High school classmates turn political activists

So, I was innocently listening to Marketplace on my iPod when I heard Deron Lovaas speaking on the air, although Marketplace spelled his name wrong in the transcript. Despite the spelling issue, I figured it was him: How many people could there be with that name?

And, indeed, Deron works for the National Resources Defense Council:

DERON LOVAAS is vehicles campaign director and deputy director of the smart growth and transportation program. He currently directs NRDC’s oil security issue campaign and served as chief lobbyist on the federal transportation bill. A graduate of the University of Virginia, Deron coordinated Sierra Club’s Challenge to Sprawl campaign and managed Zero Population Growth’s sprawl educational outreach program. He also worked on transportation and air-quality planning at Maryland’s Department of the Environment.

See, I might be a journalist, but he’s a lobbyist.

He’s not the only one who’s making waves in Washington. Our mutual friend and classmate Jessica Arons is Director of the Women’s Health and Rights Program at the Center for American Progress (a leftie think tank that’s a counterpart to the Cato Institute). I haven’t caught her on the radio, but I’m sure it’s just a matter of time.

Given how many fellow South Lakes graduates stayed in the Washington area, I suppose the real surprise is that more of them haven’t yet shown up in visible positions in the world of politics and policy.

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