28 February 2009

Roemer praises the way Beverly re-defined the role of "citizen advocate"


Beverly Eckert came to work with, befriend and respect a number of people in Washington, DC. One of her closest allies in her "Washington work" was Tim Roemer, a former congressman from Indiana who became a member of the 9-11 Commission, and who later took on the leadership of  the Center for National Policy, a DC think tank.

In a Buffalo News opinion piece, Roemer recounts his experiences with Beverly, including an account of Beverly's penultimate Washington project, organizing support among other 9-11 family member activists for implementing reforms recommended by the WMD Commission report. According to Roemer, who also served on the WMD Commission, Beverly participated in a conference call, "suggesting ideas, recommending strategies and enthusiastically jumping back into her role as an advocate of reform."

Not long after the conference call, Beverly and several of her colleagues met in Northern Virginia with former senator Bob Graham in Northern Virginia to plan their next moves: organizing, strategizing, lobbying, pressing relentlessly, once again, for positive change.

[Members of the WMD Commission appear in the photo. Commission Chair Graham is far left; Roemer is second from right.]

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