Growing Up Then and Now

Pat Lindgren and my 1987 Campaign Volunteers

       In 1987, Fred Norton, the Speaker of the Minnesota House, resigned the seat he’s held for twenty years to become an appellate judge.  Although I’d pretty much kept it to myself – wanting to run for office someday – I was very excited to get a bunch of calls saying I should run, including calls from Pat Lindgren, Gloria Bogen, Sherry Munyon and BJ Metzger, all experienced campaign managers.  That foursome met and decided Pat should be the lead campaign manager, Gloria in charge of fundraising, BJ in charge of door-knocking, and Sherry in charge of volunteers.   What a lucky guy I was – because Rep. Norton resigned in the middle of his two-year term – there was no other election going on that summer of 1987, and these four savvy campaigners wanted to roll up their sleeves for me.

Pat Lindgren (in photo to the right with my future bride),

I credit you with being the best campaign manager ever.  A campaign manager does everything that somebody else can’t be found to do.  When things seemed to get out of hand, Pat told me that was the sign of a winning campaign!  (“So much going on; some things are going to go wrong.”)

Gloria Bogen           

                                                                                     Sherry Munyon

Pat brought us to victory after starting as an underdog.  As an unknown, we couldn’t even get a story in the paper announcing my candidacy. We faced two seemingly insurmountable opponents:  Bill Wilson, the President of the City Council, and Judy McLaughlin, Speaker Norton’s Legislative Director and the wife of the Chair of the local DFL Party.  (DFL stands for Democratic Farmer Labor Party.)

We got lucky in the DFL endorsement process.  The delegates that convened the year before to endorse Fred Norton for re-election had to be reconvened.  Because Fred had been unopposed, a high percentage of the delegates were there only to support the Nuclear Freeze movement.  As the most progressive candidate in the field, that was a winning issue for me.  I called each one and promised I would be the most progressive and hardest working legislator at the State Capitol.  That worked.  The convention deadlocked and adjourned with Andy 30%, Bill 30%, Judy 30%, and 10% other.  There would be no endorsement.  (In the inner-city, DFL endorsement is tantamount to winning the election.)

caption: District 65A — 15 precincts, 40,000  people, bounded by Rice St. on the east, Summit Av. on the south, Hamline Av. and Lexington Pkwy., on the west, and Minnehaha Av. on the north

The rest was just hard work, having the savviest campaign, the best campaign lit, and the most door-knockers.  A special mention for doorknocker Metric Giles:  Metric showed up at my law office many, many days at noon to start my door-knocking day.  Metric was better known than me at the time and introduced me to everybody he knew in the African-American community.  Thanks Metric!  Could not have done it without you.

But we needed one more stroke of luck.  Judy’s husband, Mike (known as “Black Mike” for his Chicago-style ability to deliver a winner) figured City Council President Wilson was the likely winner, in part because he was African-American in a district with a large Black population.  (Judy being Anglo-American.)  With Bill out of the way, he figured Judy would be the shoo-in.  Mike went to Bill and said, “Bill, it’s Judy’s turn.  Whatever else you want in politics, I’ll get for you, but this time, get out and support Judy.”  And when Bill did, we had our opening.  Bill didn’t see us coming.  He certainly didn’t step out of the way to have me win, and he didn’t know how much support I would have in the Black community – from having been the People’s Lawyer in so many ways and Metric for a friend.

What a sweet night it was at Herges Bar, the victory party!  Thanks Pat, Gloria, Sherry and BJ, and all the rest of the 1987 “Dawkins for Our Neighborhoods” campaign team for all you did – and the ongoing work so many of you continued doing behind the scene in politics.

caption:  Victory party photo by Brian Lambert, Twin Cities Reader.  (I’m on the phone with Sen. Dave Durenberger.  His son Charlie was a Bluebird and campaign volunteer.)

One more thing about that campaign – that led to my first bill introduction as a legislator.  As I mentioned, a big reason for our victory was how many dedicated volunteers we had.  We asked each volunteer to think about what Andy should do as a legislator if we win.  A group of volunteers came up with an idea on how to buy and fix-up the dilapidated absentee landlord properties in our neighborhood and turn them into being owner-occupied.  This was before Habitat for Humanity was well known.

At the end of the 1989 legislative session, the first year of my first full term, our neighborhood idea had $1 million “buttoned-up” (meaning part of a conference committee final report).  But on the second to last day of the session, a more senior legislator (it was Sen. Majority Leader Roger Moe) needed a million for his district and “un-buttoned” my neighborhood’s million.  You have to read the next Tribute to find out what happened after that.

Rick Bowen

       Upstairs from the Tenant’s Union was the Neighborhood Justice Center.  Spencer Blaw (see Tribute before) used to hang with the upstairs crowd as well, playing poker, and this led to my knowing Rick Bowen.  Rick, like me, was a brand-new lawyer, having just passed the bar exam.  From the beginning I never did any advertising, just a law card that read: “Andy’s Law Office – Where the Meter Isn’t Always Running.”

One day Spencer shows up at my apartment/office with Rick’s law card: “Currently Working the Streets.”

Spencer says, “Maybe you two guys should get together.”

Later that afternoon Rick and I met for a beer.  Two months later, we rented a University Avenue storefront.  Five years later we bought a building down the street and called it “The People’s Law Center.”  Fifty–three years later Rick and I still office together on University Av., still often grab a beer, share war stories, and gossip about the ladies.

