Showing 121 - 130 of 204 Items
Date: 2009-03-25
Creator: Robert 'Bob' J Carolla
Access: Open access
Biographial Note
Robert J. “Bob” Carolla was born in 1956, in Suffern, New York, to Anthony and Mary Pugliese Carolla. When he was eight years old the family moved from Pearl River, New York, to Canastota, New York, where his father was a high school principal. Bob attended Middlebury College. Upon graduation he worked as the press secretary and political director of the Democratic Conference, which was a project of Americans for Democratic Action (ADA). He earned his law degree from Boston University in 1982. He worked with a law firm in Portland, Maine, and volunteered for the joint Brennan-Mitchell campaign in 1982. He accepted another position with ADA in Washington, DC, and was then hired by Mitchell’s Senate office as a legislative assistant. He began by handling foreign policy and defense issues and took on labor and commerce issues during his tenure in that position. At the time of this interview, he was director of media relations for the National Alliance on Mental Illness in Arlington, Virginia.
Summary
Interview includes discussion of: the Washington semester program and interning with Americans for Democratic Action; coming to Maine; Robert Kennedy’s 1964 Senate campaign and his visit to Canastota; Mitchell’s 1982 U.S. Senate campaign; Mitchell’s task force on campaign finance reform; becoming a legislative assistant in Mitchell’s Senate office in 1985; foreign policy, defense, labor, and commerce issues; 1986 railroad strike in Maine; Mitchell’s role as chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC); the transition to being majority leader, how the staff handled that, and the question of where Maine issues end and national issues begin; bringing in more staff to handle the growing responsibilities of the majority leader; friendly competition between the Mitchell staff and the Democratic leadership staff; Fish Inspection Bill in 1989-90 and Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens’s opposition to it; volatile personalities in the Senate; Maine’s interest in the DDG Destroyer program and how this affected the Senate majority leader’s race with Sen. Johnston (La.) in 1987-1988; Mitchell’s knack for capturing and simplifying a message; the ways in which Mitchell changed as a candidate between 1974 and 1982; Gayle Cory’s role in Mitchell’s office and wedding gift story; “silver bullet’ constituency case; the Marine Research Bill; and the importance of asking for a vote.
Date: 2009-03-05
Creator: Dale L Bumpers
Access: Open access
Biographial Note
Dale L. Bumpers was born on August 12, 1925, in Charleston, Arkansas. He attended the University of Arkansas, and during World War II he served in the U.S. Marine Corps. After being discharged, he attended Northwestern University Law School in Evanston, Illinois, where he received his law degree in 1951. He then returned to Charleston, Arkansas, where he began practicing law the following year. He ran for the state House in 1962 but lost. In 1970, he made a successful run for governor of Arkansas. He was elected to the U.S. States Senate in 1974, where he served until his retirement in 1999. During his tenure in the Senate, he never voted in favor of a constitutional amendment. He is married to Betty Flanagan Bumpers, who has spearheaded efforts to immunize children through the Dale and Betty Bumpers Vaccine Research Center.
Summary
Interview includes discussions of: coming into the Senate in the class of ’74; how George Mitchell rose to be majority leader: 1988 majority leader race; the role of money in politics and campaign finance reform; comparing leadership styles of Senators Byrd and Mitchell; Howard Baker as majority leader; Women Against Nuclear War / Peace Links and Betty Bumpers’ role in the organization, and the amendment Bumpers proposed to declare a national Peace Day; Robert Dole as majority leader; Tom Daschle as majority leader and as Mitchell’s protégé; George Mitchell’s inner circle; the evolution of partisanship in the Senate; the invasion of Iraq in 1991; the idea of constitutional amendments and Bumpers’s stance against them; the effects of living through the Depression and World War II on Bumpers’s generation; Mitchell’s decision to leave the Senate; Bumpers’s defense of Bill Clinton during the impeachment hearing; Bumpers’s presidential ambitions and choosing not to run in 1984; and the Bumpers’ involvement in desegregating the school in Charleston, Arkansas.
Date: 2010-04-12
Creator: Paul P Brountas
Access: Open access
Biographial Note
Paul Peter Brountas was born on March 19, 1932, in Bangor, Maine. He and George Mitchell were classmates at Bowdoin College, where he was graduated with a bachelor’s degree in 1954; he took bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Oxford in 1956 and his law degree from Harvard Law School in 1960. That same year, he joined Hale and Dorr, the predecessor of WilmerHale. He became a partner in 1968 and served as senior counsel to the firm from 2003 until his retirement in 2005. In 1987 and 1988, he served as national chairman of the Committee to Elect Michael S. Dukakis President of the United States, and in 1968 he served as a campaign aide to Senator Edmund Muskie during the Humphrey-Muskie presidential campaign.
