Thursday, August 31, 1995
The Democratic Reform on the East Side VI
LOOKING BACK by Wally Dobelis
DAILY LIFE AT THE MURRAY HILL CLUB
In my memory of the 1960s-70s there was always something going on at the Murray Hill Reform Democratic Club - advising people who walked in with problems, addressing envelopes for candidates of our choice, teaming up to go collect signatures on primary petitions among registered Democrats in big apartment buildings, where we had an ally to let us in - that is until some opponent would call the doorman to throw us out. Judge Millard Midonick's building was good, his wife rang us in, year after year, others were tough. We hardly ever set up card tables on street corners, we were doorbell ringers. I still have an award T-shirt from a long-forgotten campaign, a "Harvey Wall-Banger" advertisement modified to read "Door-Banger." Few of our petitions got thrown out because we worked from the lists of registered Democrats. We were a valuable ally, and political candidates came to speak to us often.
Harrison Jay Goldin, the Bronx Borough President and sometime State Senator, came to us from the Bronx with his family, in search for City Controllership. He was the Dynamo and the wife and son were nicknamed Dynamissus and Dyna-mite. Goldin spoke forcefully, like a college orator, with quotes and Latin allusions. George Spitz would visit often, with his bulging breefcase, and speak of political miscreants and wrongdoings. Our fear was that the case would burst and spew out enough papers to pollute the whole area. During one campaign period Donna Shalala, now Secretary of Health, then an associate professor of sociology at Columbia, would rush in, wearing a trendy proletarian dungaree suit, to hector us, to the annoyance of Arlene Herschman, Charley Kinsolving's co-leader. Shalala had a vested interest in us, having been on the Club's Executive Committee. She was also much involved with Citizens' Union and Staten Island seccession. This was all before her Big Mac, Hunter College and University of Wisconsin careers. John LoCicero, who brought us Koch's campaign literature from the VID headquarters, was a welcome visitor, as was Koch himself. He liked my wife's liver pate and looked for it at the club's impromptu "covered dish" social events/fundraisers. Formal fund-raisers were at small restaurants, and $15 was a high admission. William VandenHeuvel once had ordered a table for 12 at a pre-election party and no one came, much to my concern - that table alone made the difference between just breaking even and making next month's rent. I called his office with some trepidation - he had lost the congressional race - to hear with much relief that "we will not stick a local club with the tab." He came through.
We also visited politicians who looked for our help. Stewart Mott, the General Motors heir, had a huge formal reception hall and a grand balcony. His transportation was on that balcony - a bicycle. We also saw Andrew Stein at his maybe 2nd or 3rd 1969 campaign appearance, in a Stuy Town apartment, as he ran for Assembly. He was a frightened young man barely out of school and unable to speak beyond "Thank you for coming," surrounded by assistants arranged by his forceful father, Jerry Finkelstein, who spent an alleged 150,000, an immense sum then, for this election, and scads more for advisors. Another argument for limiting campaign contributions, where only the wealthy and thw well-connected can compete. That was recently exemplified by the two Andrew Eristoff - Jane Crotty City Councilmanic contests. Andrew, son of John Vliet Lindsay's Commissioner of Transportation Constantine Sidamon-Eristoff, is the scion of a branch of the Phipps family, and spent some $979,000 in his two primaries, against Jane's $350,000 of mostly local donations. It should be noted that it is not so much campaigning expense as the cost of lawyers who examine and challenge petition signatures and votes that runs the costs up, another argument for reform of the election laws. A candidate who starts with a modest investment in a campaign and wants to protect it can run up an incredible bill. Jane, a Troy native, is also politically well connected; the father of her husband, New York City's Corporate Counsel Paul, the late Peter J. Crotty, was the head of the Erie County (Buffalo) Democratic Committee who ran for the Attorney General's office against Louis Lefkowitz, and helped nominate John F. Kennedy at the 1959 Democratic Convention. She is now the Director of Community Relations and Economic Development at Baruch College.
Supposedly it was Shanley Egeth who brought Andy Stein into politics. The 63rd A.D was a hard one for Democrats to win, until Egeth had the Steins arrive in a limousine for an endorsement meeting, to emphasize the fact that money will be no object.
We also visited Amanda and the late Carter Burdens' white-walled apartment, during his City Council race, and gawked at huge paintings that covered entire walls, by Kenneth Nolan and Morris Lewis, about whom we had a mock discourse as to whether there was a Lewis Morris connection, a grand NY name. As we were nibbling on hors d'oeuvres served by a matronly maid in white, the Burdens disappeared, to their real apartment. The one we visited was for parties only.
