Showing 1541 - 1550 of 2039 Items
Date: 2009-05-20
Creator: Kelly R Horwitz
Access: Open access
Biographial Note
Kelly (Riordan) Horwitz was born in Lewiston, Maine, on August 28, 1967, and grew up in nearby Livemore Falls. Her father, John Peter Riordan, was a truck diver, and her mother, Vickie Johnson Riordan, worked for a construction company at the paper mill in Livemore Falls. Kelly attended Livemore Falls High School and Gould Academy in Bethel, Maine, and earned her degree in education and social policy at Northwestern University. She became involved in politics in college, and when George Mitchell became Senate majority leader in 1988, Horwitz began working for Mitchell in the mail room. She moved on to work in Mitchell’s office as a legislative correspondent, a speech writer, a member of his floor staff, and helped organize his reelection campaign. In the spring of 1990, she was selected by the Maine State Society for the Cherry Blossom Festival. She left Mitchell’s staff to attend law school at the University of Virginia and later worked on a vetting committee for vice presidential candidates for Al Gore. At the time of this interview, she was an attorney practicing in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
Summary
Interview includes discussion of: Horwitz’s education in Maine and at Northwestern University; how she began working for Mitchell; her positions as mail room clerk and legislative correspondent; working as special assistant to organize Mitchell’s positions for reelection; transition from Mitchell’s personal staff to floor staff; Cherry Blossom Festival; Horwitz’s responsibilities as a member of the floor staff and contact with Mitchell; partisanship in the Senate; Mitchell as majority leader; Mitchell’s relationship with Senator Dole; Mitchell’s relationship with Senator Bill Cohen; Mitchell’s role in Horwitz’s law school plans; and his commitment to education.
- The honors project offers seniors the opportunity to engage in original scholarship under the supervision of a faculty member in their major department or program and results in a written thesis and/or oral defense, artistic performance or showing, depending on the student’s field of study.
Date: 2008-10-06
Creator: John N Diamond
Marcia L Diamond
Access: Open access
Biographial Note
John Nathan Diamond was born on November 12, 1954, in Bangor, Maine. His father, Nathan Diamond, was a musician and a teacher, and his mother, Eleanor Diamond, was active in the community and in local politics. John followed politics with his parents, who were registered Republicans until 1978 when they changed their party affiliation and became Democrats. As a teenager, John volunteered for Elmer Violette and Bill Hathaway in 1972. After graduating from Bangor High School, he attended the University of Maine, graduating in 1977. He became involved in the Carter and Muskie campaigns of 1976. He worked for the Lewiston Sun-Journal after college, covering local politics, and then took a job running Jim Henderson’s primary campaign of 1978. He worked for Bill Hathaway in the general election that year and then took a job as a staffer in the Maine state House majority office. In 1980, he was elected to a House seat representing Bangor, and in 1982 he was reelected unopposed. Not having to campaign much for himself, he worked for Mitchell’s 1982 campaign. He met Marcia in 1985 and they were married September 13, 1986. They have two children and live in Bangor, Maine, where John worked for the University of Maine system as executive director of external affairs at the time of this interview. Marcia LaRochelle Diamond was born on June 8, 1962, in Bath, Maine, to Mary Sullivan LaRochelle and Neil LaRochelle. Marcia was the fourth of six children. Her father was a principal in the Bath school system, and he ran a family business called LaRochelle and Sons Market Gardens. Her mother encouraged her to get involved in politics in order to broaden her experience beyond being a teacher, which was the career that Marcia aspired to achieve. Marcia attended the University of Maine, Farmington, graduating early in order to intern in Mitchell’s office in Washington D.C. She began in the press office, and when the term of her internship was over she was hired as assistant press secretary. After a few years, she moved back to Maine to provide Senator Mitchell’s office with a press presence at home. After marrying John and finding that Mitchell’s seat was safe for the 1988 campaign, Marcia retired from her political career and pursued teaching. She began teaching sixth grade at East Corinth School and became involved in the Odyssey of the Mind program. After a hiatus rearing her children, she returned to teaching at St. Mary’s Catholic School, which merged with St. John’s Catholic School in 2000 to become All Saints Catholic School, where Marcia served as principal at the time of this interview.
