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As founder and co-chair of the upper Mississippi River Congressional task force, I have long sought to preserve the river's health and historical multiple uses, including as a natural waterway and a home to wildlife, for the benefit of future generations of Americans.

I'm not a career politician, so the ways of Washington may be a little obscure to me.

Honestly, the egos and the quest and thirst for power is very prevalent in Washington.

I know the activists I deal with, we sort of try and check each other to make sure that we haven't gone native, that you come to Washington thinking it's a cesspool, you don't want to end up thinking it's really a hot tub and getting used to it. So that's something one has to keep an eye on all the time.

Politics is the art of controlling your environment.

Washington was a swamp. It was not somewhere that they believed people would want to go, so the idea was that people got involved as a public service, not to make a career out of it.

All too often, the conversation about appropriate and balanced environmental stewardship gets caught up in partisan politics. Yet, this conversation is key to the preservation of our great country for generations to come, as important as ensuring we have fiscally responsible policies to secure our future.

What passes for real debate in Washington often seems more like an echo chamber, with politicians talking at politicians.

I've been a political junkie for a long time. I find the way Washington works is just fascinating to me.