Rep. Elijah Cummings<\/a> really earned this award in April and May during and after the riots<\/a> in his home town of Baltimore protesting the death of Freddie Gray. The Freddie Gray case<\/a> was one of the true low points in a year filled with low points<\/a> concerning race relations and the conduct of police officers around the country. Incident after incident made minority communities feel besieged in their own neighborhoods by an apparently aggressive, militarized<\/a> and racist police force. For their part, the police have an extraordinarily difficult job and often feel unduly criticized when force is used in dangerous circumstances and when the officer legitimately feels threatened.\u00a0 This fissure in our society deepened and widened this year and is a complex social problem that will likely take years to fully understand and address.<\/p>\n Still, during one of the darkest moments of the spring, Rep. Cummings took a leadership role and provided not only a voice of reason, but rallied his community to act in a thoughtful and positive manner to seek justice and reform.<\/p>\n He called for peaceful protests<\/a> that would lead to change while praising the restraint of the Baltimore Police. He pushed for a stop to the violence<\/a> that tore at Baltimore and helped clear the streets<\/a> during a mandatory curfew. He also lent an eloquent voice<\/a> to a community seeking justice. At Mr. Gray\u2019s funeral Rep Cummings spoke directly to Gray\u2019s mother<\/a>, “For me, I am in the twilight years, but I am telling you we will not rest, we will not rest until we address this and see that justice is done. \u2026 We will not fail you.\u201d\u00a0 Rep. Cummings welcomed a Federal probe<\/a> into the Baltimore Police, hoping the investigation would lead to improved relations between the police and the community, \u201cThe community needs the police and the police need the community to solve crime.\u201d When something like this happens, a community typically looks to and rallies around local leaders\u2014pastors, city councilors and mayors. Congressmen, with big districts, focused on federal issues, and spending much of their time in Washington, are naturally not as close to a particular neighborhood or constituency.\u00a0\u00a0 It is a great testament to Rep. Cummings that when Baltimore needed a reassuring\u2014yet outspoken\u2014presence, they turned to him.<\/p>\n Earlier this month the first prosecution of a police officer involved in the Gray Case ended in a mistrial<\/a>. Even before the decision, Rep. Cummings again called for calm<\/a>, \u201cOur future as a more just community will depend more upon our own actions than it will upon the decision of Officer Porter’s jury.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr. Gray\u2019s death could have resulted in politicians scoring cheap political points by whipping up the crowd. Fortunately, Baltimore has been blessed with Rep. Cummings who at once is a stabilizing force for the community while also calling for much needed reform.<\/p>\n Rep. Cummings could have been a Legislator of the Year for service to his community, but he also played a crucial role as an opposition leader in the House. He continued to be a key voice on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform<\/a>, playing the foil to Chair Jason Chaffetz<\/a> (R-UT). More importantly, he agreed to serve as the Ranking Member on the House Select Committee on Benghazi<\/a>. This never-ending inquiry seems to be nothing more than an attempt to hurt Hillary Clinton\u2019s presidential campaign. The Committee reached its lowest point on October 22, 2015 when Chair Trey Gowdy<\/a> (R-SC) kept Secretary Clinton on the witness stand<\/a> for a ridiculous 11 hours. Rep. Cummings was outstanding<\/a> throughout; pointing out<\/a> the needless badgering of the witness by his fellow committee members and countering<\/a> the political\u2014and at times outrageous\u2014lines of questioning.<\/p>\n Some of his constituents want Rep. Cummings to run for the Senate<\/a>. The Senate\u2019s gain would be the House\u2019s loss\u2014the House needs his leadership now more than ever.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Paul Ryan<\/strong><\/p>\n This must have been a shocking autumn for the young representative from Wisconsin. Not that he ascended to a position of great power<\/a> in Washington; the talented Rep. Ryan<\/a> has always been headed in that direction. His intelligence, creativity and work ethic propelled him first to the chair of the Budget Committee<\/a> and more recently to the Ways and Means Committee<\/a>. In many ways he has been the true policy driver<\/a> of the Republican Party in the Capitol during a time of thoughtless ideology and bumper sticker level political attacks.\u00a0Speaker<\/a> Ryan has already been the GOP\u2019s vice presidential<\/a> pick, and likely was headed to leading the ticket at some time in the future.<\/p>\n And then John Boehner stepped down<\/a> as Speaker.<\/p>\n Mr. Boehner finally had enough of the backstabbing \u201cFreedom Caucus\u201d<\/a> and his inability to get any sort of legislation\u2014even essential spending and debt limit bills\u2014 through his own chamber without a major struggle because the bills were not ideologically pure enough for a semi-secret cabal of representatives. Then the \u201cFreedom Caucus\u201d refused to support<\/a> Mr. Boehner\u2019s logical successor Rep. Kevin McCarthy <\/a>(R-CA). With the subsequent disarray, the caucus turned to a reluctant<\/a> Rep. Ryan to take the gavel. Speaker Ryan was right to be reluctant for a multitude of reasons:<\/p>\n First, he was never on the \u201cleadership track,\u201d training to be Majority Leader or Speaker. There is a reason people apprentice with leadership, and why the Austin-Boston Connection<\/a> was so successful for so many decades. Leadership must deal with the Senate and the President and protect the House while making reasonable compromises.\u00a0 Leadership must skillfully interact with the press and craft a message that\u2014again\u2014protects and benefits the House membership. Leadership must devote considerable time to what David Hawkings calls<\/a> \u201cthe member services dark arts.\u201d\u00a0 Much of this will be new to Speaker Ryan, who has devoted his legislative career to committee work.<\/p>\n Second, the problems that took down Speaker Boehner will only grow. The \u201cFreedom Caucus\u201d is newly emboldened and will continue to hold a sword over the Speaker\u2019s head<\/a>. Outside groups will no doubt start calling him a RINO<\/a> or Squish<\/a> every time he makes a compromise. The Republican Caucus will continue to be a fractured and difficult to manage, especially in an election year.\u00a0 The new Speaker, therefore, will have all the challenges that made Speaker Boehner happily give up the gavel.<\/p>\n Finally, this was not part of his personal plan. Until this autumn, Speaker Ryan had an excellent chance to be a serious presidential contender in the not too distant future.\u00a0 Will he still have that chance after a stint as the Speaker?\u00a0 He will suffer many slings and arrows from both sides of the aisle. And history has not been kind\u2014only James K. Polk<\/a> successfully used the Speakership as a stepping stone to the Presidency, and only after being governor of Tennessee in between.<\/p>\n And yet Speaker Ryan put all of that aside and took the gavel. He put the House and the Congress above himself and his personal ambition.\u00a0 Congress desperately needs the stability he will bring, and therefore, Speaker Ryan is a very worthy Legislator of the Year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In our inaugural Legislator of the Year Award, the staff of Dome is pleased to recognize Rep. Elijah Cummings (D- MD) and Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI). Elijah Cummings Rep. Elijah Cummings really earned this award in April and May during and after the riots in his home town of Baltimore protesting the death of Freddie […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10087,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4,7,2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/dome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/dome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/dome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/dome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10087"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/dome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/dome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":239,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/dome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236\/revisions\/239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/dome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/dome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/dome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Elijah](\"\/dome\/files\/2015\/12\/Elijah-Cummings-636x477.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Paul](\"\/dome\/files\/2015\/12\/Paul-Ryan-636x437.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n
![<\/a> Ryan has already been the](\"\/dome\/files\/2015\/12\/Elijah-Cummings.jpg\"){kind=link}