Summary
Interview includes discussions of: growing up in Maine; the 1972 election; the University of Maine; the 1976 election; John’s running for the legislature in 1980; the Penobscot County Democrats; taking John’s seventy-five year old grandmother to see President Carter during his visit to Bangor in 1980; Bangor in the 1960s and 1970s; Marcia’s connection with Gayle Cory; Marcia’s internship in Mitchell’s Senate office in Washington, D.C. and subsequent work in Mitchell’s press office; Marcia’s decision to return to Maine; how John and Marcia met, their first date, and John’s proposal; how John got involved in Mitchell’s 1982 campaign; the field operation in 1982; how Mitchell developed his public persona; forecasting that nuclear and environmental issues would become crucial issues in the 1980s; the campaign strategy of following up on phone calls with letters about issues relevant to the phone conversation; the Fourth of July Parade in Bangor as a turning point in the 1982 campaign; election night, 1982; Marcia’s involvement with Odyssey of the Mind; John’s and Marcia’s small business; Marcia’s career in education; John’s work with Maine Public Broadcasting; how Marcia learned from Gayle Cory to never take “no” for an answer; and the forgotten luggage story.
Date: 2009-09-11
Creator: Patricia 'Pat' A Sarcone
Access: Open access
Biographial Note
Patricia Ann Sarcone was born in Newport, Rhode Island. She grew up in Des Moines, Iowa, and was graduated from St. Mary College in Leavenworth, Kansas, with a degree in business administration. In 1969 she joined Iowa Senator Harold Hughes’s staff in Washington, DC, where she remained until 1975. She then worked on Iowa Senator John Culver’s staff until 1980, when she joined Walter Mondale’s presidential campaign. She worked for Occidental International before joining Senator George Mitchell’s staff in 1988, working as Mitchell’s executive assistant until he retired in 1994, when she transitioned to work for Senator Tom Daschle.
Summary
Interview includes discussion of: role on Iowa Senator Harold Hughes’s staff; recollections of the Humphrey-Muskie campaign; working on Mondale’s presidential campaign; Sarcone’s joining Senator Mitchell’s staff and transitioning into Gayle Cory’s job as executive assistant to Mitchell; role and responsibilities as executive assistant; Monday morning meetings with the staff; Mitchell’s schedule; the Majority Leader’s Office; relationship between his personal office and the Majority Leader Office; women on staff; mood in the office when Mitchell announced his retirement; the transition to Senator Tom Daschle; Mitchell’s relationship with Senator Bob Dole; and Mitchell’s legacy.
Date: 2009-07-24
Creator: Marjorie M Bride
Access: Open access
Biographial Note
Marjorie McHenry Bride was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on July 17, 1939. Her parents, both from longtime Baltimore families, were James McHenry and Marjorie Ober McHenry. Her father was a gentleman farmer and so she lived in the countryside outside of town until she went to a boarding school, Dobbs Ferry, in New York. She earned her degree in economics from Bryn Mawr and worked for the Export-Import Bank in Washington, D.C. from 1961-1965, where she met her husband. She moved to Maine when her husband managed the Old Orchard Beach pier and later to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where she received a master’s degree in urban planning. She went into commercial development in Portland, Maine, in 1976 and became a broker, then started a tourism company called Experience Maine, and offered art tours along the coast. She spent a year in Washington, DC working in Mitchell’s Senate office; she sometimes played tennis with Senator Mitchell. At the time of this interview, she worked for Odysseys Unlimited and served on the boards of the Mitchell Institute, Outward Bound, and the Posse Foundation.
Summary
Interview includes discussion of: childhood and education background; Washington, D.C. during the Kennedy years; brief discussion of Mitchell’s history; the start of Experience Maine; working in Washington; playing tennis with Mitchell; involvement with the Mitchell Institute as board member; Outward Bound and the Posse Foundation; the business of Odysseys Unlimited with college alumni; contact with Mitchell; Chris Bride’s working as an immigration adjudications officer; Libby Mitchell’s run for governor; the mystery surrounding Mitchell’s current work in the Middle East; and Mitchell Scholars brunch.