In most ways our politics were a perfect fit:  Both with a keen sense for injustice, both believing the rich as well the poor deserve good representation, both honest-types and both more or less tolerant-types.  But Rick is a Republican!  A tolerant-type Republican, thank goodness, because “The People’s Law Center” overnight turned into the “Andy Dawkins for State Rep Campaign Headquarters.”  In a chapter further on, I tell more about that campaign.  Suffice for here, the opportunity to run for office came suddenly and Rick hardly had a chance to contemplate all that might mean, but to this day I love that he never complained about the office all of the sudden having dozens of people trouping through every day.

Whenever somebody gets in trouble with the law, including myself (a DWI), I recommend Rick – and always hear back: “Highly satisfied.”  Rick has command of every nuance of the rules of criminal procedure.  Rick knows which prosecutors, which judges, should be approached which ways.  Most important, he is convincing – a great attribute for being a lawyer!   Best of all, he cares more about helping people than getting paid a lot – most his clients come from the poor side of town.   And to top it off, he’s got the Emma Goldman thing going – Rick’s the long-time Commissioner of our Rotisserie Baseball League.

photo caption above:  That’s a photo of my shingle facing the street.  On the sidewalk it reads Andrew J. Dawkins Attorney at Law.  Passersby could see me at my desk just below the sign – a real storefront law office.

Bob Flug

       The 1978-79 journey from being a lawyer in Bridgeton, New Jersey, to being a lawyer in Saint Paul, Minnesota, was – like the summer of 1972 journey – another 9,000 miles taking over three months, and once again friends played a significant part.  It started with Pat DeCarlo’s long-time boyfriend from Peace Corps days, Bob Flug, finally giving-up on ever having Pat back as his one-and-only, and offering to drive me back to Minnesota.

At the time Bob and I were roommates and he was nurturing me back from the one period in my life when I was suffering from debilitating headaches 24/7 – due to stress according to the doctors.  Thank heavens for the Doc who got me to understand that burning the candle at both ends for a couple years meant learning and doing relaxation exercises for a couple years before the tension in my head might abate.  It did, YEA!  And BIG thanks to Bob for giving me space to relax in – and getting me back to finding joy in living.

Bob had a way, like no other person I’ve ever known, of always being cheerful and uplifting. If it’s the duty of a Saint to always be happy, with Bob it never seemed to be a duty.  He got me playing tennis, frisbee golf, shooting pool, and going to Atlantic City to watch the action, but most of all he was just plain friendly, cheerful, optimistic, and got me laughing again.

In Bridgeton, Bob worked at the community cable TV station brainstorming, editing and hosting public affairs programing.  But once there was no longer hopes of ever again having a Patricia DeCarlo in his life, Bob, like me, felt it was time to move-on.

We left Bridgeton NJ, in late December, 1978, with Bob not knowing where he was going to end-up – just knowing it was time to leave Bridgeton.  I had no deadline for arriving back in Minnesota

Leaving town, one friend asked if we could give her a lift to Miami where she was catching a flight to Guatemala.  Another said, as long as you’re going to Florida, can you stop in Ormond Beach to check on my sister who has joined a cult – she might need rescuing.  My parents said, “Hey, bring your sister Freddie her Christmas presents.”  (Freddie had recently dropped out of college and moved to Madeira Beach, Florida, with her boyfriend.)  The full story of the trip called the “Florida Rescue Mission” can be found in the Archives or by clicking <Here>.   Suffice for here – we ended up rescuing my sister!

(In the photo, that’s Sister Freddie ten years later with Ben & Madeleine, her two with ever-lovin’ Pete.)

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Bob and me at Spring Training in Tucson.  Bob had the great idea we could make money selling solar dogs.

After visiting many of Bob’s friends around the country and making new life-long friends in Denver (Vicky), Tucson (Debbie), and San Francisco (Leiba), we went to visit Beverly in Portland.  Like me, Beverly started as an intern in the Bridgeton Legal Services Office, but now was a full-time lawyer for Portland Legal Services. We arrived about 4 p.m.

“No kidding,” she says, “you guys are downstairs?!”  (We hadn’t told her we were coming.)  After a few minutes catching-up and explaining what we were up to, she says, “Wait Bob!  I’m on the local community cable station board and we’re hiring a new Director at tonight’s meeting.  I just talked with the Board President and she says she’s not impressed with any of the candidates.  Here’s my typewriter, type up your resume, and get it over there before the meeting starts in an hour!”

Talk about timing!  We’d left Bridgeton, NJ, over 80 days ago, having no idea where all we were going, and we end up in Portland, without a minute to spare!  The Board President thanked Bob for his application, said the decision was being made tonight, and to call the next morning to learn if he got the job.

caption:  80 days not knowing where we were going and not a minute too soon

We were still wanting to visit Ginny, another ex-Bridgetonian, now in Seattle, so we drove up that night and the next morning Bob called, and . . . . and he got the job! . . . . and I bought a three-week Amtrak pass ending up back in Minnesota in April, 1979.

Bob remained in Portland the rest of his life, finding a new lady friend (Bob, such a gentleman), eventually going to law school and becoming a legal services lawyer himself.  He’d come my way once a year and I’d go his way once a year.

photo caption below:  Bob, back in Minnesota, helping on my first campaign.  He died young with me at his bedside.