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dreamshark Don Fraser was my hero. Lifetime politicians often describe their careers as "lives of public service," but in his case it was true. He wasn't flamboyant, he didn't have charisma. He was just hard-working, thoughtful, principled, kind, and competent. Year after year after year. When I moved to Minnesota in 1972 he had been representing the 5th District since 1963, concentrating on the things he cared about most: human rights and protecting the environment (specifically, the Boundary Waters Canoe Area). In 1978 he decided to make a run for Senate, but it turns out that honest, thoughtful and principled doesn't scale up well to state-wide office. He was smoked in the DFL primary by the utterly noxious real estate mogul Bob Short, who had absolutely no qualms about stirring up regional rivalries on gun control and wilderness management to scare outstate voters away from the "big city liberal." That was the one year I voted for a Republican for Senator (as did most people, apparently. Anyway, Durenberger won.)
So Don ran for mayor of Minneapolis, which turned out to be his true calling. Still not a grandstander, he was the kind of mayor who turned up in newspaper articles for stopping on his way to work to help a stranded motorist change a tire rather than for making impassioned speeches or leading parades. I saw him at a candidate forum at Seward School when he ran for mayor the first time. There were 5 candidates sitting at the dais taking questions from the crowd. Somebody threw out a softball question asking the candidates' position on arms control (remember the Cold War? It was a hot topic back then). Each candidate fielded this question with something inane like "You can't hug your children with nuclear arms!!" to enthusiastic applause from the crowd. Then we came to Don. He leaned forward a little, steepling his fingers in front of him as he considered the question. Then he said, "Well, as mayor of Minneapolis I would not have much authority to make decisions regarding international arms control. However, I have been giving some serious thought to the need for a city emergency evacuation plan." Which he then proceeded to discuss. The crowd fell asleep; I fell in love. My favorite politician ever.
So Don ran for mayor of Minneapolis, which turned out to be his true calling. Still not a grandstander, he was the kind of mayor who turned up in newspaper articles for stopping on his way to work to help a stranded motorist change a tire rather than for making impassioned speeches or leading parades. I saw him at a candidate forum at Seward School when he ran for mayor the first time. There were 5 candidates sitting at the dais taking questions from the crowd. Somebody threw out a softball question asking the candidates' position on arms control (remember the Cold War? It was a hot topic back then). Each candidate fielded this question with something inane like "You can't hug your children with nuclear arms!!" to enthusiastic applause from the crowd. Then we came to Don. He leaned forward a little, steepling his fingers in front of him as he considered the question. Then he said, "Well, as mayor of Minneapolis I would not have much authority to make decisions regarding international arms control. However, I have been giving some serious thought to the need for a city emergency evacuation plan." Which he then proceeded to discuss. The crowd fell asleep; I fell in love. My favorite politician ever.
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Date: 2019-06-04 07:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-06-04 11:20 pm (UTC)K.
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Date: 2019-06-05 08:07 pm (UTC)He was the father-in-law of one of my fellow writers in the Midwest Fiction Writers group.