Today marks the inauguration of the 46th President of the United States. Under normal circumstances, this would be a celebration of one of the most fundamental activities of our democracy, the peaceful transition of power. However, recent events have been far from normal and anything but peaceful. The events of the past two weeks have left us all deeply shaken. Wednesday, January 6th was a sad and dark day in our country’s history. The violent assault by domestic terrorists on the democratic ideals of our nation, ideals held by the vast majority of Americans of all political parties, should be condemned and rejected by all Americans to the strongest degree. We hope that everyone joins with us in finding these actions against our country repulsive and will support holding all of those responsible accountable for their actions.
We are all struggling to some degree with what happened. For those who have worked on or around Capitol Hill, especially those who have close friends and family members who were victims of this attack and/or impacted by what has happened, we are especially sad. We are also struggling with what we as an organization can do.
We can listen. We can be thoughtful and intentional about what we say and how we say it. We can be understanding with each other and respectful of opinions that differ from our own. As a bipartisan firm, we can also commit to engage in the conversation that is necessary to promote unity, not division, in our beloved democracy — which must continue to be a model for the world.
Finally, we can support organizations that are making a positive difference. As such, we are pleased to be providing a donation to the U.S. Capitol Police Memorial Fund in honor of the brave souls who lost their lives as a result of these brutal attacks. Also, in recognition of the increasing lack of civil discourse and how this leads to a breakdown in our society, we are making a commitment to fund organizations around the country in the area of civic education. We encourage others, especially those in the government relations, lobbying and advocacy industry to consider doing the same.