The LuLac Edition #543, August 22nd, 2008

PHOTO INDEX: OUR 1968 LOGO, THE BEAUTIFUL SKYLINE OF DENVER AND THE LUZERNE COUNTY COURTHOUSE.

HERE COME THE DEMS

Denver is bracing for the Democrats and people involved with the party are busy getting things ready for the invasion of the oldest established political party in the nation. It’s going to be the Donkeys and the Broncos. Rocky Mountain highs and Coors Lite Twins. Jim Gibson, a member of the Colorado Democratic Leadership Council is excited about the prospect of the convention. “We are very busy getting ready for this convention. There are venues that are so huge that sometimes they are beyond comprehension. Our gathering (the Democratic Leadership Council) is going to feature John Legend and we are going to have 2,000 there. There will be a media event that will have 10,000 attendees, " said Gibson a Kingston native and King’s College graduate.
It’s been reported my man Al Gore will address the crowd at Invesco Field on Thursday night and the hot rumor around town is that Bruce Springsteen will be on hand to either help introduce Obama or entertain that night. There is a major parade scheduled everyday including a Hillary event. Gibson estimated that there were more than 600 events planned for the week including policy meetings and entertainment programs.

WHIP IT

Word out of Denver is that the Hillary Clinton people have hired a former Arkansas political operative Craig Smith to act as a convention whip. At the 1960 convention, Ted Kennedy to each delegation and made sure they stayed in line for JFK. Smith’s job is to circulate among the delegates to make certain the Hillary delegates don’t boo Obama. Kind of like a reverse natural going on there if you ask me.

THIS TIME, THE COURTS

As people scream about the assessment issue, still another investigation is going on under the dome. Once more taxpayers in Luzerne County are being exposed to more digging, this time by the FBI. From our friends at WBRE TV which broke this story exclusively at noon yesterday,
Luzerne County District Attorney Jackie Musto Carroll tells Eyewitness News the FBI is investigating a possible theft at the Luzerne County Courthouse. Jackie Musto Carroll says, "They are investigating an alleged theft in the court administrators office. My office and myself are working with the FBI in this matter. I assure you it's in good hands". William Sharkey is the county's current court administrator. According to the Administration office of Pennsylvania Courts, Sharkey is out on medical leave. His deputy, P.J. Adonizio did not return our calls. But what Jackie Musto Carroll can confirm is that altogether federal agents paid a visit to three separate offices. Wonder how many people are going to be outraged over this? I guess boathouses will trump missing money from the Courts anytime.
And the beat goes on.

1968

“In 1968 the name Chicago won a significance far beyond date and place. It became the title of an episode, like Waterloo or Versailles or Munich. At Chicago, for the first time, the most delicate process of American politics was ruptured by violence, the selection of Presidents stained with blood. 1968 throughout was a year in which the ghosts of America’s past returned to haunt the present; but at Chicago the goblins of America’s future appeared to haunt tomorrow.” Teddy White, The Making of the President, 1968.
Forty years ago this week, the Democratic National Convention opened in Chicago. Coming into the convention, Hubert Humphrey had about 1400 delegates of the 1312 needed to nominate. But it wasn’t without the daily drama. On Sunday, when HHH arrived in the Windy City, he was greeted with the news that President Johnson’s people were orchestrating a draft to nominate the incumbent. That boomlet ended when a Harris poll revealed that President Johnson or Vice president Humphrey would trail GOP nominee Richard Nixon by 10 points in the national polls. On Monday night, former Ohio Governor Mike DiSalle started a movement on the floor to draft Senator Edward Kennedy. After much drama, the Kennedy forces renounced the effort and that segment ended. Tuesday night the Platform committee passed the pro war plank which prohibited any unilateral stop to the bombing of North Vietnam. The anti war advocates make a great run but lost. Platform Chairman Hale Boggs tries to read the planks but was shouted down by delegates who screamed “Let’s go home, let’s go home”. Mayor Daley grabs the microphone and asks for an adjournment until noon the next day and over objections of the anti war people, the resolution passes. On Wednesday, Hubert Humphrey is nominated for President amidst violence in the streets. He gets 1317 and ½ votes as Pennsylvania puts him over the top, or the hump. The joy of the nomination is tempered by the violence in the streets. Split screens show both to a stunned nation. Meanwhile, inside the convention, CBS floor reporter Dan Rather has his hands full with a disturbance he covers on national TV.






Rather also tells us about another incident, this time concerning a New York delegate.


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On Thursday, Humphrey nominates New Hampshire Senator and Polish Catholic Edmund Muskie. Humphrey had wanted Kennedy in law R. Sargent Shriver, ambassador to France. Shriver even had flights booked to come to Chicago but the Kennedy clan nixed the deal saying it would ruin Teddy Kennedy’s chances if he wanted to run in 1972. On Thursday night, Humphrey gave his speech quoting St. Francis of Assisi,

“Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.

Where there is hatred,

let me sow love;

where there is injury, pardon;

where there is doubt, faith;

where there is despair, hope;

where there is darkness, light;

and where there is sadness, joy."

With the violence in the streets, Ralph Abernathy’s Poor People’s March in Chicago, (an extension of the DC event from June) the divisive Vietnam debate, the passions inside and out of the hall, the meeting of the old politics vs the new and no money, Humphrey left that convention with the prize he pursued for nearly a decade. But he was bruised and battered and not optimistic about his or his party’s chances of winning in November. No one, the President, the party, his foes, served Humphrey well that week. He'd enter the campaign broke, on his own and 22 points behind Nixon…………..In Chicago, Pennsylvania played a key role. Watching Humphrey get nominated in the Veep's hotel suite were former Governor George Leader, former Philadelphia Mayor Richardson Dillworth and Pittsburgh Mayor Joseph Barr……..in Luzerne County, Democratic officials began to partner with unions to get ready for the fall campaign and in Wilkes Barre the first step of the Hazle Street Renewal Area begins with ground being broken for a state of the art printing plant operated by Llewellyn and McKane Incorpoated. The building still stands today and this week forty years ago in America and LuLac land the number 1 song was “Turn Around, Look At Me” by the Vogues.