In the late 1970's, as a student at the University of Oklahoma, I briefly made the acquaintance of a young woman who was an OU graduate, had been elected to the Oklahoma state House of Representatives, and was in the process of making a name for herself in both state and national Democratic politics. Her name, at that time, was Cleta Deatherage.
I was fascinated by Cleta, for a variety of reasons. I knew her younger sister fairly well, and the contrast between the younger sister who was basically an adherent of the barefoot hippie philosophy of life, and the older sister who wore business suits and knew powerful movers and shakers, was striking. Also, I once sat across from Cleta at a formal dinner event, and it was exciting to be able to talk with someone who was so plugged into the political scene.
I thus felt almost a familial sense of pride when, a few years later, I read Cleta's name in an article in Time magazine about up-and-coming women in national Democratic politics. And it was with an equally personal, heart-sinking sense of loss that I saw Cleta's name on the screen during Countdown tonight, as Keith was discussing the Senate race in Nevada.
Nowadays, Cleta Deatherage goes by the name Cleta Mitchell. For a while, she was Cleta Deatherage Mitchell, but I guess she is no longer among the group of women who see value in keeping their birth names after marriage, even when they had built up professional capital under that name.
Or maybe it's precisely that professional capital that she was trying to escape by discarding the "Deatherage" portion of her name.
Because, you see, today Cleta Mitchell is the counsel for Sharron Angle's Senate campaign. Before seeing Countdown tonight, I already knew Cleta had crossed over to the dark side years ago. After the Time article, the next few times I read about her, it was because she was very prominent in the term-limits movement of a couple of decades ago. When I've seen her name pop up lately, it is always in reference to Republican causes, Republican candidates. I guess in the world of high-power DC lobbying, there are inducements to leave behind the idealistic Democratic views you held in your youth. But, Cleta -- Sharron Freaking Angle??
That 1984 Time article had this to say:
By 1988 . . . the political pipeline should be brimming with potentially competitive Democratic women, few of whom are household names now. . . . In Oklahoma, four-term State Representative Cleta Deatherage Mitchell, 33, caught the eye of national Democratic officials with her savvy performance as a member of the party's Hunt commission on delegate selection. In 18 months as Texas state treasurer, Ann Richards, 50, has won over bankers and businessmen by increasing the interest the state earns on its deposits; a liberal supporter of Mondale, she is thought to be a Cabinet possibility if he wins the presidency.
In 1984, she and Ann Richards were being mentioned in the same paragraph, as part of the same "pipeline" of female future hopefuls for higher Democratic national office -- possibly even the vice-presidency eventually.
And today, on Countdown, I saw this on my TV screen:
"Harry Reid intends to steal this election if he can't win it outright."
Cleta Mitchell
Angle Campaign Counsel
Source: LasVegasSun.com
I just can't help wondering: What would cause a person to do such a thorough about-face? How does someone go from swimming against the red tide in Oklahoma, to being a high-level paid employee in the campaign of a certifiable reich-wing lunatic like Angle?
This brief bio gave some history, but very little in the way of reasons.
Mitchell left the Oklahoma House in 1984 and with her husband, Dale Mitchell, had a daughter. She returned to politics in 1986 to make an unsuccessful bid for lieutenant governor. . . .
After leaving politics, Mitchell decided that politicians are essentially out of touch with the people they represent. Turning her back on her past, she began to work for the movement to limit the number of terms in office that incumbents could serve. She became affiliated with the Term Limits Legal Institute and the Council for Government Reform in Washington, D.C., where she became a partner in the law firm of Sullivan and Mitchell.
What happened? What would trigger the complete political remaking of someone who seemed to have found her niche? I'll probably never know. But I keep finding myself being drawn to the question, like a moth to the flame.