Over the past two months, Governor Schaefer reflected on his political career and personality in a series of interviews with Sun reporters Sandy Banisky and Doug Birch. These comments are excerpts from those sessions.
On his drive
You have the brightest person in the world, if they don't have any ambition, they don't have any drive and they don't have any incentive, they don't have any vision, they don't care. Give me a person who's not the brightest, like me, not the brightest person in the world, but has a passion, a passion for doing things for people and caring about people. Give me a couple of people like that. . . . The self-satisfaction of knowing that you made a difference in a kid's life, in an older person's life, that's great."
On prayers
I say my prayers every night. I have times of doubt, particularly when you see the suffering of people and you don't understand it. But then, something good happens in life. Something nice happened recently when Bishop [William] Keeler was made cardinal. That was nice. When my own bishop came down to talk to me and pray with me. And then I used to have a group of black ministers, Rev. [Winfield] Showell, Bishop [Monroe] Saunders. They'd read the paper when I was really getting hurt, hit, smashed around, and Bishop Saunders would call up and say, "I've got to see you. . . . He'd say, "Well, I've been reading the paper, and I want you to know that I love you." (He pantomimes tears running down his face). It was very emotional. And he would say, "Let's pray," and we'd pray."
On his dark moods:
It's just when you're being hurt, really hurt, by press, by letters, by the way I was treated on the Eastern Shore. It does affect my moods. It doesn't affect my thinking, but it makes me very sad. That's one side of it, the other side of it is to go around and see the poor people. . . . I could just see their houses, Jesus, how they lived. I could see how their kids were treated, and I'd go to the prison, I'd see these people in the prisons."
On his sentimentality:
(Visiting Marley Elementary School) They always would have a big sign, "Welcome Governor Schaefer." . . . And then we take the flag out and they pledge allegiance and they sing "Maryland, My Maryland," and I start to cry. I couldn't stop crying, and I think, "Good God, 73 years old and these kids make you cry. . . . There was another thing that day, and I stand there and I'm looking at these kids, and I looked at every one of their faces, every darn face in there, and I thought, "I wonder which one is going to be in trouble? I wonder which one is going to be on drugs? I wonder which one will be the governor? . . . What is the future for all of them?"
On his patron Irv Kovens:
Early in the game, he said, "You always worry about elections. I'm going to call you Shaky. . . . Any time I would call him or talk to him or anything and sounded worried, he would say, "What now, Shaky? Don't worry about it. Everything is fine. Everything's fine. . . ." He raised money for me. And the other part of it was, he never asked for me to do anything. He never requested me to do anything. . . . I said, "Now, what kind of strings you pulling? I know you're raising money. I know you're helping me, but I'm going to vote the way I want. . . ." He said, "That's fine with me. OK. Do what you want to do. Just do the right thing." . . . And that's why I'd stick by him, and I think about him. I was thinking that in these last four years, had he have been alive, I wouldn't have had a lot of the troubles I had.
On boosterism
Everything, I used to say, has got to be an event. What the hell is the use of doing it if it's no event? Nobody knows about it. What the hell is the use of doing it? Whether it was a street, whether it was a lamp post. . . . We'd send out brochures to the whole goddarn community. . . . Get everybody there. . . . So [staff people] would look at me and say, "Oh, Jesus, you know, we've got enough to do without all this crap. Why can't we just put the goddarn light up and turn it on? Everybody would be happy. . . ." Not for me. We pushed the light and we walked across the street and we got the cakes on the side. . . .
On his anger:
Sometimes I was very serious because I was very unhappy at the way things were going, things were being done. . . . And, you know, one of the things that used to really get me was, I'd find something where we could have helped someone and we didn't do it. I'd really get outraged at that, very unhappy about that. And that used to make me mad. Part of it was, they [staffers] never knew whether I was really very mad or whether I wasn't, whether I was very serious. But they all know, don't take a chance on trying to find which.
On being a demanding boss:
I respected them. They knew I did. They knew that I thought they were the greatest in the world, and they were. The damn people that worked for me all worked hard. They didn't bother with hours. They didn't bother with days. . . . I expected as much out of them as I did, and they never let me down. They all got in the swing of things. . . . I wasn't afraid they were going to outshine me. They were all smarter than I was. They were all much more intelligent, except for I had one thing: I was the man, and I worked.
On being governor:
I had to compete against myself as mayor. I really was in competition with myself. I was a good mayor. There isn't any question. I was one of the best in the country and not by brilliance, but by accomplishment. So, when I went down there [Annapolis], the expectations of the governor to come down, were to be able to perform miracles. We performed the miracles but they weren't as apparent. . . . They're spread all over the place.
On disliking the press
(The Sun in particular):
The Sunpaper has never let up on me as governor for eight years. The only thing that I ever had were negative stories for eight years. Humiliated, 90 days of bad stories. . . . I had the Sunpaper on my back. . . . Those little puppies they have up there doing their little zeros, who do nothing. Had to try to figure out how to hit me. And they hit me very hard. . . . I take it very personally. That last [editorial] cartoon of me sucking my thumb. That went just a trifle beyond even decency.
