Archive: Around Town

When 22,000 people descended on Saint Paul, Minnesota for the Republican National Convention last week Lansing's Richard Thaler was among them as a member of the New York delegation.  This was Thaler's third convention, and he says this one was unique in several ways.  "I found that the access to people was better than at the two other conventions that I'd gone to," he says.  "Maybe it's because I'm older, or maybe it was because the organization was compacted."

Thaler went early because he was on some of the organizational committees.  With Hurricane Gustav threatening the gulf coast that meant that he and other planners had to be nimble.  "It wasn't until Sunday that the determination was made that they were going to call off the first day of the convention," he says.  "We then went back into committees and tried to revamp.  Fortunately for the country and the people down in Mississippi and Louisiana and Texas and Florida the hurricane wasn't as bad as they anticipated, although it did do damage."


The result in Saint Paul was a shorter convention, but perhaps a more focussed one.  22,000 of the 24,000 that were anticipated showed up.  Thaler says the down side was that some speakers had to be cut from the program, and even major speakers like Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney had their time cut.  But he says that the more focussed convention may have been more effective in getting the Republican message across to people watching the convention on television around the country.

The Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul was converted from a hocky arena to a convention center.  Thaler says that the oblong arena was so big that delegates on one side of the hall couldn't see those on the other side.  That meant more walking back and forth than at other conventions.  But he says the ramp built out from the stage made it possible for speakers to connect more intimately with attendees.

	Joining the Party How do you get to be a delegate at a major national party convention?  The short answer is that you run in your state district and get elected.  But it takes more to become a player in national politics.  An Ithaca native, Dick Thaler became a 1st Lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force in 1956 where he served as Chief Defense Councel for Bolling Air Force Base Headquarters Command.  He left the Air Force in 1958, remaining on active reserve and acting as Professor of Military Law at Cornell. After joining his father's and brother's law firm in 1958 he became a defense litigator for insurance companies and a plaintiff's attorney in personal injury actions.  He was twice pitted against Rudy Giuliani when the latter was U.S. Attorney. Thaler became Ithaca City prosecutor in 1961, and Assistant District Attorney for Tompkins County until 1962 when he was elected District Attorney.  He served in that position through 1968.  That year he was elected to be a delegate from the 24th district for Nelson Rockefeller at the Republican National Convention in Miami. "I was given four states outside of New York State to politic with to see if we could get them to vote for Rockefeller," Thaler recalls.  "One of the states was Tennessee.  I met the lady who was chairman.  We chatted for a while, and I finally said, 'I'm going to get a little bit of lunch, would you like to have some lunch?'  She said yes, and we continued our discussion.  Then at the time of the vote she got up and said Tennessee votes 17 votes for Nixon and one vote for Rockefeller.  One of the other members of the delegation asked the chairman to poll the delegation.  It turned out that she was the one that voted for Rockefeller." Nixon's people heard what had happened and asked him to work for them, and in 1972 Thaler was a Nixon delegate.  "After that was over the Nixon family asked me to be a personal advance man for the Nixon family in the White House," he says.  "Ed Cox had just married Tricia Nixon.  He was given to me to teach how to be a politician.  For 56 days we traveled to 17 different states, and our relationship has continued ever since then." This year the district sent Thaler to the convention for a third time. He has been the Lansing and Enfield Town Attorney and is currently serving on the Lansing Board of Education for the second time.  He continues practicing law in his firm, has been an active member of the Tompkins County Bar Association since 1958, a visiting professor at the Cornell University Hotel School and the Johnson Business School for 17 years.

"John McCain had them build the ramp for his acceptance speech," Thaler says.  "It went into the audience so people at both ends could see him better, his voice projected better, and he could turn and face people and they would know he was facing them when he was talking."

Thaler met with several of the delegate chairmen, some Congressmen, and the Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty.  He also met the candidates in person with a group of fellow delegates.  He says Sarah Palin is 'what you see is what you get'.  "Her presence on the stage was absolutely amazing to most of the delegates," he says.  "She wasn't nervous, and she explained it as if she were talking to friends.  When we met on a face to face basis she was the same way.  She was as if she had known us a long time and she was willing to answer whatever questions we had."