The club also ran receptions. Sadly, a club member had to face eviction from her apartment after running a club-sponsored event on the roof of her building for the late Robert Wagner Jr., the thoughtful son of the Mayor who was a good chairman of the Board of Education.
The tough job in politics, club presidency, was hard to fill, when Coral Kinsolving threw in the towel, after 10 years. My wife Inge Dobelis kept it, for a short while, then Len Charney, Tom Liggett and, finally, Forest Paradise who one day had wandered in, in sandals and shorts, to state a grievance. He stayed to the end.
The earlier presidents were the late Jerry Orans, Ed Blankstein (his wife Shirley was a co-leader, as was Cynthia Ellen Kraft), Virginia Demmler, now involved in Nevada politics, and Ben Gillespie.
We were on social terms with some of the Conservatives, another bunch of troublemakers, and Jimmy Lett (now Judge) and Harry Middendorf visited the Kinsolvings. Of the Republicans, Bart Regazzi of the Albano Club was known to us. State Senator Roy Goodman was a formidable power and in the two elections (1980 and 1982) that Lou Sepersky ran against it was sad, as though a sacrificial lamb had been fed to the lions. But Lou gave it a shot. Goodman, Harvard '51, had been New York City's Finance administrator 1966-68,, under Lindsay, before winning his long-term held Senate seat from Manhattan's 26th District.
Some of our reform allies were the wonderful Beth Robertson Cosnow, Ken Mills of the Lex Dems and the late Toby Wherry of New Dems which now operate as Mid-Manhattan New Dems. Carol Greitzer, the Councilperson from the then 3rd Councilmanic District, was a friend, as was Henry Stern, then Councilman at Large (L), now Commissioner of Parks and Recreation. We had occasional dealings with Miriam Friedlander from the 2nd Councilmanic District. Eldon Clingan, the Liberal City Councilman was around a lot. He introduced the Gay Rights Bill in the council, with Carter Burden, in 1971 (it did not get passed until 1986). By some dint of fortune Eldon, a first-termer, became the Minority Leader, and had a car and driver, much to his discomfort. I remember him and a group of kids passing pennies in front of the Metropolitan Museum, to protest the discontinuation of free museum admissions and the institution of a new "suggested admission" policy. Councilman Robert A. Low had a hack driver's license and would occasionally drive a taxi, to get a feel for public attitudes. Shades of Haroun-al-Rashid! And Mary Bancroft, a grand lady who helped Allen Dulles spy on the Germans in WWII and a sometime Assembly candidate, had stories to tell, better than 1001 Nights.
There will be a hiatus in this narrative before a wrapup. I know you have more anecdotes, stories, additions and corrections to tell. Write a Letter to the Editor, or leave a message for Wally to call you, with Melissa of the mellifluous voice at 679-1234. Do not worry about writing it out, we will talk it through, it will be our oral history project. There is little published on the subject, we are writing history. REAL HISTORY! Future PHD candidates and writers may quote you, in years to come.
^
We were members of the NDC (New Democratic Coalition), the successor to the CDV, founded by Elanor Roosevelt, Herbert Lehman and Thomas Finletter and later Lloyd Garrison and PC. First president of the NDC was Arnold Fine, later judge, secretary was Julius C.C.Edelstein, later succedded by Charles Kinsolving. NDC was the clearinghouse of Reform Democrats, much involved in the search for candidates. At NDC we would see Bella Abzug in her hat and black leather miniskirt and hear Assemblyman Mark Allan Siegel bang a floor-length mace instead of a gavel. Reform Democrats were noisy and crowd control was hard.
Bella Abzug campaigned and was elected in the 20th Congressional District (West Side) when William Fitts Ryan died. The Murrays had supported him for Mayor in the 1965 electionxxx, and were unhappy when Bella ran against the widow, Priscilla Ryan, a sentimental favorite.
olivieri add
Who were our VID friends ? (Victor Kowner, Dinkins' Corp Counsel?) What was NDC all about? Is it alive?
Did we meet Indep Dems Phil Wachtel? Paul Wrablica Fed Repub?