On the legislature:
I had my own way of operating. I couldn't charm them people. They would have walked all over me. See, Harry [Hughes, the former governor] had let them go. For eight years, he let them run the executive office and he let them run the legislature. . . . I would not let them run the budget. I would not let them run the law. I prepared the agenda. . . . That was my job. That's what I got paid for. That's what the law says. I'm the chief executive. I'm it. . . . I thought I would be able to work with the legislature, and the legislature pulled the rug [from] under me. I didn't pull it from under them first.
On the press (II)
I never worried about press. That's where I was smart. I didn't care. If I thought I was right, whether the press thought I was right . . . because I knew more than all of you. I know more about the city than you'll ever know. . . . When I looked at KAL [editorial cartoons by Kevin Kallaugher], I wanted to die, I wanted to jump in a coffin because he's brain dead. He's just a morbid, nasty man. He's a zero. I don't know what else I can say about him. I don't want to meet him. I don't want to see him. I don't like him, if you get the idea.
On Kurt Schmoke:
I like him personally. I remember he tried everything he could to defeat me [by supporting Steve Sachs for governor]. He did everything he could. He had ads on the air. He did everything he could, and I remember the ads that I wasn't this and I wasn't that. I have no feud with him.
On being vulgar:
When I get really, really, very mad . . . I can use impressive words. No question about it. I can use some impressive words. . . . Look at the other side. Were they vulgar, too? That's the point. That's the point. Was the other side vulgar and it's always me? But the other side might have been just as vulgar or more vulgar. And, no, I have some choice words, no question about that.
On pre-Renaissance Baltimore:
You had a city that was hurting, that wasn't proud of itself. There was no pride at all left. . . . It was a city that people came from Washington and went around the city and went on by because they didn't want to go through Baltimore. . . . It was a dirty harbor area. The neighborhoods didn't care about themselves. People were down. It was just a dull city. . . . You just don't want to have a city where you get up in the morning, go to work, go home, get up, go to work, go home. What would you do on Saturday? What would you do on Sunday? Would you have any fun?
On regrets:
I regret I couldn't keep the popularity that I had when I was in the city and I couldn't keep the popularity that I had when I came to the first term. I've got to live with it and I understood it. The press wanted to make me the least favorable among the people in the country, and there was only one other governor that was lower than I was. And the Sunpaper took glory in that. . . . I'd take the newspaper, one night when I didn't have anything else to do, and I'd take the red pencil and I'd run through the negative TC stories and try to find a positive story. Do it sometimes. Just, just look at the negatives against the positives.
On being honest:
Can you imagine, honest Don Schaefer caught stealing? Wouldn't you [reporters] have had a great day? Wouldn't you have all loved to write that. My God, you would have sat around and, drinking your martinis, drinking the beer, and say, "Well, we've got the son of a bitch after all." You would have had joy in Mudville. . . . But you couldn't touch me in the city. The Sunpaper could not do anything to discredit me in the city because I knew every part of the city. And we helped everybody. People trusted me.
On being criticized:
I was in the "I Am An American Day Parade" one year, and everyone was cheering. And they were, you know, they were so pleased to see me. I can say all this now because I'm out of there. They really were pleased to see me and you could feel it then. One lady, a fat lady, was sitting on the side of the hill, and she gave me the thumbs down. There were, say 250,000 people. I could, for a long time, remember that fat lady's face giving me the thumbs down. One person in that mass of 250,000. I remembered her.
On the press (III):
You don't know anything. You really don't know what you're writing. And, I presumed, I presumed that you were knowledgeable. . . . You don't know. You don't really know how to run the government. You don't know how to run the department. You don't know what it is to have to produce for people. All you got to do is write a story. But most of the time you don't know the ins of the story, and I didn't know that. . . . Because I thought, you know, these are pretty knowledgeable people. I mean, after a while I notice that you ask the same questions. This was that question to get people to talk, and after you got what you needed, then you stop. There was no depth. There was no depth to your stories."
On acting:
Everyone in public life, in a way, is an actor.
On finishing:
Nothing is finished, the road system isn't finished. Mass transit system hasn't been finished. Education isn't finished. Our prisons aren't finished. Everything. It isn't finished. There is no end. You see, that's where you fall in the trap with those who think they finished. The Inner Harbor now, the Inner Harbor is deteriorating, going downhill because the present administration can't see that it isn't finished. It's now time to renew the Inner Harbor. It will never finish. It's a continuing process. It's like your house. . . . Nothing is finished.
On politicians:
I think you have a lot of politicians who are not interested in "right now." They're interested in getting elected four years from now, and their whole plan is based on getting re-elected. We didn't do that. We did day by day. That is not distance planning, but I, people, live day by day.
On who he is:
I'm not wealthy. I wear good clothes 'cause I can. Don't forget where you came [from]. And I've lived and been with the highest. I've been to the swankiest country clubs in the country. I've been, I have met kings. I have met presidents of companies, of countries. I've been royally dined. That's not me. Now, I'm not uncomfortable there. . . . I feel much more comfortable in my own settings. You know, they had a joke about my . . . going to McDonald's. . . . I don't want to lose the fact of where I am and who I am and what I am.