda Fields - What an Inspiration!
Saw this editorial in yesterday's Denver Post - made me want to puke!
I sent an email to Alicia Caldwell to ask her if she knew the whole story about Rhonda 'Rap Sheet' Fields!
Caldwell:For Rhonda Fields, a platform for doing the right thing -
By Alicia Caldwell
The Denver Post
State Rep. Rhonda Fields, D-Aurora, argues for House Bill 1224, a ban on large-capacity ammunition magazines, during the current session of the legislature. The bill passed and was signed by Gov. John Hickenlooper last month. (Joe Amon, The Denver Post)
The state legislature more or less came to Rhonda Fields. That's what happens when a tragedy shakes the very foundation of your life and compels you to action.
Fields, a representative from Aurora, never envisioned herself as a politician.
"I did not see it in myself," she said.
Yet she has been a force behind passage this session of some of the most important state-level gun legislation in the nation.
Her bills, a 15-round magazine limit and universal background checks, arguably are the reason President Obama is visiting Colorado Wednesday to try to regain lost momentum as Congress takes up gun control.
It would be great to be able to be optimistic about federal gun legislation, but let's be real. There's almost no chance of getting any gun-control legislation through Congress, especially the House.
Congressional Democrats have thrown in the towel on magazine limits. Renewal of the assault-weapons ban is a fantasy. And hope is fading on universal background checks.
The president has undertaken Plan B, which involves executive action to beef up the information that goes into the federal database used for gun background checks. The administration also is funding studies to look at causes of gun violence.
While it's good policy, it lacks the impact of, say, a ban on magazines holding more than 10 rounds.
That federal reality makes the Colorado legislative accomplishments all the more noteworthy. In recognition of her efforts, Fields was among state officials invited to meet with the president when he is in Colorado.
No doubt, Fields didn't do it alone. Without Democratic majorities in the legislature and a Democratic governor, the bills would not be law.
But she brought to the debate a moral authority that comes from having traveled a hellish road.
As many know, Fields' son was a victim of gun violence. Javad Marshall Fields, a recent college graduate, was killed in 2005, days before he was to testify in a murder trial.
"After losing my son, of course I was devastated and did not know how to deal with the grief and trauma," Fields told me.
Advocacy was an outlet for this grieving mother. She testified on a bill about witness protection and was proud to see it pass. Yet she didn't see herself running for office.
"I never pictured myself in that class of people," Fields said.
It was Terrance Carroll, then state House speaker, who pushed Fields, a Democrat, to run in 2010.
"I saw someone who was very passionate and very committed to the issues," Carroll said.
He denies he "bullied" her into it. It's a running joke between them.
Upon her arrival in the House, Fields focused on issues affecting crime victims. After the Aurora theater shootings, which happened in Fields' district in July, she was propelled to action.
Along with magazine limits and universal background checks, Fields also is sponsoring a bill that creates a mechanism for courts to receive weapons from certain domestic violence offenders who, by law, aren't allowed to have them.
She was surprised by the vitriol unleashed by the gun-control measures. Perhaps Fields should have expected it, but she didn't.
The most publicized were the ugly missives she received from a man, later arrested, using unbelievably offensive language. An anonymous letter-writer, thought by police to be the same guy, wrote: "There will be blood! I'm coming for you!"
She got 3,000 e-mails in four days from people around the nation and the world. Most of it was pretty nasty.
Fields has been scared at times. She has been overwhelmed by the intensity of it all. And she believes she will be targeted at the polls over her gun-control measures.
But Fields is undeterred.
"If I'm recalled or I decide not to do this again, I will be just fine," she said. "I had a life before politics. I'll have a life afterward."
She acknowledges that her motivation is different. Her internal compass was forged by circumstances she would not wish on anyone.
In so many ways, Fields is the epitome of a citizen legislator. Government is not who she is. It's a platform for doing the right thing.
The feds could learn a lot from her.
E-mail Denver Post editorial writer Alicia Caldwell at acaldwell@ denverpost.com. Follow her on Twitter: @AliciaMCaldwell
Copyright 2012 The Denver Post. All rights reserved.
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