If you have more anecdotes, stories, additions and corrections, it is your duty, I repeat your duty (choke, choke), to write a Letter to the Editor, or call Wally. There is little published on the subject, we are writing history. HISTORY!
hershman 165e35 5324676
j lo cicero 137e15 4731919
kinso 1172 pk 10128 2892320
DAILY LIFE AT THE MURRAY HILL CLUB
In my memory of the 1960s-70s there was always something going on at the Murray Hill Reform Democratic Club - advising people who walked in with problems, addressing envelopes for candidates of our choice, teaming up to go collect signatures on primary petitions among registered Democrats in big apartment buildings, where we had an ally to let us in - that is until some opponent would call the doorman to throw us out. Judge Millard Midonick's building was good, his wife rang us in, year after year, others were tough. We hardly ever set up card tables on street corners, we were doorbell ringers. I still have an award T-shirt from a long-forgotten campaign, a "Harvey Wall-Banger" advertisement modified to read "Door-Banger." Few of our petitions got thrown out because we worked from the lists of registered Democrats. We were a valuable ally, and political candidates came to speak to us often.
Harrison Jay Goldin, the Bronx Borough President and sometime State Senator, came to us from the Bronx with his family, in search for City Controllership. He was the Dynamo and the wife and son were nicknamed Dynamissus and Dyna-mite. Goldin spoke forcefully, like a college orator, with quotes and Latin allusions. George Spitz would visit often, with his bulging breefcase, and speak of political miscreants and wrongdoings. Our fear was that the case would burst and spew out enough papers to pollute the whole area. During one campaign period Donna Shalala, now Secretary of Health, then an associate professor of sociology at Columbia, would rush in, wearing a trendy proletarian dungaree suit, to hector us, to the annoyance of Arlene Herschman, Charley Kinsolving's co-leader. Shalala had a vested interest in us, having been on the Club's Executive Committee. She was also much involved with Citizens' Union and Staten Island seccession. This was all before her Big Mac, Hunter College and University of Wisconsin careers. John LoCicero, who brought us Koch's campaign literature from the VID headquarters, was a welcome visitor, as was Koch himself. He liked my wife's liver pate and looked for it at the club's impromptu "covered dish" social events/fundraisers. Formal fund-raisers were at small restaurants, and $15 was a high admission. William VandenHeuvel once had ordered a table for 12 at a pre-election party and no one came, much to my concern - that table alone made the difference between just breaking even and making next month's rent. I called his office with some trepidation - he had lost the congressional race - to hear with much relief that "we will not stick a local club with the tab." He came through.
We also visited politicians who looked for our help. Stewart Mott, the General Motors heir, had a huge formal reception hall and a grand balcony. His transportation was on that balcony - a bicycle. We also saw Andrew Stein at his maybe 2nd or 3rd 1969 campaign appearance, in a Stuy Town apartment, as he ran for Assembly. He was a frightened young man barely out of school and unable to speak beyond "Thank you for coming," surrounded by assistants arranged by his forceful father, Jerry Finkelstein, who spent an alleged 150,000, an immense sum then, for this election, and scads more for advisors. Another argument for limiting campaign contributions, where only the wealthy and thw well-connected can compete. That was recently exemplified by the two Andrew Eristoff - Jane Crotty City Councilmanic contests. Andrew, son of John Vliet Lindsay's Commissioner of Transportation Constantine Sidamon-Eristoff, is the scion of a branch of the Phipps family, and spent some $979,000 in his two primaries, against Jane's $350,000 of mostly local donations. It should be noted that it is not so much campaigning expense as the cost of lawyers who examine and challenge petition signatures and votes that runs the costs up, another argument for reform of the election laws. A candidate who starts with a modest investment in a campaign and wants to protect it can run up an incredible bill. Jane, a Troy native, is also politically well connected; the father of her husband, New York City's Corporate Counsel Paul, the late Peter J. Crotty, was the head of the Erie County (Buffalo) Democratic Committee who ran for the Attorney General's office against Louis Lefkowitz, and helped nominate John F. Kennedy at the 1959 Democratic Convention. She is now the Director of Community Relations and Economic Development at Baruch College.
Supposedly it was Shanley Egeth who brought Andy Stein into politics. The 63rd A.D was a hard one for Democrats to win, until Egeth had the Steins arrive in a limousine for an endorsement meeting, to emphasize the fact that money will be no object.
We also visited Amanda and the late Carter Burdens' white-walled apartment, during his City Council race, and gawked at huge paintings that covered entire walls, by Kenneth Nolan and Morris Lewis, about whom we had a mock discourse as to whether there was a Lewis Morris connection, a grand NY name. As we were nibbling on hors d'oeuvres served by a matronly maid in white, the Burdens disappeared, to their real apartment. The one we visited was for parties only.
