My earliest memory of the legacy of Fiorello LaGuardia dates to my senior year in high school when my English teacher escorted my class on a train ride from St. Louis to Chicago’s Shubert Theater where we would see the Broadway musical production of “Fiorello.” (You can still access one of its most entertaining numbers, “ Politics and Poker ,” on the Internet.) From the moment this impressionable kid saw the play, LaGuardia became one of my favorite public servants in American history.
LaGuardia was a politician held in the highest regard, but never cared for that word, politician, referring to himself as public servant. A new book on LaGuardia’s impact on political life in America by Terry Golway underscores LaGuardia’s disdain for politics by using one of Fiorello’s famous quotes, “’I Never Did Like Politics’: How Fiorella LaGuardia Became America’s Mayor, and Why He Still Matters.”
LaGuardia’s record in office as congressman and later mayor of New York was beyond reproach. He never made a crooked dime from the jobs he held, something the recently convicted Sen. Bob Menendez, D-New Jersey, and Donald Trump would have a hard time claiming as Trump’s family members fed at the public trough when he was president.
LaGuardia is famous for many things, none more applicable to Boise than claiming “there is no Republican or Democratic way to cleaning the streets.” But don’t tell that to some Republican legislators in Idaho who want to insert partisanship into the Ada County Highway District (ACHD).
Rep. Josh Tanner, R-Eagle, introduced a bill this legislative past session that would require candidates to run with a partisan label in contrast to the nonpartisan nature of current elections to ACHD. The bill also adds two commissioners to ACHD and forces the entire board to be reelected in 2024, terminating half of the board’s remaining terms.
The bill gives the Ada County Commissioners the power to draw the district boundaries for ACHD members, a bald-faced effort by Republicans to take partisan control of ACHD. The bill did not make it through the legislative process, but it’s likely to be resurrected by the same zealots intent on making inroads into Boise’s more moderate brand of politics.
There was a significant municipal reform movement during the Progressive era in the early 20th century to remove partisan labels on local offices to counter the graft and corruption of the party bosses in charge of local governments. Those reforms have worked well over the years for most local governments and Boise certainly does not need to buck the trend that has been in place for at least a century.
If the state legislature was to make any changes in ACHD, they should dissolve it and hand over the maintenance of city streets to the City where it is found in a majority of municipalities across America. But don’t place any bets on that happening anytime soon. Republicans from Governor Little on down will tell you what a great practice our form of governing city streets is even though it’s well-nigh impossible to find other cities who have no control over their own streets. The partisan ambitions of Republicans in the legislature know no bounds.
Given how hyper partisan our politics has become, it’s refreshing to read about LaGuardia’s experience. He served in Congress as a Republican from 1916 to 1920 and then, after his service as a World War I pilot, from 1922 to 1930. Then he served as New York City mayor from 1934 to 1946 when author Terry Golway explains how Republican LaGuardia got along famously with Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt and had easy access to the Oval Office which he used to secure federal funding for NYC projects, including the airport named after him to this day.
We have traveled a long way from that brand of bipartisanship whether it’s in the Congress of the United States or the state Legislature in Idaho.
LaGuardia was the genuine article and should serve today as the model public servant for politicians who have lost sight of whom they represent. Golway’s biography reminds us that even those with no vote received representation by LaGuardia.
During his mayoral administration, the delivery workers who transported the newspapers to the reading public walked off the job and LaGuardia worried about the kids who followed the comic strips, so he took it upon himself to read the comics to New Yorkers over the radio during the strike. LaGuardia had already announced he wasn’t running for office, so it wasn’t a political stunt to impress voters for an upcoming election. He simply cared. He acted on behalf of kids who couldn’t read the Dick Tracy or Little Orphan Annie comic strips.
Golway contends that “Uncle Fiorello,” as he was dubbed by the New York Times , is remembered in American folklore as a public servant who entertained kids and reminded his constituents that he cared about the ordinary people of New York City. Golway tells the reader in his acknowledgements that his editor thought LaGuardia was as relevant today as he was three-quarters of a century ago. It’s tough to disagree once we read about this remarkable public servant.
Today, our politics has turned nasty and brutish with too many folks seeking office out of revenge and vindication for some ill-conceived fault with no basis. Since the assassination attempt on Trump, there have been renewed pleas for our public officials and those who challenge them to turn the volume down and shut off the ad hominem attacks on public officials
There must be a better way to engage in our public discourse than the kind of mean-spirited, often inaccurate charges leveled against those who serve us. LaGuardia is the perfect embodiment of integrity and compassion in the public service and let’s hope his example can be replicated in today’s political arena. It’s time to turn a new page in this chapter of American history and devote more attention to the ways of LaGuardia when it comes to how best to serve the American people.
Bob Kustra served as president of Boise State University from 2003 to 2018. He is host of Readers Corner on Boise State Public Radio, and he writes a biweekly column for the Idaho Statesman. He served two terms as Illinois lieutenant governor and 10 years as a state legislator.
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