Ever since Coronavirus-induced quarantine began, Colleen and I have been struggling with how to do interviews of HoCo notables. We can’t go to many places, even now that the economy is opening slowly. So our only article options are Zoom interviews. We both worried, though, that doing interviews on Zoom would take away the feeling of being connected to our subjects and we wouldn’t be able to pick up on things in our environment, and we both like to add little details about what was happening when and where we conducted our interviews, as regular readers of this site will know.
Nevertheless, when Del. Terri Hill (D-12) texted me and asked me when we were going to do the interview we’d been planning, she and I set up a time to chat immediately. No one either Colleen or I have interviewed has ever done that. I’d reached out to Terri’s campaign manager for her run for the open seat in Congressional District 7, and our good friend, Becca Niburg, a few months ago. But with Corona and the 2020 legislative session wrapping up (and in a very unusual way due to stay-at-home orders), I just assumed we’d pick up the idea….well, I didn’t know when! I just hoped it would happen eventually. And then, lo and behold, Terri texted me.
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As I write this recounting of our hour-long digi-chat, scenes of protests from around the world demanding racial justice after a police officer murdered George Floyd for, well, being black, played on the 13-inch, flat-screen TV I finally invested in (don’t worry, regular readers of this site, I kept the old cathode-ray tube one that I’m so attached to). The protest scenes seemed a fitting accompaniment to my work, given what Terri told me about why she ran to represent District 12 in the Maryland General Assembly originally, in 2014.
“It was just a sense that we were at a turning point in our society,” Terri said, a time when we could sink or swim. She told me that the acute event that clinched her decision to run happened during a trip to South Carolina. An African-American man picked her up at the airport on behalf of the car service she had hired.
“I didn’t want to be rude, but was curious: how can there be so many black people in South Carolina, but people keep getting elected who don’t have their best interests at heart?,” she said, softening this devastating statement of truth with her charming, ever-present smile. Her driver told her of so many ways voters were disenfranchised in his community, from needing to work during most times the polls were open, to voter ID laws, to not having transportation to get to polls. This was during Obama’s second term, Terri, reminded me, and so many people saw that as a pivot in a positive direction for our country. But the more Terri researched the issue of voters’ rights, the clearer it became to her that others were pulling us in the opposite direction.
The Important Work of Local Democratic Clubs
She was membership chair for Howard County’s own Thurgood Marshall Democratic Club (TMDC) at the time. TMDC is one of the premier Democratc clubs in Howard County In the process of doing voter education and empowerment seminars for TMDC, something became clear to her.
“Voter disenfranchisement was not just an accident of time. This was a really deliberate act,” she said. “If we ever saw politics as a spectator sport, it no longer was.” A seat opened up on Team 12. ‘Team 12’ is how Sen. Clarence Lam, Del. Eric Ebersole, Terri, and Del. Jessica Feldmark refer to themselves as a group who campaign and serve together.” At the time Terri made the decision, one of the incumbent delegates on Team 12 had decided to retire, so there would be an unopposed open seat.
But as it turned out, none of the incumbent delegates decided to run, which created three open positions on the Team. Clarence, Eric, and Terri ran as a slate with former Sen. Ed Kasemeyer. After Ed retired, a new senator and delegate were elected, hence the current delegation. ”
It felt like she was being called to run for that seat,” Terri said.
Terri’s also a physician with a private practice in plastic surgery.
“I’ve always said I’m at my best when I’m trying to make people’s better. As an M.D., Terri told me, she felt like the good she does is one-on-one. In the Maryland General Assembly, on the other hand, she sees it as a way to have a positive effect on a broader level.
“Another thing that’s rewarding for me about being a delegate is the collaborative aspect of it. The opportunity to be around people who are really bright–in some cases brilliant–who are impassioned, who are hard-working…to be able to learn from them and work with them is really rewarding,” Terri said, her voice rising at the end of that observation, as it often does. It makes you feel like you’re part of whatever she’s saying at the moment. You’re her partner in observation.
Out of a Box Comes a Gift
It’s common knowledge in HoCo political circles that one of RoCo’s besties is Del. Eric Ebersole. Robert even worked for him this past legislative session! I asked Eric what was something special about Terri that made him value her as his Team 12-mate.
“Terri is an ‘outside the box’ thinker,” Eric told me, speaking quickly as he tends to do when he’s passionate about something. “She often has a perspective on a policy or issue that’s unique in address the concern.”
I got an example of that during our chat when she offered a new way to look at a vexing problem in our country’s political climate: the distrust–even demonizing–of expertise, education, and the opinions of those of high rank. It can come from a place that I’d never thought about before.
“Let’s talk about a football team,” she said. “I don’t believe that just anybody can be the quarterback. I think there are really people who are better at it than others.” Now that minorities are increasingly in positions of leadership, it often signals that the traditional powers have decided it’s no longer a valued or authoritative of a postion, Terri said.”
Sarah Palin’s nomination to be vice president in 2008, she said, was an example of how many U.S. citizens now prefer “regular folk,” rather than the creme de la intellectual, accomplished creme to be the decision-makers. Conversely, she continued people subconsciously decided, for instance, that special attributes are no longer needed once the groups that were previously excluded, because they lacked those attributes, acquire them.
“For example,” she explained, “A certain level of education can’t be so important for the job if these people have it.”