Summary
Interview includes discussion of: student life at Bowdoin College in the early 1950s; George Mitchell’s basketball skills; the Edmund Muskie vice presidential campaign (1968), especially working with Don Nicoll and the Press; friendship with and gubernatorial (Mass.) and presidential campaigning for Michael Dukakis, especially the selection process for filling the vice presidential candidacy (Lloyd Bentsen, and consideration of Jesse Jackson); the Kennedy-Johnson ticket (1960) and Kennedy’s assassination; Harvard Law School; George Mitchell’s negotiating skills.
Date: 2009-05-26
Creator: Regina Sullivan
Access: Open access
Biographial Note
Regina Sullivan was born on January 16, 1957, to Richard and Julia Sullivan in the Bronx, New York, and grew up in Washington, DC. Her father was chief counsel to the House Public Works and Transportation Committee and her mother ran a nonprofit organization called Candle Lighters Childhood Cancer Foundation. Regina was graduated from Bishop Dennis J. O’Connell High School and went on to Regis University in Denver, Colorado, where she received a degree in economics. During her senior year of college, she worked for Denver Mayor Bill McNichols. After graduation she returned to Washington, D.C., where she took a temporary job in Senator Ed Muskie’s office. She worked there for approximately four months helping the receptionist and doing filing. She went back to Denver to help run a city council race, and then decided to move back to Washington as a legislative correspondent in Muskie’s office. She stayed on when Mitchell was appointed to fill Muskie’s vacant Senate seat. When Charlie Jacobs came on staff as head of scheduling, she became his assistant. She worked on scheduling in Maine for the 1982 campaign; after Mitchell won the seat, she returned to Washington and worked as the deputy press secretary, later going back to the front office to do scheduling and worked as a liaison between Mitchell’s Senate staff and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) staff. In 1986 she left Mitchell’s office and started a government relations firm, now R. Sullivan & Associates, where she continued to work at the time of this interview.
Summary
Interview includes discussion of: Regis University; starting work in Senator Muskie’s office; working on a city council race in Denver, Colorado; working for Mayor McNichols in Denver; learning about Congress while growing up in Washington, D.C.; working as a legislative correspondent for Muskie; the transition in the office when Mitchell was appointed to fill Muskie’s seat; the degree of changeover or continuity in staff between Muskie and Mitchell; Mitchell’s first Banking Committee hearing and Senator Proxmire’s praise of his performance; working on Mitchell’s scheduling in Maine; working in Maine on the 1982 election; Mitchell’s work ethic, especially on the campaign; Mitchell’s relationship with Senator Cohen; 1982 U.S. Senate campaign and David Emery; moving over to the press office; the complications that arose from Mitchell’s attempts to travel back to Maine every weekend; Mitchell’s relationship with the women on his staff; the “fun times” they had on the campaign; commiserating with other senators’ schedulers; what Sullivan learned from and respected about Senators Muskie and Mitchell; the increasing partisanship on Capitol Hill; and Mitchell’s ability to see other opportunities to do public service beyond his Senate career.
Date: 2008-11-08
Creator: Thomas 'Tom' A Bertocci
Access: Open access
Biographial Note
Tom Bertocci was born in Lewiston, Maine, on February 17, 1945. His father was Salvatore Theodore “Ted” Bertocci, the son of Italian immigrants who came to the United States in 1912. Two of Tom’s uncles became professors at Bates College, where they met Ed Muskie. Tom’s father worked at Bath Iron Works, and met Tom’s mother, Margaret True Allen of Auburn, Maine, through his brothers. Tom was graduated from Morse High School and Wesleyan University. He became involved with the Chewonki Foundation during his college years, when he worked there as a camp counselor. He taught history at the Hotchkiss School in Connecticut, then earned a masters degree in education at the University of Wisconsin while becoming increasing interested in activism and politics. He became the first director of the Chewonki Foundation’s Maine Reach School, where he led a citizen action project with students to help on George Mitchell’s 1974 campaign for governor. He returned to Wisconsin as a full-time graduate assistant and co-authored Skills in Citizen Action with Fred Newman. In 1979, he returned to Maine to work for the Maine Audubon Society’s campaign opposing repeal of Maine’s bottle bill. In the spring of 1980, he was hired as a field representative and driver in Mitchell’s Rockland, Maine, field office, where he remained until Mitchell retired in 1995. He married his wife, Portland native Cindy Stanhope, in 1981. He died on April 4, 2010, at his home after a prolonged illness.