The club also ran receptions. Sadly, a club member had to face eviction from her apartment after running a club-sponsored event on the roof of her building for the late Robert Wagner Jr., the thoughtful son of the Mayor who was a good chairman of the Board of Education.
The tough job in politics, club presidency, was hard to fill, when Coral Kinsolving threw in the towel, after 10 years. My wife Inge Dobelis kept it, for a short while, then Len Charney, Tom Liggett and, finally, Forest Paradise who one day had wandered in, in sandals and shorts, to state a grievance. He stayed to the end.
The earlier presidents were the late Jerry Orans, Ed Blankstein (his wife Shirley was a co-leader, as was Cynthia Ellen Kraft), Virginia Demmler, now involved in Nevada politics, and Ben Gillespie.
We were on social terms with some of the Conservatives, another bunch of troublemakers, and Jimmy Lett (now Judge) and Harry Middendorf visited the Kinsolvings. Of the Republicans, Bart Regazzi of the Albano Club was known to us. State Senator Roy Goodman was a formidable power and in the two elections (1980 and 1982) that Lou Sepersky ran against it was sad, as though a sacrificial lamb had been fed to the lions. But Lou gave it a shot. Goodman, Harvard '51, had been New York City's Finance administrator 1966-68,, under Lindsay, before winning his long-term held Senate seat from Manhattan's 26th District.
Some of our reform allies were the wonderful Beth Robertson Cosnow, Ken Mills of the Lex Dems and the late Toby Wherry of New Dems which now operate as Mid-Manhattan New Dems. Carol Greitzer, the Councilperson from the then 3rd Councilmanic District, was a friend, as was Henry Stern, then Councilman at Large (L), now Commissioner of Parks and Recreation. We had occasional dealings with Miriam Friedlander from the 2nd Councilmanic District. Eldon Clingan, the Liberal City Councilman was around a lot. He introduced the Gay Rights Bill in the council, with Carter Burden, in 1971 (it did not get passed until 1986). By some dint of fortune Eldon, a first-termer, became the Minority Leader, and had a car and driver, much to his discomfort. I remember him and a group of kids passing pennies in front of the Metropolitan Museum, to protest the discontinuation of free museum admissions and the institution of a new "suggested admission" policy. Councilman Robert A. Low had a hack driver's license and would occasionally drive a taxi, to get a feel for public attitudes. Shades of Haroun-al-Rashid! And Mary Bancroft, a grand lady who helped Allen Dulles spy on the Germans in WWII and a sometime Assembly candidate, had stories to tell, better than 1001 Nights.
There will be a hiatus in this narrative before a wrapup. I know you have more anecdotes, stories, additions and corrections to tell. Write a Letter to the Editor, or leave a message for Wally to call you, with Melissa of the mellifluous voice at 679-1234. Do not worry about writing it out, we will talk it through, it will be our oral history project. There is little published on the subject, we are writing history. REAL HISTORY! Future PHD candidates and writers may quote you, in years to come.
^
We were members of the NDC (New Democratic Coalition), the successor to the CDV, founded by Elanor Roosevelt, Herbert Lehman and Thomas Finletter and later Lloyd Garrison and PC. First president of the NDC was Arnold Fine, later judge, secretary was Julius C.C.Edelstein, later succedded by Charles Kinsolving. NDC was the clearinghouse of Reform Democrats, much involved in the search for candidates. At NDC we would see Bella Abzug in her hat and black leather miniskirt and hear Assemblyman Mark Allan Siegel bang a floor-length mace instead of a gavel. Reform Democrats were noisy and crowd control was hard.
Bella Abzug campaigned and was elected in the 20th Congressional District (West Side) when William Fitts Ryan died. The Murrays had supported him for Mayor in the 1965 electionxxx, and were unhappy when Bella ran against the widow, Priscilla Ryan, a sentimental favorite.
olivieri add
Who were our VID friends ? (Victor Kowner, Dinkins' Corp Counsel?) What was NDC all about? Is it alive?
Did we meet Indep Dems Phil Wachtel? Paul Wrablica Fed Repub?
If you have more anecdotes, stories, additions and corrections, it is your duty, I repeat your duty (choke, choke), to write a Letter to the Editor, or call Wally. There is little published on the subject, we are writing history. HISTORY!
hershman 165e35 5324676
j lo cicero 137e15 4731919
kinso 1172 pk 10128 2892320
