It’s been a while since I was visited by the ornery spirit of Seymour Weissberger, but I could feel his presence Wednesday inside Taylor Hose and Engine Company 1.
I was there to chat with a quartet of political pigeons whose polar-opposite party affiliations made them conspicuous among the easily categorized flock of candidates in Tuesday’s primary election.
Two Democrats. Two Republicans. One team running for four seats on Taylor Borough Council.
Roberta Bowman, 67, a retired nurse, and Ed Fortuna, 65, a semiretired former federal employee, are Republicans who voted for Trump but don’t identify as MAGA.
“I’m not one of those banner carriers, screaming all the time,” Roberta said.
Neither is Ed, but he supports much of Trump’s agenda. He didn’t like Elon Musk’s terrorization of federal employees, saying a former colleague texted him, “I’m safe today,” during Musk’s chainsaw massacre.
“That’s a terrible way to work,” Ed said.
Can’t argue with that.
Both Republicans denounced the Jan. 6 domestic terrorist attack on the Capitol and Trump’s pardons of violent offenders who assaulted police and vandalized the citadel of Our Republic. Roberta conceded that Trump lost the 2020 election. Ed somehow still has doubts about that.
Considering their views and votes, Roberta and Ed seem extremely unlikely allies for Democrats Jeanie Sluck, 64, director of Taylor Community Library, and Adam Piasecki, 23, a constituent services adviser to state Rep. Eddie Day Pashinski.
I asked Adam if that’s “a real job.” He grinned and assured me it is.
It was that kind of chat — congenial, collaborative and constructive. When the topic is politics, such conversations are rare in this age of rage. These candidates aren’t just political allies, they’re good friends. They found common ground simply by participating in representative democracy. They attend every council meeting, and are often the only “civilians” who show up.
They all reminded me of Seymour, who was 91 when he passed away in 2019. The Taylor native was a World War II-era Army veteran, former borough councilman, business owner, volunteer and implacable advocate for open, honest government. Seymour prided himself on being a “pain in the tuchus,” a stinging gadfly who buzzed elected officials and never missed a meeting.
When I was a fledgling correspondent, Seymour was an invaluable source, mentor and friend. Adam didn’t know him, but everyone else at the table had a “Seymour story,” which shows how tall an involved individual can stand in a small town.
In Our Republic, government is like a mammoth department store funded with public money. The high-end spending on the top and middle floors gets most of the ink and attention, but the day-to-day business of managing municipalities, school districts and essential services is done at the bottom, and too often by bottom-feeders.
Without vigilant public participation, bottom-feeders and their friends and families are free to feast at a buffet of contracts, jobs and influence at the eternal expense of everyone else. The last thing bottom-feeders want is civic-minded “troublemakers” making waves.
On closer inspection, the roots of the bipartisan Taylor team are easy to see. Barbara has known Ed since childhood. Everyone in Taylor knows Jeanie. Roberta is president of the hose company. Adam is a member. He said he never knew Roberta’s party affiliation until the group started chatting after council meetings.
“We got to chatting away and we found out that despite being in different political parties, we actually have very similar ideas,” Roberta said.
The group shared some of those ideas with me. Many were rooted in criticism of current council members running to retain their seats. This seems like an opportune place for an important disclaimer: No one should read this column as an endorsement of these candidates. Our chat was solely an opportunity to highlight something I’ve always believed — strip away the labels and most Americans are neither “blue” nor “red.” Most people are “purple.”
“I used to be a Republican, but I never voted my party — I voted my convictions,” Jeanie said. “It doesn’t matter who it is. Whoever is going to do the best job for myself, my town and my country, that’s who I vote for.”
Jeanie didn’t vote for Trump. She’s not just a Democrat. She’s a librarian. And she’s running with Republicans she is proud to call friends. It takes guts to run for office, no matter what side you’re on. The least registered voters can do is show up at the polls.
Voter turnout in primary elections is notoriously low, especially in municipal election years. It’s a shame, because local elections have the most immediate and lasting impacts on the daily lives of people who live, work and die in towns like Taylor.
The bottom-feeders and their allies never sit out an election. If you want good government, show up Tuesday and be a pain in the tuchus. Tell ‘em Seymour sent you.
CHRIS KELLY, the Times-Tribune columnist, is a professional troublemaker. Contact the writer: ckelly@scrantontimes.com; @cjkink on X; Chris Kelly, The Times-Tribune on Facebook.