Van Hollen, Israel and the courage of conviction
Twenty years ago, I took a job as a foreign affairs adviser to then-U.S. Rep. Chris Van Hollen because of the peaceful energy he gave off during my job interview. After four lacerating years in the soul-blanching world of Maryland politics, I was seeking a less frenetic place to land and was attracted to Van Hollen’s quiet calm. After only a few weeks on the job, I realized I couldn’t have been more wrong about the man.
What I had read as easygoing self-confidence during the interview was actually a degree of self-discipline unlike anything I had ever witnessed. By then, I had worked for a president, a governor and the Democratic leader of the U.S. House of Representatives, but up to that point, I had never personally experienced anyone more in control of their emotions than Chris Van Hollen. His self-discipline seemed unassailable.
That discipline played out in a number of interesting ways as I got to know him better. I remember staffing him once during a contentious hearing of the House Oversight Committee not long after I joined his staff. The witness being questioned was on the wrong side of some important issue (that I can’t seem to recall now), and the Democrats on the panel were not letting him off the hook. The energy in the room was charged.
An important job of a congressional staffer is to suggest questions for a congressman to ask during committee hearings, and I recall suggesting one to Chris. Given the mood of the room, I encouraged him to try to sound angry when he got a chance to ask his question. I can’t recall what the question was, but I will never forget how he responded when his turn came to speak.
At the time, given the mood of the room, no one would have blamed Chris for asking an angry question, but instead of matching the room’s energy, he was measured and lawyerly. He calmly built up to the question I wanted him to ask with a series of introductory questions of his own. His approach was sedate, deliberate and thoughtful — like a lawyer. I was impressed by his discipline, and I remember looking over at Chairman Henry A. Waxman at the time.
He appeared impressed too. I realized then that Chris was not the sort of person to be swept up by the energy of a room.
For this reason, I thought it was important for me to respond to the criticism he is facing for his comments regarding Israel’s actions in Gaza (“Van Hollen shows his hostility toward Israel,” April 24).
I handled Chris’s foreign affairs work for more than a decade. And I have been a supporter of Israel since I was a teenager. I have visited the country multiple times and, at one point during my military service, did a brief stint as a United Nations peacekeeper in the Sinai. But no event for me as a congressional staffer gave me more heartburn or made me more tense than a meeting with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. It didn’t matter how supportive Chris was, he never seemed to be supportive enough for his critics. I never understood that.
The Chris Van Hollen I know is not swayed by the room, he’s swayed by the facts. And, based on the facts, and almost four decades of experience dealing with foreign policy matters, he has chosen to advise close scrutiny of Israel’s activities in Gaza.
The Chris Van Hollen I served for 14 years in Congress is a smart, wise and deservedly honorable man with the courage and self-discipline to do what he believes to be right, even if it conflicts with the energy of the room.