Summary
Interview includes discussions of: family background and education; growing up in Bath, Maine; the basketball team at Morse High School and the New England Championships; association with the Chewonki Foundation as a counselor and academic director; summer jobs; attending Wesleyan College and teaching at the Hotchkiss School; his political philosophy (transitioning from the Republican to the Democratic Party), and views on politics and education; graduate studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison; working on McCarthy’s campaign in 1968; co-authored Skills in Citizen Action; involvement in Wisconsin politics; working for the Maine Audubon Society; getting the job as Mitchell’s field representative in Rockland; the offices in Rockland and Waterville; helping with the Midcoast counties’ issues such as Bath Iron Works, fishing, the Windjammers, and Martin Marietta’s Thomaston kiln and solvent incineration controversy; involvement in Mitchell’s Maine gubernatorial campaign (1974); Mitchell’s Maine visits as senator; travel, especially driving Mitchell around the state; Mitchell’s geographic knowledge; Mitchell’s personality and leadership qualities; Mitchell’s interactions with his administrative staff and his relationship with Bertocci; Mitchell’s retirement from the U.S. Senate; and an anecdote about Senator John Glenn’s visit to Maine relating to Cindy Bertocci’s father, Joe Stanhope.
Date: 2010-03-22
Creator: Donna L Beck
Access: Open access
Biographial Note
Donna Lee Beck was born in Virginia in 1949 and grew up in Washington, D.C. Her mother worked various jobs on the Hill, including in the cafeteria of the Senate and the folding room. After completing high school, Donna also went to work on the Hill, where she stayed for thirty-two years. She worked for Senators Everett Dirksen, Alan Cranston, Ed Muskie, and George Mitchell. When Mitchell replaced Muskie in the Senate, Beck went to work as Mitchell’s office manager, both in his personal office and the majority leader’s office.
Summary
Interview includes discussion of: growing up in D.C. in the 1950s; Beck’s mother; working for Everett Dirksen, Alan Cranston, and Ed Muskie; Muskie’s staff, including Gayle Cory, Anita Jensen, and Jane O’Connor; the transition from Muskie to Mitchell; impressions of Mitchell; an anecdote about Mitchell’s reporting the advance from his book; working in the majority leader’s and personal offices; and Mitchell’s retiring.
Date: 2009-06-26
Creator: Richard 'Rick' W Smith
Access: Open access
Biographial Note
Richard W. “Rick” Smith was born on July 5, 1947, in Dorchester, Massachusetts, to Jacob and Sara (Levine) Smith. He grew up in Bath, Maine, and attended high school at the Tilton School in Tilton, New Hampshire. In 1969, he received a B.A. in government and legal studies from Bowdoin College. He spent six years in the National Guard in Bath and earned a law degree from Boston University. He volunteered in the Cumberland County (Me.) district attorney’s office during Joe Brennan’s tenure, where he met George Mitchell, who was then a part-time prosecutor. At the time of this interview, he practiced law at Bernstein Shur in Portland, Maine.
Summary
Interview includes discussion of: family background and education; Bowdoin College; National Guard; Boston University Law School; Joe Brennan and getting a job in the District Attorney’s Office by taking the position without pay; attending the Verrill Dana barbeques and getting into political debates about the Vietnam War; discussing the constitutional rights of the people they were prosecuting in the county office; Mitchell’s skill as a lawyer; an anecdote about how Mitchell prepared for cases; an anecdote about Smith’s bringing a lobster trap into the court as evidence; the gubernatorial primary pitting Mitchell against Brennan, and how people in the prosecutor’s office had to choose between them; the Educational Equalization Act and Smith’s experience representing Maine towns for fair taxation; and Mitchell’s decision to leave the lifetime judgeship.
Date: 2009-09-11
Creator: Carol Shapiro, Samuel 'Sam' Shapiro
Access: Open access
Biographial Note
Samuel Shapiro was born in Brownsville, Pennsylvania, on August 26, 1927. His parents were Maurice and Anna (Silver) Shapiro. His father was born in the Ukraine and his mother in Lithuania. He spent two years in the Navy, then attended the University of Pittsburg on the G.I. Bill, graduating in 1952. He married and moved to Waterville, Maine, in 1953 and served as Maine Democratic Party treasurer for thirteen years. He also ran several furniture stores with his father-in-law. He served as Maine state treasurer for 16 years (1980-1996) during the Brennan, McKernan, and King administrations. He worked with George Mitchell on the Democratic State Committee in the early 1960s; he was especially close to George Mitchell’s brother, Robbie, and they often played tennis. Carol Shapiro was born and raised in Waterville, Maine, and attended Colby College. She and George Mitchell were high school classmates.
