Remebering Senator Wellstone, 1990s, by Tom Rajar

From MemoryArchive

Who: Tom Rajar
What: Remembering Senator Wellstone
When: 1990s
Where: Minnesota

I didn't know Wellstone personally, but I was there with my old lover when he launched his first campaign for the Senate. I remember he came to a party at the home of Bill Dorn and Norm Vork, who were DFL activists, and he got up on the stairs and gave a speech that really lit up the crowd. Back then I considered myself a liberal Democrat, and he really made an impression on me. I've cooled on my support of him over the years; I guess I'd have to say that personal circumstances and events of the last decade have caused me to move more toward the conservative center. I was very saddened by his vote on the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996--I think most of us in the gay community were disappointed by that vote--and I think he later admitted that he himself came to regret that decision. I'm also the son of Polish immigrants, and I was angered when he voted to block Poland's acceptance into NATO.

That said, I am a longtime survivor of HIV/AIDS, and he was a vocal and consistent supporter of issues that are important to me in that respect. I also have to give him credit for his support and leadership on the Americans with Disabilities Act. I now realize that you have to be willing to look at things at the end of the day, and I suppose I would have voted for him this time around, because however he may have personally disappointed me, the alternative really isn't very appealing, is it?

Voting against Bushie on the war with Iraq was a very dangerous thing for him to do, and I have to admit that when I heard the news today my gut feeling was that this was the payback for that. The first thing I thought was that the jig was up, you know? I'm definitely of the feeling that I want to see this thing investigated to death.

I guess I went through the whole gamut of emotions that you experience when someone dies. You know, I love my country, I love this state, and I love my people. I decided to go down to the capitol for the memorial service today because I was feeling angry, depressed, and alone, and I really thought I would feel a sense of comfort being there. As I listened to the speakers I realized that in the back of my head I kept expecting that Paul was going to step up to the microphone at any minute and give one of those trademark speeches of his, that this was all just a warm-up. And then of course I had a reality check. I realized this wasn't pretend. Wellstone's dead, he's gone, it's really over. When I got on the bus to go back to Minneapolis afterwards, this Somali guy got on at the same time as me and he sat down by himself and just started to cry.