Today is Election Day 2006. Forty years ago this day I was a candidate for the Pennsylvania State Legislature. I was a candidate as a result of winning a primary election some months before. The fact that it took a primary to pick a candidate came as a result in some major shake-ups in the party and the reapportionment of the district. The State legislature had the previous year reapportioned this district among others so that it resulted in two incumbent Democrats residing in the same ‘new’ district. One of them decided to retire and the other to run for the office. The Democratic Party organization in Philadelphia was in the process of changing with a new chairman and new administrators, etc. The one remaining incumbent legislator did not get the party endorsement. As a matter of fact neither did I but I don’t think I really sought it. I was active in the organization as a committeeman and was on a city board as a result of the Mayor’s appointment. I think that the party decided not to endorse anyone since there were two incumbents as the result of the reapportionment. So there was a primary to select a candidate. I won the primary and it would be the only election I would every win. I made a good showing in the general election by garnering more votes then the Democratic candidate for Governor, Milton Shapp. My opponent, only named by the Republican Party in June of that year, was better known. He was an All-American basketball player when he played for what was then called La Salle College. He went onto play for the Philadelphia’s pro basketball team the “Warriors” and just before his retirement in June he had been playing for the “Knicks”. His name was Tom Gola. So in addition to have more registered Republicans in the district than Democrats, his name recognition made a win difficult if not impossible. I had unwillingly followed by Father’s advice when he said “Run but don’t win!” He thought the running would be a help to a young lawyer by honing his communication skills, but winning might lead to too many temptations not easily overcome. I had evidence of this over the years as I saw classmates elected to judgeships and offices succumbing to accepting money illicitly and ending their careers. I could assure myself that “I would never have done that!” but the fact is I didn’t have to face such, so I will never really know if I could have avoided those offers.
One of the fondest memories I have is of watching my then three-year-old daughter running around in a shopping mall parking lot holding up in her hand three or four new pencils. I was there speaking to a group. The pencils were campaign ads. Each was inscribed the suggestion; “Vote for McSorley November___!” That three-year-old little girl will celebrate twelve years of marriage this month and now has three young boys running around her house and yard.
Another memory is being asked to speak at a men’s club located at a church in neighboring Cheltenham Township. It was outside Philadelphia and thus outside the district I was seeking to represent. A friend who was the leader of the group asked me. It was on the day before the election. The subject we were asked to speak on was the candidate for Governor. They had another speaker who was going to speak on the Republican incumbent and candidate. It turned out the other speaker was an old friend of mine. He was at that time, I think, a Common Pleas Court judge and later became a Federal Judge. His name was Jim Cavanaugh. Our families both had places at the shore, in Sea Isle City. We had been friends there as young boys. When Jim got up to speak he began very solemnly with words something like this: “I have been keeping this incident to myself throughout Mr.McSorley’s campaign though I had thought of expressing it many times: It is that the fact that he illegally sneaked into the movies! The Movie Theater was out on a pier in Sea Isle City. It was neither well kept nor well attended. It was discovered that there were holes in the floor wide enough for a young lad to crawl up through. But to get there you had to go out on a pipe hand over hand to the area, almost a block out under the theater on the pier. As you did so you went out over the ocean, depending on the tide, and then could shimmy up and crawl through the hole into the theater.” At this point Jim said,” I know he did it, because I did it with him!”
He got a great laugh. I had forgotten about such escapades. I then remembered it made no difference what the movie was since the challenge was just in getting into the theater. Once there we sometimes sat for a while to see if we could enjoy the picture but usually not too long. We then left. But it also gives you some idea of how well the theater was attended and supervised since we did it several times and never had anyone stop us.
In 1967 Mayor Tate decided to run for a second term. He had become Mayor when the prior Mayor Richardson Dilworth had resigned to run for Governor in 1962. Tate was elected in ’64 and under the City Charter he could run for another term in ’68. However, the city’s Democratic Party leadership had changed. He had supposedly a friend then leading the city’s Democratic Party, Frank Smith. But when the mayor suggested he run again the chairman decided to back the then City Controller, Alex Hemphill. So the mayor decided to form a ticket and run in the primary. His campaign manager for this was an old friend and classmate, Mike Stack. Mike asked me to enter my name as a candidate for “Register of Wills” It was thought that with a ticket with many of the democrat incumbents, it would cause the chairman to support Tate. The Register of Wills at that time was John E. Walsh and old friend of my Dad’s and a lawyer I had co-counseled with in a murder trial in 1959. Shortly after this occurred, I was called by my Dad into his office. He was still practicing law. When I entered there was John E Walsh sitting across the desk from my Dad. He asked me about my filing for Register of Wills. I explained to him Tate’s strategy. (Which by the way did work and Tate became the party’s candidate) I explained I intended to do nothing re campaigning etc. My Dad then turned to John Walsh and said, “John, you can be sure I’ll vote for YOU!” I suppose that part of my Dad’s political philosophy about my running for office: Run but don’t win!
We started to write this reminiscence on Election Day. It is now over and we have a new majority in the House and Senate. We have another first in that a woman will be the House Leader. She is a wife, mother, and congresswoman. One wag noted that “being a ‘mother’ she certainly knows how to run a house” She had lunch with the President. It was reported that no matter how many times he asked her to pass him something, she didn’t do it. The results prove that democracy is still at work in America. So if you are not pleased with the results at least you can be pleased with that.
November, besides being election time, is a time for me to remember loved ones that have left us in this month. My Mom, my oldest sister Win, and my oldest brother Frank all died in November. Win and Mom on the same day the fifteenth, Mom in 1952 and Win in 1998. Frank the then Bishop of Sulu died on the 19th in 1970. My sister Winnie was a like a second mother to me. My mom had expressed sometime in the months she lingered at Win’s home, how she was unhappy for not having seen Paul settled, as she had all of her thirteen other children. She saw me still going from ‘ pillar to post’. Winnie told me about this and was there for help whenever I needed it. I still recall the death of John F. Kennedy in November in 1963, I had campaigned for him. I remember riding home on the subway that day seeing tears in many people’s eyes. We were in Court that day in the midst of a zoning appeal when the news arrived, as a result the court adjourned. It was a shock to the nation then and still is remembered as such these many years later. Till next time Pax Tecum!