Tennessee came in last night, an overwhelming vote. 22. Bill Furth gets the credit. He did a hell of a job.
I learned, or relearned, a great deal in Utah. The biggest was the levels of ignorance and pigheadedness to be found among state legislators. I knew this when I served, but it had faded from my memory. These people, or a lot of them, are so parochial and paranoid that it’s breathtaking. In Utah the problem is that 75 people showing up for a House district caucus can deny you the Republican nomination. That scares these guys. I’ve thought of the solution. It’s based on a time in my own career.
In ’82 I’m running for the State Senate. It’s tough. I only really started living in Alaska in ’74, and I didn’t really know very many people. I’m not a very social guy, so outside of political inside circles I’m a mystery man. Plus, I’m a lawyer. Not good. Plus, I was part owner (or was) of a couple big rock and roll bars, Gussie L’Amour’s and Swiftwater Bill’s. Not good. My Democratic opponent was a political amateur, but he was one of the biggest homebuilders in Anchorage. He put about a hundred grand of his own money up. I was outspent 2-1.
The governor’s race was Republican Tom Fink, Democrat Bill Sheffield, and Libertarian Dick Randolph of Fairbanks. Fink was hugely popular in my district. He took it 2-1. So I wanted to align myself with him, but he didn’t trust me. I was identified with the Hammond wing of the Republican Party, and Fink thought I was some kind of RINO.
Sheffield was running a TV ad statewide — except for Anchorage — called Rhode Island Red. It said Fink was the Anchorage candidate, and he was the candidate of all of Alaska. The whole state hates Anchorage, so it was working.
They had a gubernatorial debate at the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce, Bill’s home turf. He was a past president. When they got to Q and A from the audience I was first up. I asked him, “How does that TV ad you’re running everywhere but Anchorage, Rhode Island Red, fit in with your theme of bringing Alaskans together?” Bill had no answer, and his reply was incoherent. The poor bastard had a speech impediment to begin with, and as he started mumbling and stuttering people in the audience started laughing at him. It was brutal.
Fink took a shine to me, and I’m not sure I would have won without his help. I only won 52-48. But Sheffield also won, and as a freshman State Senator I faced a Governor who wanted a piece of my ass. This was a problem. Because of reapportionment, my Senate seat was up again in two years, and I knew damn well Bill was out to get me. It was personal.
So when I got to Juneau I’d go back to the office every night at 6:00 and make cold calls back to my district. Actually my secretary, Anne Williams made the call, and passed it to me when she got through. I called only Republican and Independent supervoters, both husband and wife. I’d say, “This is Fritz Pettyjohn down in Juneau. I represent you in the State Senate. Is there any issue or area of particular concern to you, that I should be working on?”
People ate it up. I’d go two, three hours a night. The next day they got a letter thanking them for taking the time to talk to me, and assuring them that education, or whatever the hell they were interested in, was a priority of mine. They would tell neighbors, and people at work, “Dude, I got a call from Senator Pettyjohn last night. He wanted to know what I thought.”
Electoral gold.
reaganproject.blog 