3/13/2017 By George!

Politics! During my childhood, my folks prepared and shared Sunday dinners with friends at our home. I remember how discussions often led to raised voices and discussions. I didn't know anything about politics throughout my teen and college years. Politics became part of my life after marriage, after two marriages.

I was introduced to what is considered now to be "far right" groups and participated willingly. Those were the days of Goldwater, Nixon, Kennedy and Ford. I was in my late twenties and a new mother during the Goldwater campaign. That campaign was the beginning of my life as a political person.

Skipping ahead, it was my marriage to my second husband, William Cody Kelly who was a "political person" through and through. He had served on Cincinnati City Council and run for Lieutenant Governor of Ohio. I have many file boxes filled with his political history, plus carefully organized (by him) giant scrapbooks of political memorabilia.

Because Bill (Cody) was a classmate and friend of George Bush's brother in law, we were committed to George Bush's political ambitions. I helped organize the very first campaign events for him in Cincinnati. I set up a card table under a movie marquee and ordered banners for the marquee "George Bush for President". Reagan became the presidential candidate and through some surprise maneuvers, Bush became Reagan's running mate.

President George Bush ('41)

There were many campaign events in Cincinnati. My political files are filled with evidence of those visits where I set up our temporary headquarters in various hotels. I organized my team of dedicated women and learned how to work with advance teams, secret service agents and many other opportunistic GOP politicos.

Bush with Boston Herald

I met many political people. It was an exciting and busy time in my life. My work led me eventually to a job as a political appointee in DC with President George Bush (41). I worked at the Department of Education as a Confidential Assistant in OPRE (Office of Private Education). I learned a lot!

Now, it's time to share!

Onward!

Keep on Trumpin' 11/14/16

Tomorrow, Tuesday, November 15th , 2016 completes the first week since the Presidential Election. Americans cast their ballots for their candidates and issues. Having the right to vote is what makes being an American citizen an incredible right and privilege.

My voting history started above the firehouse in Withamsville, Ohio. I have continued voting for my entire life. The mailbox gets filled with flyers and literature before each election. Robo calls try to get past my call identity service. Billboards, yard signs, bumper stickers, t-shirts, pins and hats are distributed and purchased. Campaigns are big business. The media "cleans up" too, with millions of dollars in ad sales. So, too, newspapers, magazines and flyers keep the print industry alive.

It has been an incredible election. This time we had our Facebook and Twitter accounts. We found our opinions expressed by others "on the internet". We gained and lost friends, we followed and unfollowed others whose opinions clashed with ours. It's "Democracy in Action" - big time!

As a political junkie, someone who has been in and out of the political game, I know what it takes to "sell a candidate". I've had great candidates but they lost. I've worked through the "entire spectrum" of politics from grass roots to highly organized, national campaigns. In other words, "I've seen it all".

This campaign for POTUS was well fought. Campaigns are "one thing". Being POTUS is "another". Reality sets in very quickly. The K Street crowd won't give up their power. They will just shift and adapt to the current administration. Bureaucrats will just realign themselves "accordingly". Those who live "inside the beltway" know the rules - they make and enforce them!

We citizens can be easily led "this way or that". It's best to review our history, to find out again what our forefathers had in mind when they created this "system". It's time to take note of "what works". What always puzzled me when I worked at the U. S. Department of Education was: why isn't there a good PR division within each department? There are some good things that these agencies do. They need to "put out their message".

I believe that a team of just "plain, local folk" can solve  problems that confront our communities and country. Now let's see what needs doing. Are you ready? I am.

Onward!

T-Shirts! Remembering Caroline Price & Bush '41. 10/9/2016

I have a lot of T-shirts! I have collected T-shirts from many events and have kept a lot of them. Some of my more memorable ones are political. I think there is a plastic bin in the basement filled some political T shirts and a lot of political junk!

This thought of political T shirts inspires me to go down the narrow, basement steps to dig through more stuff! I will share what I find with you, dear reader, when I find what I find!

I thought I had lost a copy of this picture of Caroline Price and myself. I had sent the one I had on display to Martin Price (our manager at Coco Point Lodge). Caroline passed away suddenly at home a few years ago. It has been a major loss for all of us who knew her. She was an incredible, special woman. So, I sent the picture to Martin as a special memory of our friendship.  I didn't make a copy and have wanted one for myself ever since!

I believe in Angels, especially my mother, Angel Lois. I often receive the gift of finding lost items from Angel Lois. For months I had gone through stacks of negatives and photos looking for this photo. I thought I could replace it if I found the negative, but I had tossed a lot of negatives during one of my decluttering episodes. I had given up on ever finding it again.

Last week I pulled out several boxes of photos. Some boxes were filled with labeled envelopes of photos. And, then there was a stack of unorganized photos which I found in another box. I flipped through them quickly, checking to see which ones would "warrant" saving to iMemories. (I've shipped off boxes of photos and video cassettes to iMemories for duplication and storage.

This photo was in that stack of "unorganized photos". I pulled it out and scanned it into my Windows Photo Gallery to keep and share with you. Thank you Angel Lois, thank you Angel Caroline and thank you, Angel husband, William Cody Kelly! I know you all are enjoying Heaven together and are smiling down on me as I write this blog which is not all about "political squawk" and T shirts! Onward!

Caroline Price & Karen Kelly (wearing Bush '41 T shirt)  after winning the Sunday Sailboat Race at Coco Point Lodge, Barbuda W.I.

