Read and comment on this story from the Cincinnati Post on Ohio Congressman and RPCV Tony Hall who resigned his seat in Congress last week to take his appointment as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations' hunger relief agencies.
It is a classic match of man and mission. Hall, throughout his career, has been a vocal and principled advocate in the fight against hunger. A born-again Christian and former Peace Corps volunteer, he has worked tirelessly for improved nutrition programs here and in Third World nations.
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Tony Hall's noble crusade
Sep 28, 2002 - Cincinnati Post
One of the genuine good guys in Ohio's congressional delegation officially launched a new career this week. Tony Hall, a Democrat who represented the Dayton area in the U.S. House for more than 23 years, was formally recognized Thursday as a U.S. ambassador to the United Nations' hunger relief agencies.
It is a classic match of man and mission. Hall, throughout his career, has been a vocal and principled advocate in the fight against hunger. A born-again Christian and former Peace Corps volunteer, he has worked tirelessly for improved nutrition programs here and in Third World nations.
Few of us living in the American heartland, where fields filled with corn, soybeans and grazing cattle are a staple of any inter- city trip, can appreciate how desperate the issue of hunger can be elsewhere in the world. Hall - who has three times been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize - offered a stark perspective during the ceremony Thursday.
'The issue of hunger is immense," he was quoted by the AP as saying. 'Today, 30,000 people will will die. Thirty thousand died yesterday, and 30,000 will die tomorrow - unless we do something about it."
Here's another way of looking at it: because of droughts, floods and interminable civil wars, fully 14 million people in Africa alone on the verge of starvation, according to the U.N.
Hall will be based in Rome, and his efforts to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of humanitarian relief efforts promise to be far-reaching. Secretary of State Colin Powell, who did the honors at Thursday's ceremony, noted one of Hall's more difficult challenges: to figure out ways of promoting local acceptance of modern, custom-tailored crops developed through bio-engineering.
Hall's departure from Congress - he resigned Sept. 10, the same day he was privately sworn in - leaves just 17 of Ohio's 19 House seats occupied. (The other vacancy is in the Youngstown-area district formerly represented by James Traficant, who currently resides inside a federal penitentiary in Pennsylvania.)
The appointment of a highly-regarded Democrat to the U.N. post by a Republican president wasn't entirely altruistic, of course. It set the stage for a competitive race in the newly-drawn Third District - one the GOP might well capture this year.
But beyond the political intrigue lies a solid appointment. Hall is where he should be, and we wish him well.
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