Speaking from her office of the U.S. Capitol Historical Society within the shadow of the Capitol, former Cleveland mayor Jane Campbell met with the Club on December 6.
Campbell explained that she came to Washington at the behest of Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu, who wanted Campbell as her chief of staff with the special task of expediting federal money for repairing coastal Louisiana and New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Having done that and coming to the end of her two-year commitment to the job, Campbell and Landrieu were suddenly faced with the horrific 2010 British Petroleum Gulf oil spill. Landrieu asked Campbellto stay on with the special task of expediting BP’s fines to coastal restoration without first being clogged in the federal bureaucracy. “We succeeded,” she said, “moving 80% of the fines – about $4.5 billion – swiftly to where and when it could do the most good.”
When Landrieu lost her election in 2014, Campbell moved to work for Washington Senator Maria Cantwell. But with control of the Senate having switched to the Republicans, Campbell found working in the minority less fulfilling than working in the majority, so took on the job of running the Washington office of the National Development Council. That run ended when the Trump administration forsook community development, so she took up the reins of the U.S. Capitol Historical Society.
She had just begun to feel up to speed with the USCHS when the pandemic hit and both the Capitol and the USCHS offices closed. “The pandemic did have one benefit for the USCHS, though,” Campbell said. “We became more national and we reached far more people. That’s because we moved from mostly face-to-face small events to also presenting webinars that featured national experts – these could be seen by hundreds or even thousands of people.” She explained that the USCHS effort at bringing to the Capitol local middle school students – especially from DC impoverished neighborhoods with children who did not think of the building as meant for them – was shut down during the pandemic but in similar fashion it evolved into digital dramas and documentaries that could be used by social studies teachers across the country.
The Capitol and USCHS had only recently re-opened to more normal public access when the January 6 attack burst upon it, shutting down the Capitol again. Campbell was not in the building that day. “The attack was on a Wednesday and on the Monday previous I told our whole staff to stay away and work from home on the 6th. Having been a mayor, I think I developed a sense for a community’s mood, and I had a bad feeling about what the coming demonstration would bring. None of our people was hurt.”
Asked how Cleveland might improve, Campbell offered two points: hasten and enhance the connection of Cleveland to Lake Erie; and work harder as a unified region. Addressing the first, she said that she expected more action from Mayor Bibb and County Executive Chris Ronayne, but that new work along the lakefront takes enormous time, money and energy. Addressing her second point, she noted that there are 57 communities in Cuyahoga County. Columbus – now the largest city in Ohio – required annexation into the city to secure access to the water system. By contrast, Cleveland’s water department provides service to over a million people in different municipalities. The multiple decision makers put the region at a disadvantage unless its dozens of political entities align for mutual improvement.
Asked about divisiveness on Capitol Hill, she lamented that media favors reporting on drama and conflict at the expense of solid law-making. She cited the dearth of reporting on the negotiations to bring about the infrastructure bill as compared to covering sensational statements by publicity-hungry Representatives. Moreover, she said, there are still leftover tensions stemming from the January 6 attack. Especially in the House, she noted, there are Members who resent, maybe even fear, other Members on account of actions taken that week.
The U. S. Capitol Historical Society website is https://capitolhistory.org. It presents historical articles, a list of its past and future webinars, support opportunities and more.