Honor values
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"Don't check your values at the door," Sen. Gordon H. Smith, R-Ore., advised BYU student interns who are pursuing careers in public service.
Speaking to students and professionals March 15 at the Milton A. Barlow Center in Washington D.C., Sen. Smith recounted many personal experiences and decisions as a Latter-day Saint who is a politician.
After nearly 15 years in politics, he said he knows the challenge of being an elected representative who tries to honor his religious values and commitments while still keeping faith with his diverse constituency.
One way he meets that challenge, he said, is by being honest with his constituents about where he stands on the issues.
Sen. Smith recalled Elder Neal A. Maxwell's counsel that he should not fear being a Latter-day Saint under the public microscope.
"If you keep your covenants," Elder Maxwell told him, "that will only be good for the Church."
Sen. Smith's remarks were part of a speaker series for students that invites outstanding leaders in government, business and other organizations to discuss how they have integrated faith with their public service.
Sen. Smith, a former bishop, attorney, businessman, and Oregon state senator, is now a member of the U.S. Senate who serves on five major committees and is co-chairman of the Senate Task Force on Medicare and prescription drugs. He has also been Deputy Whip.
His interest in public service began as a child when his father, Milan D. Smith, was tapped to serve on the staff of Elder Ezra Taft Benson, then of the Quorum of the Twelve and U.S. Secretary of Agriculture.
The family moved from Pendleton, Ore., to Washington, D.C., where Sen. Smith watched the Kennedy/Nixon election returns with his father and then attended the Kennedy Inaugural.
To his impressionable mind, everything was "magical," he said, especially the new president's oath of office, the canons firing, and the parade with Kennedy's World War II PT boat.
Outstanding LDS men and women who were community and national leaders also inspired the young man as he grew up in a Maryland suburb outside of the nation's capital. He attended the Chevy Chase Ward where he soon caught "Potomac Fever" while worshipping "along with some of the giants of the Church ... great public servants and great public people."
From such role models as well as his own experience, Sen. Smith said he has learned it is possible to maintain core beliefs and still serve the public interest of those with different beliefs and goals.
"If you want to run, don't change your values," he counseled the students. But, he cautioned, it is important to "tell constituents what you believe." Public servants need to show integrity in both their private and public lives.
He counseled students to pray and read the scriptures, to remain focused on such "weightier matters" as the role of the family, and not compromise on the first principles of the gospel.
He especially encouraged them to enter the political arena. "Don't let your testimony be an impediment to getting involved," he said. "We have great artists, musicians, lawyers, businessmen, gifted and talented people.... We don't have enough of you in politics."
He urged the students to "get out there and try," adding there is nothing wrong with losing, noting how he lost his first race for the senate.
The Milton A. Barlow Center Speaker Series is co-sponsored by the BYU Washington Seminar, the Church Educational System, and the Public and International Affairs Office of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