Terri, for her part, has an undergraduate degree from Harvard University and a medical degree from Columbia University.
“When you see women in positions of power, and when you see African-Americans coming into positions of leadership,” she continued, people have decided, “it must mean that education can’t be so important if these people have it.
Education, she said, has become “a dirty word, synonymous with ‘condescending’ or ‘paternalistic.'”
All hope is not lost, she was quick to point out. Often, she used to hear people complain about having foreign-born doctors.
“Now people are are very happy to have physicians who come from outside the United States,” she said, “It just took them a while to get used to it.” Twenty-five percent of our physician workforce consists of people who were raised in other countries, she noted.
Historically, she said, her voice rising with intensity, when this country lets women lead, it’s because leading is no longer as important and the focus of power has shifted.
“When you let us be captains, it’s because those who used to be captains have realized the ship is sinking and they’re abandoning ship,” she said, and my felt my face fall in sadness.
She Feels, Therefore She Is
When Terri speaks publicly, she often gets emotional. I saw her speak at an impromptu rally for women’s reproductive rights on the lakefront in downtown Columbia last year. By the end of her remarks, she was rocking back and forth on her heels slightly and there was a quiver in her voice. I thought I sensed a tremble in her speech that day we chatted, too.
I asked Terri what she’d do if money were not an object.
“If I could, I’d give more to the range of not-for-profits that are doing really good work that I often give to,” she told me. Right now one particular cause that’s close to her heart is making sure that every child who needs a pair of glasses gets them. She said she’d love it if she didn’t have to legislate that or “go through the governor’s budget to do so.” She’d also pay her staff more money. And then there’s her medical practice. She’d put it on more secure footing were she to be flush with funds. Her role as a physician makes her especially well-equipped to tackle legislative issues, noted Becca Niburg, a local immigration attorney, perennial Terri supporter, and RoCo bestie.
“She’s very analytical and will get to the root of a problem, not looking for a quick fix or political expediency but actually looking for answers,” Becca told me in a text message exchange.
Her passion is one reason her former legislative aide and continued supporter, Mary Catherine Cochran told me she’d encourage anyone interested in policy to work with Terri, whether it be as an intern, a volunteer, or aide. She always had time to work with constituents who needed assistance.
“This past session she worked with a local homeowner whose Homeowner’s Association wouldn’t allow her to install a rain garden. She also worked with local environmentalists to build energy-efficient buildings that prevent bird strikes,” Mary Catherine recounted as examples of how working with Terri can teach you a great deal about accomplishing legislative goals.
Not Quite What It Seems
A challenge Terri and her fellow legislators face in Annapolis is that the issues aren’t as simple as they may seem at first glance.
“It’s really difficult because there are so many–I’m not going to say competing interests, but other interests and priorities going on at the same time,” she said. Legislation also has to be drafted and passed in just three months, Terri added, which can be a challenge too.
Luckily, Terri, like several other politicians RoCo has interviewed, noted that the partisan rancor we might think goes on in Annapolis, impeding progress, isn’t as extreme as we might think.
“I was surprised to see that conflicts in Annapolis are less about partisanship than about a vision,” she said. Also, the administration (the governor’s office) has a shorter view than the General Assembly, and this can clash with the work of the Senator’s and Delegates.
Another novel way of viewing things that Terri introduced me to is seeing everything as health care issues. Public health is everything, she said. It reminded me of the emergent view across the nation that gun violence, for example, is a public health issue. And of course, as Terri and I sat in miles apart in quarantine, there’s the Coronavirus, which has affected our community’s psychological health, our economy, and probably how life will take shape after we get back to pre-COVID-19 life. Who would have ever thought that we’d all be walking around looking like assassins in face-covering masks, too!
Forthright at a Forum
After we spoke, I remembered how skilled Terri came across at a forum for candidates who ran in the primary election for Congressional District 7, the one vacated by the passing of Rep. Elijah Cummings late last year. Even though she had to leave early, which would have made some people harried or nervous, Terri stood tall when her turn came to answer a question. She spoke with a firm, resounding voice that echoed in the halls of St. John’s Baptist Church. She answered questions succinctly and to the point.
Also: The fun and festivities we found at the Maple Lawn Festival.
“I really care very much about people having the best quality of life no matter where they start out in society or no matter how they feel like they’re viewed by society,” Terri said. Well, then, I thought, the Maryland General Assembly is the perfect place for her.
That caring, it struck me, probably provided some of the energy she needed to get through legislator’s hectic days in Annapolis. She, like her ilk, runs from meetings with constituents to caucus meetings to checking in with staff to floor votes to sub/committee meetings.
It seems small perhaps, but it reminded me of how any time I’ve volunteered for Terri, she has a hug and a peck on the cheek for me. She really does care, about the broader issues and communities, but also about each person.
“All of us have to do more if we’re concerned with what kind of country we’re going to be in 20 or 30 years,” she said. I gathered that Terri knew this can start with a hug and a peck on the cheek and go all the way to legislation on the floor of the house.
Thanks for reading! Check back with us here at rocoinhoco.com every week as Robert, Colleen (and pup, Moses) get to know the many facets—one each week–of this prismatic place called Howard County. We want to take you along with us, so follow us on Twitter at @rocoinhoco, join our Facebook group, and follow us on Instagram at @rocoinhoco.