Hello Guvner! 9/22/2016

Hello Guvner! 9/22/2016

L-R Karen Kelly, Bud Brown, Joyce Brown, Jackie Ginocchio, Back Row - Congressman Gordon Scherer, Richard Haines

Campaigns are campaigns! Organizing and coordinating political campaigns was "my game" for many years of my life. I'm figuring it all started with being in 4-H where we took our "pledge" very seriously - "to make the best better", etc.

One of the toughest campaigns was "Brown-Betts" gubernatorial campaign (1981-82?) which we lost to Democrat Richard Celeste. I set up the campaign headquarters in Madeira, Ohio on Miami Avenue. It is now a Catholic store with beautiful Catholic items for sale.

When I rented the office, it smelled of medicine and was littered with medical paraphernalia (rented by a doctor?). Gradually we cleaned it up, set up a meeting area, an office for me and campaign literature/buttons/sign space.

Of course, I was a VOLUNTEER! I spent my own money on a lot of the things we needed to run the campaign office. I'm hoping I did get some reimbursement, but will need to do some more digging through old files (again). It doesn't matter now. It's "dollars gone" for another "lesson learned".

Bud Brown (Clarence J. Brown) and his wife, Joyce, were incredibly good people. I liked them very much. Bud's history was interesting, too - small town newspaper. And, Joyce could sing (especially "Glory, Glory Hallelujah")!

I will share more about his campaign as "time permits". We had many, many campaign events. Getting the candidate to an event on time was a challenge! And, not having the power to tell the candidate when to stop talking was frustrating. I could see "the handwriting on the wall" at a debate between the two candidates.  Richard and Dagmar Celeste become residents of the governor's mansion in Columbus, Ohio after wining that campaign.

Bud survived that campaign quite well. He became Undersecretary of Commerce. I was able to do a "trade out" for a friend who wanted to work in Washington, D.C. I "traded in" my work to help him out and he landed a corner office! It wasn't until '89 - '91 that I would finally go to D.C. to serve as a Confidential Assistant at the Dept. of Education. (I didn't have a corner office).

Onward!

Say it isn't so! 9/20/2016

Please, George, "Say it isn't so"!

Twittering! Scrolling Facebook! Listening to talk radio! What is the news today? A shocker, but maybe "not so".

Could it truly be that George Herbert Walker Bush did tell Kathleen Kennedy .... that he was voting for Clinton? Guess it's true, because anything can be true or modified today.

My own personal history with Bush '41 goes "way back". I could go even "further back" by adding my late husband's history to the Bush family, but this is not the place nor time (in my opinion). However, it was "because of his connection" that I found myself immersed totally and completely in his election from VP to POTUS.

I was with my husband at Martha's Vineyard with Sandy Ellis and Nancy Bush Ellis for a visit. Sandy was my husband's classmate at Yale (class of '44). We were swimming in heavy waters (I was dunked by big waves). I asked if George was going to run for president that year. And, if so, I would commit to helping him get elected by working for his campaign in Cincinnati, Ohio. I started a grass-roots campaign, got my first big computer just for making address labels and for keeping address lists of campaign workers.

Congressman Gordon Scherer was my mentor. We met George at Greater Cincinnati Airport. We had a campaign committee of dignitaries to meet him and pose with him at his podium.

Left to Right: Chairman George Eyrich, Barbqara Cartolano, Congressman Gordon Scherer, Candidate George H.W. Bush, David Kohnen, Karen Kelly and Dudley Taft

We signed up as delegates to the convention. I will be pulling out old files to verify my work on his campaign. Remembering this fact: Hamilton County, Ohio was and has been a leader of political campaigns for the GOP for many years. (More about THIS later, too).

My first campaign headquarters for Bush (the elder) was a card table that I would set up under a downtown theater marquis. I had two big red, white, blue banners printed with "George Bush for President" which we hung from the marquis. I think it was an old Palace theater.

I worked on the campaign throughout the entire process - from his candidacy for POTUS through his campaign with Ronald Reagan as VP. I have many, many hand-written notes of thanks and acknowledgement of my work. These I may share here (later).

Years have passed. I reflect upon whether it was time wasted or just an opportunity to learn more about the political process (or lack thereof).

 In the meantime, I am asking if it's really true: George, are you voting for HRC this Nov. 8th, 2016? Onward!

Polly Chicken 8/20/16

This blog will be about politics! It's taken months to figure out what to call my political blog. I thought about Polly Chick, Polly Tick, Goldwater Gal, etc. and came up with Polly Chicken!

It "fits" my political stance at the moment. I do believe I am a bit "chicken" to even post anything about politics in this age of politically correct everything. But, I will give this Polly Chicken blog "wings" and "let 'er fly"!

I will be digging through boxes and files of political memorabilia to share with "the universe". This will be a personal review of my political life from the late sixties until and through this current presidential election.

Today's political climate is "challenging" (to say the least). I choose "social media" over TV coverage of this campaign. I don't like listening to "pundits"! I do like Twitter and Facebook. I know now not to "share" and "retweet" something that I find interesting. It's better for me to just share my thoughts and opinions with someone understands the meaning of "treating each other with dignity and respect."

In the past, I ran campaigns. I wore T-Shirts, hats and pins. I put up signs! I was vocal and risked being open and vocal about issues. There were plenty of campaign volunteers who were team players and worked for a winning candidate (or losing, too). Now, I figure it best to "be a chicken"!