George S. Pillsbury - my kind of Republican

[dflprincess]

In the last line of his obituary in today's Strib:

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/startribune/obituary.aspx?page=lifestory&pid=160868269#fbLoggedOut

the family requested that "In lieu of flowers, a donation may be made in his memory to Planned Parenthood of Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota".

(I also liked this from his obit: "George served in the Minnesota State Senate from 1971-1982. As a senator, he supported family planning, education and government reform. He was a lifelong moderate Republican, crossing party lines to support Democrats and independents alike." == You think the family was trying to make a point about something?)

And another report said that earlier in the year he had donated $10,000 to defeat the marriage amendment.

Yup, the kind of Republican who, if elected, wouldn't leave me with desire to flee the state or the country.

[Angry Dragon]

1. Yes ........ there used to be some of them around

they may be extinct today

[MnFats]

2. Geo Pillsbury...decent fellow of high integrity...

first story i ever got assigned to write came in 1982 - attending Sen. Pillsbury's election campaign party, the one he declared would be his last. that's what made it more important -- guys like him were becoming rarities....He was kind and thorough and stopped me every 30 minutes or so to chat and see that I was getting everything i needed. He answered my questions without hesitation, even though they might not have been the queries he wanted to hear. That set the template for the rest of his last term...he never failed to return calls and never dodged a question.

As an aside, That was the night Ronald Reagan was elected president. the contrast couldn't have more clear. In fact, there was this exchange when I crossed paths with the chairwoman of the Orono School Board, who was just then arriving for the party.

"Isn't it wonderful?" she gushed. I wanted to say something like, "Fuck no, this is a catastrophe for our country," but i knew i'd probably get kicked out of the party if I did.. I was hoping Sen. Pillsbury might intervene to save my ass. but ... all I said was," well, it's pretty clean which way it;s going to go."

this was not rah-rah enough for her and she immediately recognized me as an interloper wh0 would not (insert bad Kool Aid joke here. I hate them, myself.) but all she did was harrumph and stomp. thereby leaving me free enough to assault the booze food lines

[dflprincess]

3. Long time no see! How are you?