Washington Rehash

I am back from Washington and letting all the information from the past two days settle and percolate a bit. It was an eye-opening experience for me, the highlight of which was the time I spent yesterday with Ed Whitfield, Representative from Kentucky, one on one.

When I arrived at Congressman Whitfield's office, his aides were actually waiting for me--quite the switch from the previous day when we spent a lot of time waiting for the powers that be--and they quickly spirited me down a few floors to the committee room where the Congressman was in a budget hearing. No problem, they went in and got him and he gave me his undivided attention for a half-hour, one on one, in a private office (with walls that went all the way up to the ceiling--a rarity from what I have seen in the overcrowded offices of state representatives). Staci Hancock was supposed to be with me but family illness at home prevented her from making the trip and it was because of Staci's prior relationship with Ed Whitfield that I am sure I was treated as such an honored guest.

I thanked him profusely for making time in his day to see me and he said he was actually delighted to meet me. I told him of my intention to write about this experience--either as a chapter in the book or as a separate article or both--and he seemed genuinely delighted that the issue of horse slaughter was going to receive additional press. He actually whipped out his Blackberry at one point and gave me names and numbers of some people he thought I should talk to as part of my research.

Whitfield, as I have previously mentioned, is a champion of both the anti-slaughter legislation and the ban on steroids in racing. It is interesting that in Kentucky, a state teeming with almost as many vets as race horses, that he has not received too much flack for his position and even more interesting that, as he said, the "Farm Bureau has never raised the issue with [him]." He originally got involved with the anti-slaughter legislation through the Keck family, who owned Ferdinand, 1986 Kentucky Derby winner who was slaughtered in Japan. He is proud to have been a part of the 109th Congress that passed the bill in the House.

Whitfield currently is the owner of a thoroughbred in training in California ("No races yet, just a lot of bills," he smiled) and he and his wife have a few horses on their Kentucky farm, one of them a draft horse that his wife purchased at the New Holland auction for $375 along with his "best friend" a mini-pony for $125.00. To say he "gets it," is an understatement.

But he is also incredibly realistic and wonders whether or not this bill will ever make it back to the Floor for a vote unless Nancy Pelosi takes a special interest in it. Yes, there are always other things on every one's plates, but, as he pointed out, animal welfare is equally as important as the naming of two post offices, which is the only vote they took two nights ago.

So if I were a dedicated member of the Americans Against Horse Slaughter, I might be curious enough to try and find out whether any of Nancy Pelosi's children or grandchildren ride or keep horses...