By Donna St. George
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, September 20, 2007; GZ01
 
 

The day she was sworn in as a state delegate, back in 1975, Marilyn R. Goldwater recalls standing on the House floor thinking, "I can't believe this is me." She was a nurse by training, a Bethesda mother of two who had not set out to make a life in politics.

"Did you ever think . . . ?" she whispered to the freshman lawmaker beside her.

"Nope," the other woman said. After serving more than 24 years, Goldwater, a Democrat who established herself as an early and passionate voice for health care, still feels a tinge of disbelief. Now, though, what is surprising is how long her unexpected career lasted, and how happily it all unfolded.

"I loved it. I loved every minute of it," she said, sitting in her 19th-floor North Bethesda apartment one recent afternoon. "I wouldn't have changed a thing."

At 80, Goldwater says she is stepping down to be with her husband, Bill, to read books, to enjoy her granddaughter and to see more of her two grown children. She has multiple myeloma, a blood cancer, but she says the disease did not affect her decision.

"I think, at 80 years old, it was just time to retire," Goldwater said, comfortable on a tan leather sofa. "It was time to move on and let someone else get a shot at it."

Critics say Goldwater should have moved on before her last election, in 2006. Now, instead of voters picking her replacement, the county's Democratic Central Committee made the choice last week, selecting C. William Frick, a 32-year-old lawyer from Bethesda, for the District 16 seat, which includes Bethesda, North Bethesda and parts of Rockville, Chevy Chase and Kensington. Frick's nomination to serve until the four-year term ends in 2010 must be approved by Gov. Martin O'Malley (D).

In the legislative session that ended in April, Goldwater was marked as absent a majority of days, records show. In an interview, the lawmaker attributed her absences to bronchitis and related problems. Before the 2006 election, she said, "I didn't see any reason not to run. I felt well enough. I was making a contribution."

Her political allies say Goldwater won that race, as she had others, because she has a strong reputation as a voice for Montgomery and for health care.

"She always helped us get the votes, and we always counted on her as a leader," said Vincent DeMarco, president of the Maryland Citizens' Health Initiative, a nonprofit coalition working for health care for all. DeMarco recalled Goldwater's support on a 1999 anti-smoking measure that increased the cigarette tax.

A community activist who started out in her local PTA and then branched out into Democratic politics, Goldwater served in the House of Delegates from 1975 to 1986 and then from 1995 to last month. In between, she made an unsuccessful run for the state Senate and was tapped to serve as a health policy adviser in the administration of Gov. William Donald Schaefer (D).

In that position, Goldwater said, she was proud of helping launch the governor's Wellmobile Program to bring physical exams and other health services to underserved communities.

Goldwater was "in tune with the health-care crisis in the broadest sense" and took it up as a cause "before it was chic," said Bob Spector, executive director of Mobile Medical Care, which serves county residents who are uninsured, homeless or without access to health care. "We've always felt we had an ally," he said.

She said she enjoyed working as a strong advocate for nurses, bringing them into the political process and helping the public understand their full role in the health-care system. "I think the thing that gave me the most satisfaction was helping give nurses a voice," she said. "They are certainly a very vocal group now."

Goldwater, who describes herself as a liberal Democrat, was a longtime supporter of the controversial Intercounty Connector highway project and opposed slots as an unstable source of revenue for the state. Several years ago, she delivered impassioned testimony about the need for stem-cell research, citing her own health problems as an example and saying such research could help find a cure for multiple myeloma.

"I just feel research is a very important part of what happens in this country," she said.

Early in Goldwater's career, there were fewer women in public office. When she began in 1975, there were 16 women in the House of Delegates, up from eight in the previous session. By comparison, there were 75 women -- and 141 men -- for the start of last session, state officials said.

"I see her as a great pioneer," said Del. Susan C. Lee, a Democrat who also represents District 16 and who said Goldwater helped her "hit the ground running" when she went to Annapolis in 2002. "She paved the way for a lot of the rest of us to go into the General Assembly."

Goldwater, who recently was a vice chairman of the Health and Government Operations Committee, was one of the first two women to serve on the powerful House Appropriations Committee.

"I think at first, our male colleagues weren't quite sure about us," Goldwater said. But very quickly, she added, "they came to understand that we had quite a grasp on the issues . . . and that there was no difference between male and female committee members."

State Treasurer Nancy K. Kopp, a longtime friend who served with Goldwater in her early years in the House of Delegates, recalls that one of Goldwater's first legislative efforts involved a measure to provide respite care for families of the developmentally disabled.

"She recognized more than 30 years ago the importance of access and quality of health care, that it was an important public issue and not just one of personal concern," Kopp said. "She was bringing it to the top of the public agenda, significantly ahead of most people."

© 2007 The Washington Post Company