Latest / Check with Chip / Compete in Live-and-Let-Live Spirit

Transcript

Compete in Live-and-Let-Live Spirit · Check with Chip

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Check with Chip, brought to you by Operation
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Blue Dot Red, turning the blue dot red one podcast
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: at a time. This podcast is about local politics, and
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: it involves red and blue, but it's not what I
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: had planned. This will be more like story time with
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: Uncle Chip. My podcast yesterday mentioned one of our local
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: legacy Democratic political families, the Begleys. The late Mary Kay
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: Begley served for many years on the MUD board. Her husband, Dan,
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: never held office, but in my book, he was Mr.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: Democrat of Nebraska. He was the ultimate happy warrior, super
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: involved in politics. He knew everybody and was just as
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: friendly to Republicans as he was to Democrats. He couldn't
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: help himself. He was one of the most genuinely gregarious
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: souls I have encountered this side of heaven, where I'm
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: sure he resides now and knows and loves everybody there
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: as well and is loved by them. Aaron Grace was
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: a columnist at the Omaha World-Herald and lived on the
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: same block on Webster Street in the Cathedral neighborhood where
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: the Begleys lived for decades. On Election Day one year,
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: I was leaving the local polling place and came across
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: Aaron and Mr. Begley waiting in line to vote. We
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: engaged in friendly banter about the election. Mr. Begley quoted
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: something I had said recently on the radio, and I said, Oh,
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: you have been listening. He said, I always listen when
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: you're on. It's hard sometimes, but I listen. Aaron kind
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: of froze at that one, but I burst out laughing
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: and loved it. Some people are friendly phonies. There was
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: nothing phony about Dan Begley. He was a man raised
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: to revere two trinities, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, and Irish
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: Catholic Democrat. My own father once told a World Herald reporter,
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: that it was very simple growing up Irish and Catholic
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: in the 1930s, 40s, and 50s. If you wanted to
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: go to heaven, you registered Democrat. The Begleys also are
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: proud Union Democrats. Jim Begley, son of Dan and Mary Kay,
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: is a labor professor at UNO who serves on the
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: MUD board. His brother Danny is an electrician and union
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: leader who serves on the Omaha City Council. When Dan
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: Begley died, Aaron Grace called me. She was working on
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: a column eulogizing Mr. Begley. She asked me if I
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: remembered the time the three of us ran into each
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: other on election day. I said yes. She started to
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: sound a little sheepish, very uncharacteristic for her. She said,
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: do you remember what he said to you that day?
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: I said yes. She said, do you mind if I
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: use that? As I did when it happened, I again
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: burst out laughing and said, it's perfect. Use it. Then
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: I struck a deal with her. In return for using
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: that line at my expense, I asked if she would
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: include my take on Dan Begley. The story about his
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: death said he had been to the Mayo Clinic and
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: had been diagnosed with an enlarged heart, which apparently had
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: contributed to his demise. I asked Aaron to report that
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: I said the Mayo Clinic confirmed what many of us
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: already knew. Dan Begley had an unusually large heart. And
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: she did use it. And it was true. Dan Begley
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: was an old-school Democrat, as are his sons. They are
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: as passionately Democrat as any other Democrat, but they are
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: not consumed or blinded by it. They approach politics in
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: a live-and-let-live spirit. Politics is vital, but it comes after faith, friendship,
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: and other shared experiences and common ground. I was young
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: Jim's confirmation sponsor when he was in grade school. Of course,
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: that was before I changed my registration from independent to Republican.
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: I think they still would have asked me to do it. Mrs.
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: Begley might have vetoed it. She was a little more hardcore.
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: And it didn't help that I think she always held
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: me responsible when my alma mater, Boston College, occasionally upset
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: Notre Dame in football. I got a quasi-dispensation on those
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: occasions because B.C. usually had more Irish Catholic players than
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: the Fighting Irish did. Anyway, this podcast was prompted by
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: a phone call I received yesterday, Thursday, from Jim Begley.
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: I thought, oh, he must have heard my podcast mentioning
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: the Begley family, or someone alerted him to it. Nope,
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: he was unaware of the podcast. He called because of
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: our shared history at St. Cecilia's. He does a podcast
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: celebrating the history of the cathedral schools, St. Cecilia's Elementary,
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: which is still going strong, and Cathedral High School, which
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: closed in 1994. He invited me and my mom to
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: join him for a podcast reminiscing about all things Cathedral.
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: I'm looking forward to it. I leave you with this.
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: When my dad was dying of cancer, we decided to
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: hold an awake, an Irish wake while the soon-to-be-deceased was
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: still alive and could enjoy it. My brother Tim hosted
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: the party. I think he said we went through 184
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: name tags. One friend came from Puerto Rico. It was
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: a great last hurrah for Dad. I was out in
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: front of my brother's house greeting people and helping them
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: find their way into the party. Near the end of
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: the party, I see Jim Bagley and Hal Dobb leave
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: the house together and head across the front yard. Jim
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: had his arm around Hal's shoulder, but I couldn't tell
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: if it was friendly or a headlock. And they were
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: having a very animated conversation. I headed toward them wondering
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: if I needed a referee's whistle. As I got near them,
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: I realized they were smiling and enjoying themselves. Jim said
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: he was lobbying Hal to grant Jim the rights to
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: write the Hal Dobbs story. It was beautiful. You don't
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: get more Democrat than Jim Begley. You certainly don't get
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: more Republican than Hal Dobbs. but as passionately partisan as
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: they both are. They approach politics in a live-and-let-live spirit.
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: They are able to see the good in people with
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: whom they disagree on politics. I don't remember Jim's exact words,
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: but he said something like, Hal Dobb has done more
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: good for this community than anyone in my lifetime, and
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: he should be recognized for it. That was 13 years ago.
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: That kind of perspective is That ability to rise above
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: the hurly-burly of political brawling and focus on bigger and
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: broader truths has become the exception rather than the rule.
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: But it doesn't have to be that way. Now, I'm
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: not backing off one inch on the crusade to turn
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: the blue dot red. But whatever happens in the election
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: next week, I will enjoy rising above politics and doing
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: that podcast with Jim Begley. That's Check with Chip. I'm
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: Chip Maxwell. Thank you for listening.