Congresswoman Barbara Lee is one woman who does make a difference because she acts and thinks globally and locally simultaneously.

During her young career in the United States Congress as a member of the powerful Banking and International Relations committees, she has often stood alone with her ``votes of conscience'' on Kosovo, Cuba, Colombia and Banking legislation.

She has often disagreed with President Clinton, her own party and members of the Republican Party. Yet, she has won their respect by making them realize they need her because she knows how to meld pressing social and moral issues with practical, vital, economic and security interests.

Schooled by the likes of Ron Dellums, former Oakland mayor Lionel J. Wilson, Willie Brown, John George, Gus Newport, Maudelle Shirek, Hazaiah Williams and Bishop Will Herzfeld, Congresswoman Lee knows how to ``connect the dots.''

She matches money to needs.

Knowing that money, economic and financial interests are the mother's milk of politics, Lee has managed to stand alone in the fiery furnace of opposition to votes on the White House's agenda and still bring home the bread and bacon to her district. Oakland's port, schools, housing community development and health programs, such as AIDs funding have increased during her tenure.

Even though she doesn't sound her own trumpet or spend excessive time raising funds for her own campaign coffers, she's not about to allow the vital concerns of her constituents to be drowned out by the noisy symbolism of political rhetoric.

Last week the Leach/Lee World Bank AIDS Marshall Plan Trust Fund Act (H.R. 3519) passed the House by a unanimous voice vote.

Lee has surprised and floored her fellow congresspersons and watchers with the passage of H.R. 3519 because she put together a bi-partisan effort around an explosive and contentious issue. And, what is more, she astounded legislative leaders on both sides of the aisle by expanding the understanding of the global AIDS crisis. By skillfully demonstrating that the AIDS scourge threatens our national security and financial institutions, she connected needs to resources.

Lee garnered the support of Republican committee chair James Leach and thanked and acknowledged the leadership of former Congressman Dellums, now serving as chair of the President's Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA) and a leader of the Constituency of Africa, for being ``my mentor and inspiration.''

Lee utilized her membership on the Domestic and International Monetary Policy Subcommittee to talk with the President, Secretary of Treasury, United Nations officials, World Bank, International Monetary Fund and other financial institutions to develop her plan to commit the U.S. to $500 million in seed money. The funds would then be leveraged 9:1 from funds donated by other G-7 nations and the private sector.

``If the moral and health arguments don't work, then the economic and security interests will,'' said Lee as she pointed to photos

[Page: E949]

With the support of Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, Lee says she will monitor the progress of her bill in the U.S. Senate.

Lee confidently pointed to the portion of Oakland seen from her 10th floor office in the Dellums Federal Building and said, ``I know that the legislative process from bill to law and then to funding is dynamic. But I will be vigilant. No stone will go unturned because this disease knows no boundaries. The whole world is at risk to this AIDS pandemic of biblical proportion.''

Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass. introduced S2033 as a companion bill and its language has been included in the Helms/Biden Foreign Affairs Technical Assistance Act. Lee's proposed trust fund, housed at the World Bank, would use its leveraging capacity to increase the resources for the fund. Lee envisions esteemed world leaders such as Nelson Mandela and Ron Dellums as part of the fund's governance structure to assure that the monies go to needy regions.

How did a newly elected congresswoman who represents the most left-of-center constituency in the country manage to get arch-conservative Republican Sen. Jesse Helms to support the intent of her legislation while simultaneously coordinating grassroots organizations and AIDS service organizations?

``With a lot of hard work,'' Lee said. ``I can stand up to the legislative leaders in both parties because I stand on the shoulders of giants who preceded me.''

With an earnestness and conviction she pointed to the photos depicting some of the causes, neighborhoods and political leaders she's worked for or with and said ``every time I walk past the Lionel Wilson Building. Elihu Harris Building, Judge Don McCull statue and into the Dellums Federal building, I'm humbled by the awesome responsibility. And, because I have been blessed to have been connected to all those giants, I won't lose my focus.''

Lee's office is encouraging the public to join the African American Walking Tour of Downtown Oakland Sunday, July 16, 2 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. She praised the African American Museum and Library (AAMLO), the Oakland Heritage Alliance (OHA), the Oakland Tours Program, and the Oakland Cultural Heritage Survey for collaborating on the tours.

``I want all children and families, especially African Americans, to tour these places because it reminds me of my childhood in El Paso, Texas when I first started seeking answers to the questions of who I was and where I came from,'' said Lee.

She said she will invite her congressional colleagues, who will be in Oakland August 12 seeking solutions to issues of housing affordability, redlining, neighborhood reinvestment and undercapitalization, to also participate in the walking tours as well as Oakland's Chabot Science Center. Lee, a Mills College and University of California, Berkeley graduate, is also helping to find funding to make the Chabot Center a magnet for math, science and astronomy for children. ``I want the first astronauts to Mars to come from my district,'' she says.

Eleven million of the world's 14 million AIDS deaths are in Africa.

``Africa is the epicenter of this epidemic. We need to declare a global state-of-emergency, like we pioneered in Alameda County, and provide the money to fund strategies to address the AIDS deaths,'' Lee said.

``This disease has plagued us like the Bubonic Plague once did and it knows no boundaries. It is not just found in Africa. It is moving swiftly in India, Eastern Europe, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean as well,'' Lee said.

And here in Alameda County, she warns of a corresponding calamity facing African Americans because she says the statistical profile of AIDS incidence shows a reversal of infection rates that once were 70 to 30 percent white to non-white that are now the exact opposite.

END