Mankind being completely alone in the universe makes far less sense to former Rep. Lynn Woolsey than contemplating the possibility that someone (something?) else might be cruising around the infinite vastness surrounding our home planet.  

And while she never imagined the dizzying tales launched her way in early 2013 during a self-styled “hearing” on extraterrestrial affairs would ever crop up in a presidential race — as White House hopeful Hillary Clinton discovered earlier this winter during a swing through New Hampshire — the California Democrat urged prospective leaders to open up about exopolitics.  

“I think it would be a good idea for a new administration, whoever may be running it, to come clean about what they know,” Woolsey, who remains intrigued by cosmic concepts, told Roll Call.  

The former lawmaker staked out her position on extraterrestrial affairs during her 10 terms in the House and tenure on the Science, Space and Technology Committee. It wasn’t until after retiring in 2012, however, that Woolsey wound up playing devil’s advocate during the weeklong Citizen Hearing on Disclosure.  

That’s when Stephen Bassett, executive director of Paradigm Research Group , paid a handful of congressional alumni — a bipartisan group that included Woolsey, former Reps. Roscoe G. Bartlett, R-Md., Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, D-Mich., Darlene Hooley, D-Ore., Merrill Cook, R-Utah, and former Sen. Mike Gravel, D-Alaska — to digest hours of testimony by witnesses claiming to have experienced close encounters of varying degrees.