Gabby's grand gesture

Hats off to Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. The Arizona Democrat stepped down this week and has said she will not not seek re-election to Arizona's 8th Congressional District because she needs to recover from gunshot wounds she suffered a year ago. Retaining her seat while attempting to recover, she said, would not be in the best interests of her constituents.

It is a magnanimous gesture on her part. There's little question that she could have run again and received significant support. Instead, she opted to put the interests of Arizonans first.

With her departure, the seat could wind up in Republican hands, thus making it more difficult for House Democrats to move their agenda.

But Giffords' decision is not about party — it's about full representation, which she does not believe she can render while she recovers.

There has been a great deal of talk lately about doing the right thing. The issue has been raised with regard to the captain's responsibility in the grounding of the Costa Concordia cruise ship and in the Penn State scandal.

Giffords deserves credit for doing the right thing. Her shooting a year ago forced congressional colleagues to recognize the damage of their words. In her honor, they changed seating arrangements for last year's State of the Union address. Rather than sitting as red Republicans on one side of the aisle and blue Democrats on the other, they sat together, often as part of their state delegations or with committte members of the opposite political party. The tradition continued this year with Giffords in attendance.

In her final day in the House of Representatives, lawmakers voted 408-0 vote to give federal law enforcement greater authority in combating cross-border drug trafficking. The measure was introduced by fellow Arizona Rep. Jeff Flake, a Republican.

Giffords has not ruled out a run for office again once she fully recovers. Whoever replaces her — either in the special election that will soon take place or in November's general election — should realize that he or she may simply be warming the seat should she decide to run again.

In the interim, Congress would do well to remember the lessons of courage, dignity and unity she brought to the chamber in the wake of her shooting.