He says that McCain is all about principal and issues, and has no interest in 'party line' politics.  "John is a guy who wants you to understand that he is imbued with his love for the country," Thaler says.  "He is not solely a Republican, but somebody who wants to have the best things for his country.  If your question had to do with the Republican Party against this, that, or the other thing -- those questions were just ignored."

He says the high point of the experience was the speeches that John McCain and Sarah Palin delivered.  "They both were very moving, and for different reasons," he says.  "As far as Palin is concerned, her speech indicated that she was delighted to have the opportunity to be recognized.  She is a family person and she put a lot of emphasis on the family.  Secondly that she is a people person in that the people that elected her are who she is responsible for.  The last thing was that she was willing to accept the responsibility and the burden of running for and being the Vice President.  It wasn't a question of salesmanship.  She was explaining how she was going to do it.  That made a difference.

"As far as John is concerned, the most important part of his speech as far as I was concerned -- I had been in the military -- was that he said, 'While I was a prisoner I had the opportunity to make the decision that I really loved my country and that's what I was doing everything for.'  That came across almost unanimously as far as the attendees were concerned.  They stood up and applauded him for almost three minutes.  Everybody thought that was fantastic."

The sessions lasted until late at night.  When delegates got back to their hotels Thaler says they wanted  to stay up to talk about what happened at the convention that day.  The next day at breakfast meetings it was the same thing.  That kind of excitement was a change from the other conventions he attended.

Thaler says that while at the convention attendees were not particularly aware of the intensity of Democratic and press attacks on Palin and her family.  "We heard very little," he says.  "We were aware that the newspapers had picked up the fact that her daughter is pregnant.  I just felt that was totally uncalled for."

He also says that attendees were well insulated from demonstrations and violence that took place near the convention.  "The first time I went to the convention center on Saturday I noticed the number of police and Nation Guard people were incredible," he says.  "On Monday when they were there demonstrating I said to one of the National guards people, 'Having been in law enforcement I think you may have some problems.'  And he said, 'That's why all these people are here in uniform.  We're not going to let this happen.'"

Attendees were also determined to keep their convention from being disrupted.  Thaler saw two women trying to disrupt McCain's acceptance speech on Thursday.  He says members of the crowd muffled them and turned them over to the police.

Now that he is home Thaler plans to continue to be involved in the campaign all the way to the end.  On Tuesday he was part of a conference call between New Jersey and New York Republican organizers, and the call will be a weekly event.  He says that multi-county events are being planned. 

"It's going to be an interesting campaign in upstate New York," he says.  "I think there is a very strong possibility that New York will be Republican as far as votes are concerned.  That will be unique.  That hasn't happened since Rockefeller was in Albany.  If everybody does what they're supposed to do, if they get out and get people organized, that may very well be."

Thaler says he plans to talk to Tompkins County Republican Chairman Mike Sigler about the campaign, and is willing to work with the Lansing Republicans if asked.  "I've got the experience, having run for public office on three different occasions myself, having been involved in the Republican party for years, having had a father who was involved," he says.  "Because Tompkins County and Lansing are very important to me."

The convention left lasting impressions on Thaler, and he says that the infusion of Governor Palin into the mix gives Republicans a real fighting chance to win the White House.  "I think 90% of people in the United States didn't know about her," he says.  "Now that they've heard her and seen her I think, as far as Biden and Obama is concerned, things have changed."

As for McCain, his message resonates with Thaler.  "John McCain takes a position of what he feels is the right thing to do for this country," he says.  "I've got to tell you that in his speech it was country first and politics second.  When you talk to him, that's what he does, and that has been his reputation in Congress.  If he wants to have something passed he tries to get the Democrats as well as the Republicans to do it.  That's totally different than what we've had in government for a long time."

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