Just business

For some reason I've been thinking about a story my friend told me a couple of years ago. The moral of the story is that politics is a tough business. Yes, there are times when competitors may rightfully hold a grudge. However, sometimes a transgression is really just someone conducting business as usual and the aggrieved party should simply move along.

The story begins in 1972. My buddy's dad was Speaker of the California Assembly. As Speaker it was his job to direct campaign resources into districts where he believed his party could win a seat from the opposing party.

So my buddy's dad targets a seat held by a friend of his in the Fresno area. Well, the friend squeaked out a victory. When the two men met in Sacramento again after the election, my buddy's dad says to his friend, "I hope there are no hard feelings. Targeting you was just business." My buddy's dad was a tennis player and asks his friend if he plays tennis. The friend replies, "No, I'm a golfer."

The two men part ways and go back to their offices. When the friend from Fresno returns to his office the receptionist says to him, "The Speaker's office just called. You have a tennis lesson tomorrow."

My buddy's dad died of a heart attack in 1984. His friend from Fresno died in 2000. Still, in the years before their deaths, the two men and their families would take vacations together and the two families are still tight today.

I wish I could think of a corollary between that story and the way our current California leaders conduct business today. There have been a lot of claims that camaraderie between Democrats and Republicans is dead. I don't believe it's completely dead, but I would say the political stakes have raised a lot since 1972 because now there is tremendously more money involved. So with the higher stakes the likeliness of competitors becoming friends and remaining close after a political battle decreases.

Maybe it would help if in the next budget, there are funds for building a tennis court in Capitol Park.