Summary
Interview includes discussion of: family background; 1974 Maine gubernatorial campaign; Jim Longley story; military service; anti-Semitism; description of George Mitchell’s character and personality; state treasurers story; dating story; George Mitchell’s mother, Mary (Saad) Mitchell; Mitchell-Muskie comparison; Ken Curtis; and Bill Clinton story.
Date: 2009-04-03
Creator: Norman 'Norm' S Reef
Access: Open access
Biographial Note
Norman S. “Norm” Reef was born on August 16, 1933, in Portland, Maine, where he grew up with his parents, Samuel Reef and Dora Reef, and seven siblings. His father emigrated from Lithuania at age fourteen and worked as a cobbler. Norm grew up in the Jewish community of Portland, and the family struggled to make ends meet during the Depression and World War II. He attended Boston University and after two years joined the Army; the Korean War ended just as he completed training. He returned to study public relations at Boston University and then attended law school to help with his brothers’ insurance finance business. After being married, he set up a law practice in Portland. He became part of the fund-raising group for the Maine Democratic Party and encouraged Governor Brennan to appoint Mitchell to the Senate. He has also done legal work for Mitchell and is a personal friend. His daughter, Grace Reef, worked as a legislative assistant in Mitchell’s U.S. Senate office. He retired in 1989 from full-time practice of law. At the time of this interview, he was working on bringing about the production of a patent he holds for an industrial waste incinerator that generates power, associated with the firm Maine Microfurnace.
Summary
Interview includes discussion of: family and educational background; the Jewish community in Portland; growing up in a large family during WWII; the Army and being a dental technician in Texas; Boston University and being president of a fraternity; working with his brothers and going to law school; joining the finance committee for the Maine Democratic Party; Muskie’s swearing in as secretary of state 1980; meeting President Clinton; why Mitchell lost the 1974 gubernatorial race; a meeting in Augusta and Brennan’s decision to appoint Mitchell to the Senate; Mitchell at hockey games and his involvement with the Red Sox; Mitchell’s relationship to Muskie; Mitchell as U.S. attorney; humorous anecdotes about Grace’s internship in Mitchell’s office; Reef’s retirement and return to work; the Microfurnace patent; and Mitchell’s exceptional character.
Date: 2009-03-26
Creator: Grace Reef
Access: Open access
Biographial Note
Grace Reef grew up in Portland, Maine, with her father, Norman Reef, an attorney, and her mother, Patricia Reef. In 1974, as a twelve-year-old, she was the first female Little League baseball player, having sued to integrate girls into the program. She first heard of Senator Mitchell when he ran for governor in 1974. She attended Colby College, graduating in 1983 with a degree in public policy. During college she interned in Mitchell’s Senate office in Washington, D.C.; she worked as a legislative correspondent and was later promoted to be a legislative assistant, eventually becoming one of Mitchell’s senior advisors on children and poverty issues and economic development. She worked for minority leader Tom Daschle after Mitchell retired in 1994, continuing to work on issues of welfare reform and child care. She also worked for Senator Chris Dodd as the minority staff director of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Subcommittee on Children and Families. She has served as director of intergovernmental affairs for the Children’s Defense Fund. At the time of this interview, she was chief of policy and evaluation for the National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies (NACCRRA).
Summary
Interview includes discussion of: interning in Mitchell’s Senate office; the legislative process; tax reform in the mid-1980s; Mitchell’s decision-making process; the Family Support Act; doing research on child care providers in Maine; child care and development block grants; the Better Child Care Act; the structure of the Senate and the work Mitchell had to do to get legislation passed; Title 4A At Risk Child Care; the compromise on child care vouchers (church-state); Mitchell’s “divide and conquer” approach to dealing with different senators’ doubts and bringing them on board; the Family Medical Leave Act; anecdote of Reef’s presence in the Rose Garden with Mitchell when the Family Medical Leave Act was signed; George H.W. Bush’s saying that they needed a “kinder, gentler nation”; Environment and Public Works Committee work and highway funding; the formula for gas tax returns; miscalculating the formula and watching the bill on the floor of the Senate for three weeks; the National Affordable Housing Act; Mitchell and the Maine delegation; Mitchell’s patience as his greatest attribute; and Mitchell’s sense of humor.