Date: 2009-04-30
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: Iran-Contra 1986-1987; minimum wage bill veto; 1986 Maine Central Railroad strike; Portsmouth Dry Dock; Loring Air Force Base; Pan Am 103 terrorist bombing in 1988; Ford Aviation subcommittee and the aviation bill in 1990; working with Senator Ford; Mitchell’s presidential potential; Mitchell’s background; and Maine Peace Mission in 1987.
Date: 2009-08-28
Creator: Thomas 'Tom' H Allen
Access: Open access
Biographial Note
Thomas Hodge "Tom" Allen was born April 16, 1945, in Portland, Maine, to Charles W. “Charlie” and Genevieve (Lahee) Allen. His great-grandfather was John Calvin Stevens, a well known Maine architect. Tom was graduated from Bowdoin College and went on to be a Rhodes Scholar, studying at Oxford in the class immediately behind Bill Clinton's. He worked on Muskie’s 1970 senatorial reelection campaign and on the early part of the presidential campaign. He later attended Harvard Law School and subsequently returned to Maine to practice law. He worked on Mitchell's 1974 gubernatorial campaign. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1996-2008, vacating the seat for an unsuccessful run for the U.S. Senate. Since 2009, he has served as president and CEO of the Association of American Publishers. He is married to his childhood sweetheart, Diana.
Summary
Interview includes discussion of: Allen’s first recollections of Senator Mitchell; tensions in Ed Muskie’s staff; working with George Mitchell in Muskie’s 1972 presidential campaign; Allen’s involvement in Mitchell’s 1974 gubernatorial campaign; Allen’s characterization of George Mitchell socially; Allen’s friendship with Bill Clinton; Mitchell’s involvement in the peace process in Northern Ireland; how Allen has seen the character of Congress change over the years; and Allen working with Republican senators from Maine.
Date: 2009-08-17
Creator: Lula J Davis
Access: Open access
Biographial Note
Lula Johnson Davis was born in Potash, Louisiana. Her mother was a homemaker and her father worked in construction. She was awarded bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Southern University in Louisiana and married a Howard University professor, which brought her to Washington, D.C. She served as a legislative correspondent for Senator Russell Long in Washington, D.C., from 1980-1987 and later became an assistant for the Democratic Policy Committee’s floor staff office. In 1993, she began working for the Democratic floor staff and in 1995 rose to the position of chief floor assistant. From 1997 to 2008, she was assistant secretary for the Democratic Party and in 2008 was voted secretary for the majority.
Summary
Interview includes discussion of: how Davis got to Washington, DC; her work as legislative correspondent for Senator Russell Long; description of Senator Long; Davis’s job with the Democratic Policy Committee; working on the Senate Floor; working for Byrd; transition from Byrd to Mitchell within the Democratic Policy Committee; how the culture in the Senate has changed; voting procedures; difference between secretary of the Senate and secretary for the majority; George Mitchell’s legacy; the transition from Mitchell to Daschle; changes in the nature of Democratic leadership; changes in the nature of Republican leadership; Clinton impeachment; role of women in the Senate culture, including Martha Pope, Shelia Burke, and Anita Jensen.
Date: 2008-09-27
Creator: Marcia Ann Gartley
Access: Open access
Biographial Note
Marcia Ann (Bacha) Gartley was born on October 2, 1952, in Bradford, Pennsylvania. She grew up in Rixford, Pennsylvania, in the Appalachian Mountains, with her mother Mary, her father George, and three brothers. Her father worked in the Pennsylvania oil fields. She attended the University of Pittsburgh, majoring in political science. She moved to Maine in the 1970s and in 1987 began to work in Senator George Mitchell’s Presque Isle office as a case worker. She has remained active in Aroostook County Democratic politics, serving as city chair, county chair, and treasurer. She has also worked for Governor John Baldacci and Representative Mike Michaud. At the time of this interview she was a contractor for the United States Department of Agriculture.
Summary
Interview includes discussions of: University of Pittsburgh; case work in the Presque Isle field office; Senator Mitchell as majority leader; Aroostook County Democratic Party; outer space anecdote and Mitchell’s response; Loring Air Force Base closure; the potato industry and farming in Aroostook County; the Presque Isle community; the Vahlsing case; and Senator Mitchell’s decision to step down.