By JAN McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
Betty Montgomery and Zack Space spent their political careers working across the aisle – before that was considered a weakness.
On Thursday, the former elected officials asked a younger generation to stand up for dignity, decency and civil government.
“Our democracy depends on you folks in this room,” Montgomery said to students at the Propel Ohio Collegiate Leadership Summit at Bowling Green State University.
“You’re going to have to take a lead on this,” Space said to students from 25 college campuses across the state. “If we are to be saved as a culture, it will be young people who save us.”
Both leaders held elected positions before the college students were even in grade school. But both remain active in defending democracy.
Montgomery, a Republican from Bowling Green, served as Wood County prosecuting attorney, state senator, Ohio Attorney General and Auditor of State. Space, a “Blue Dog” moderate Democrat from Athens, served as an Ohio congressman from 2006 to 2011.
Those were different times.
“There wasn’t much collaboration. But compared to today, there was an abundance of collaboration,” Space said. Back then, politicians realized, “It doesn’t always make sense to row in opposite directions.”
Montgomery reflected on bridges built across party lines – when holding an elected position was about governance, not power.
“They understood they were there to serve the public,” she said.
So what can be done?
Both Montgomery and Space talked about the importance of truly listening to those with opposing views. In many cases, the goal is the same – it’s just the route getting there that is so different.
As examples, Space said most politicians will say they support a strong economy, fair trade, lower crime rates, trimming federal bureaucracy, and a secure border.
“We want the same things. That gives me hope,” he said.
But it’s the method of achieving those goals that are diabolically opposed.
“Let’s talk about how to have secure borders without having masked men jump out of vans and grab people,” Space said.
As a prosecutor, Montgomery learned the value of gathering facts and “understanding where people are coming from.”
While compromise is often good, elected officials should have lines they will not cross. They must stick to their values, Montgomery said.
Reputations are often built on small decisions, she said.
“Don’t give up your value system,” Montgomery said. “We drift away from value systems one tiny decision at a time – walking away when courage requires you to make a decision.”
Montgomery also cautioned her audience to not believe themselves infallible.
“The longer you hold a position of authority, you can forget you could be wrong.”
After leaving elected office, Montgomery stayed involved in politics, still spoke her mind, still held her values.
“I suddenly became a RINO (Republican in name only due to ‘insufficient loyalty to the party’). It’s easy for a group to throw names at you and be hostile,” she said. “But you have to be able to go home at night and say ‘I did the right thing.’”
Sticking to his values likely lost Space re-election after three terms. Though Democratic leadership gave him a pass on clean energy legislation since he came from coal country, he voted for it because he believed it to be right. And though he was successful in getting the public option included in Obamacare, when that was removed from the bill, he voted against it.
“I wouldn’t have been able to sleep at night,” he said. “But I alienated too many people.”
And that was before social media feeding frenzies, where people throw around labels and make vile statements.
“It’s easy to criticize and say terrible things when you’re in a group,” Space said. “They say things they would never say to someone’s face.”
Space implored students to engage in real conversations.
“I know that sounds like an old man lecturing you,” he said. But put the phones down, and “choose your words carefully.”
“Turn down the rhetoric and focus on the things that matter,” Space said. Avoid division and negativity. Instead, try kindness and setting high standards, he said.
Montgomery and Space asked students to step into the fray.
“Get involved. We need you,” Montgomery said, suggesting people start at the local level and engage in issues they care about. “Get involved, don’t walk away.”
Space is now involved in the Democracy Defense Project, which stands up for the integrity of election systems and fights efforts to delegitimize voting systems. There is nothing wrong with U.S. voting machines – but many in the Republican party have planted seeds of doubt, he said.
One of the people he is working with on the project is Republican Ken Blackwell.
“Ken Blackwell and I don’t agree on much,” except the need to defend the nation’s voting systems, Space said.
Montgomery and Space encourage their audience to work across the aisles on common concerns.
“There are so many issues that transcend politics,” Space said.
Montgomery cautioned the students to be cautious when looking for the truth. AI makes it difficult to know fact from fiction.
“And it’s only going to get worse,” she said, calling this era the “age of misinformation.”
