Carper-Era Nostalgia Thread
I’m asking everyone to make this a snark-free zone.
The candidacies of Tom Carper and others, including Dave Levinson, galvanized Democratic reformers who had routinely been shut out of the decision-making process to get active. Both campaigns had strong grassroots elements to them although there was also paid staff. It’s where I cut my political teeth, as I had volunteered for Levinson. Both campaigns worked closely together via coordinated phone banks.
This was the early ’80’s. I met so many people who would become lifelong friends. We bonded together a couple of years later, when we got rid of the Gene Reed machine in New Castle County. Blew his cardboard boxes stuffed with money into smithereens.
I’ve forgotten a lot of names because, well, I forget stuff at my age. But it’s where I first met Penrose Hollins, Larry Smith, Paulette Sullivan-Moore, June Eisley, Kathy Irwin, and so many more. It seems like at least half of them were at the screening of ‘Standing In The Shadows Of Motown’ at Theatre N. Made that night, which I shared with my daughters, even more special as it was like a reunion. The entire crowd was singing ‘What Becomes Of The Broken-Hearted’ as we left the theatre.
Carper represented the hope of reformers in Delaware. He came across as self-effacing in those days. We hosted Tom and his volunteers for several years during the Arden Fair. Tom and my dad even hit it off.
One of the many reasons I love volunteering with WFP is because the volunteers there embody the same kind of spirit.
We made some progress. If some of us ultimately soured on Carper (my epiphany occurred during his time as Governor), it in no way detracts from that Era Of Good Feelings in Delaware Democratic politics. Not to mention, many of the volunteers went on to make a difference. Some still are.
I encourage any and all of you who were part of that era to share your memories. Oh, and more names, please.
Here’s a factoid for you. After joining Dave Levinson’s campaign as a volunteer, I was ultimately put on paid staff as volunteer coordinator for NCC. Late in the campaign, Levinson had raised enough money to hire a key organizer to come in.
Her name? Maria Cantwell. She would go on to become a United States Senator from Washington. We all liked her.
She was only here for about maybe the last month of the campaign. Checking out her bio, she apparently came on board after having worked on the failed Ohio gubernatorial D primary campaign of–Jerry Springer.
Governor Tom Carper sold me a hot dog at the Blue-Gold All-Star football game at UD. He was walking the stands as a hot dog vendor.
I have a Tom Carper bobblehead.
I was the Labor coordinator for Jim Soles and TC was the Treasurer. I was an international rep for the UFCW and he was in the Naval Air Guard and a grad student in DC in ’74. We took a memorable 3 day trip to DC where we weaseled our way into international union offices begging for money. At the Seafarer’s office we were sitting in Pres. Paul Hall’s waiting room and in walks Cong, Hugh Carey, soon to be NY Gov. We did get into the office after he left. Tom was poor and cheap, I picked up most of the tabs:)
Jim Soles ran against Pete duPont for Congress. That campaign also attracted a lot of newbies to the political process.
Soles subsequently became one of Carper’s most loyal supporters.
Well since you mentioned it, Ed Freel, campaign manager, Brian Murphy, driver, Kevin and Bud Freel organizers. The beginning of the cabal. There are lots more from Soles ’74 anybody want to add?
At the Hockessin Fourth of July parade, Mike Castle walked by, followed a few minutes later by Senator Carper. Carper. apparently behind schedule, was looking all around and asked the spectators “Have you seen Mike Castle?”
I replied (suppressing a sarcastic tone): “He went off to the right.” (which was literally true, but I had a double meaning).
Carper said: “That would be a first.”
In the late 80s I volunteered for the Dems. Invariably, I was put on the phone to call through the phonebook and calling ostensibly from a polling company. It was clear that I was calling for Carper.
I was full-time working with a full course-load at UD, so I didn’t get to do much beyond show up, call and leave. I tell people all the time that I met Carper for the first time at least a dozen times. This was a huge contrast to Mike Castle at the time, who knew who I was the first time he met me because my Dad had attended a few roundtable meetings with him.
I did get to go to a debate with Carper and a few other youngins at Wilmington College. One of his opponents was a Libertarian. During the portion of the the debate where candidates got to ask questions of other candidates, Carper asked the Libertarian why Libertarians support child pornography.
After the debate, He asked us how he did. I said, “you were a little hard on the Libertarian…” Carper looked away and never acknowledged my presence again.
Finally, I got to know many of his staff through the last decade and I’ve never met one that I didn’t like. If nothing else, he surrounded himself with smart and kind people. And before someone says “But Ed Freel!”, Ed is also a very smart and kind person. I have seen him take people under his wing and teach them to fly.
As a Carpertown Alum, this is one of the lessons I’ve learned from Sen. Carper… surround yourself with people smarter than you and people who are kind (follow the golden rule). There isn’t a staffer I’ve worked with that I don’t consider a friend. And there isn’t a staffer I’ve worked with who isn’t one of the kindest people you’ll ever meet.
There was a mellowness to that group. There were, however, exceptions, one of whom occupies a particularly-powerful position in the Carney administration.
When Carper was Governor, his staffers walked around Leg Hall like they couldn’t stand the stench. He may have been the least popular Governor in Leg Hall among the staffers and the electeds.
Liberalgeek’s description rings particularly true.
You know who my fave was? Bud Freel. He was a DELDOT liaison during some of my time in Dover. A real down-to-earth guy.
No snark. Just a reminder. This is not a piece in defense of Carper. It’s a piece about an era which birthed a lot of activists.
Note to the Bedroom Bolshevik: Keep it up and you’ll once again be gone.
Not feeling it. Young guy starting out gets grassroots-y to move up. Turns into tool for banks and pharma, enriches himself.
That’s true. Just not the subject of this, and only this, thread.
Nostalgia is not about where we ended but where it started. in that spirit one more story. In ’77 TC’s first year as an elected a local Supermarket chain, Hearns, was selling off union stores to non union operators. That set up a confrontation at a store on Philly Pike that shared the shopping center with our union hall. I set up an informational picket with a “shop in”. We had about 50 volunteer shoppers go into the store on a busy Thursday night, fill their carts with meats, ice cream etc. get in the checkout line then leave their “purchases” on the belt. Tom gamely did a cart full for us:).
To my best knowledge, Tom Carper has never attended a klan rally. That’s really not awful of him.
I would be surprised if there is a Delawarean who has never personally met Tom Carper. I am literally a nobody and he has met with groups I have been a part of more times than I can count and one day he just randomly stopped by my office to speak with me and my staff while doing the same with other nearby businesses. At every encounter he was personable and attentive to what others were saying.
Say what you want about Tom Carper’s politics, or his tendency to go off topic and ramble through his public appearances, but he is a decent man with a great heart.
One of my personal examples: Thanksgiving weekend 2007, and he’s writing the foreword for a book I’m editing. He calls me in the afternoon, reads me his rough draft, then asks for comments. OK, nothing unusual there. Then he asks if my daughter was home. (She was a sophomore at UD at the time.) He remembers that she was a classmate of his son in fourth grade. I tell Tom that she’s home, he asks to talk to her, and they just spent 15-20 minutes conversing. Since then, when our paths cross, he sometimes asks how she’s doing. Some pols (anyone remember Cale Boggs?) have photographic memories of everyone they encounter. Tom might too, but in these casual conversations he really seems authentic.
I enjoy his visits to the Kent County chapter of Vietnam Veterans memorial service at their lovely little park on South Little Creek Road across from my neighborhood. On Veterans Day and Memorial Day, he’s given some good brief speeches.