John Vasconcellos died Saturday surrounded by his close family and friends. His Hanai, a Hawaiian word for extended family included his chosen son, Mitch Saunders, his daughter-in-law Cindy and his precious two grandchildren Megan and Briana.
The record will show he served 38 years in the legislature, was Chairman of the powerful Ways and Means Committee for many years, he authored the master plan for higher education, and brought self-esteem into the daily lives of students throughout the nation. He wrote the legislation that implemented the process by which medical marijuana could be distributed in California. He was a champion of legalizing all drugs and believed the war on drugs to be a huge drain of resources from the real problems our society needs to address.
But the essence of John Vasconcellos can’t be written in a modern day obituary. His vision was too advanced for much of modern society to understand, though he lived long enough to see some of his early work become part of everyday life.
As a personal mentor and friend, Vasconcellos taught that all politics is personal. He abhorred the politics of personal destruction and sought, through his legacy project ‘The Politics of Trust’ to establish a new, more hopeful political dialogue. He enlisted his extensive network of friends to join him.
The Politics of Trust is not complicated. He called on individuals to reject the politics of anger, personal destruction and dishonesty. It was a multi-partisan effort and his philosophy works. For many devotees, we have been practicing it for years.
The key to the Politics of Trust is honesty. Any politician who agrees with you all the time is phoney and not worthy of your vote. Those politicians who engage in campaigns simply to destroy another person should never be considered for public office. Elected officials must stand for something.
Vasconcellos never ran for public office, he stood for election. It is a subtle but defining distinction about how he approached the people’s business.
That does not mean there are not differences or that no negative information on a candidate or cause can be included in a campaign. Truth is not always positive and positive information isn’t always the truth.
Simply, political discourse must be honest and reflect truth, not mere accuracy or facts out of context. In addition, a candidate must have their own positive agenda–not simply be the lesser of two evils.
As we head toward Election Day. Those of us who want to honor Vasconcellos need to be even more forthright in our approach to politics and government. Where we see truth and honesty we need to support it. Where we see people practicing cynical politics we must reject it.
Most importantly, we have to police our own. If and when candidates whose values we support engage in ugly politics–we need to call them on it. We must be consistent in our own values. It is much easier for us to point out the untruthfulness of our opponents. But if we fail to act when our own is at fault, we will have no credibility with the public when we call out our opponents.
Better yet, let us never allow the people we support to fall into the trap of engaging in dishonest politics. As we create strategies and implement tactics, it is easy to get caught up in the minutia of the moment. Let us always stand-up for what is right; even when it is hard. When someone says they want to put out an unattributed mailer, steal opponents signs, spread a false rumor, use a person’s family as political fodder–don’t simply disagree, shout that it is wrong. You will be doing your candidate and campaign a favor.
If we do that in our personal and political lives, we become the Vasconcellos legacy. He was a man ahead of his time, but his vision has stood the test of time.
For those of us who loved him, let us rededicate ourselves to his ‘politics of trust’, for history has shown it is the only philosophy that has long-term success in politics and public policy.
As one of the longest serving legislators in our state history, Vasconcellos proved it through his personal example. Now we must carry that truth on without his reminding presence. We will not let him down.
Rich Robinson is a political strategist and communications specialist.
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