I’ll be forever in the debt of Professors Alan Heslop and Fred Balitzer, Florence Adams, George Dunn, and Bob Walters for affording me some amazing opportunities during my time at CMC. I particularly recall attending lots of very expensive political fundraisers with both Edessa Rose and philanthropist Margaret Martin Brock; meeting former and soon-to-be presidents Ford, Reagan, and Bush; picking up then-mayor Pete Wilson in a helicopter to speak at a campus conference; and listening to some salty stories told by Secret Service agents. I also had the opportunity to meet an interesting cast of state- and federal-level elected officials while demonstrating the capabilities of the redistricting database.
I spent three years working for the Rose Institute and watched it grow from a fairly small staff to a highly respected research center focused on the implications that vote and demographic data could have on election outcomes. During my time as a student employee, I perfected my cartographic skills, reviewed and entered vote data into the state-of-the-art computer system, and dedicated hours to research on the history of redistricting in the states.
I thought it was pretty cool that, as a Rose student employee, I got to be published in Reapportionment Politics: The History of Redistricting in the 50 States and that my thesis – a spellbinding history of reapportionment in Pennsylvania — was published as a Rose monograph. And I took particular pride in learning to master the phrase, “It’s not a salamander, it’s a Gerrymander” with an English dialect.
Professors Heslop and Balitzer also helped me secure an unforgettable internship (and job) in the communications department at the Republican National Committee and Republican National Convention during the dynamic 1980 campaign season. I can honestly say working at the Rose and the RNC changed my career trajectory from law to public affairs. Who would have figured I’d still be toying with grassroots advocacy and legislative policy some 40 years later??
Of course, the best part of working at the Rose was getting to know a host of college staff and student colleagues. George Blanco and I developed a particularly keen relationship that ranged from barely acknowledging each other’s existence to becoming best friends and life partners. Through long hours spent analyzing vote data (punctuated with breaks playing pinball and eating burgers at the Hub), we developed a relationship that transcended our political differences. 41-plus years later, we still watch election returns with the same enthusiasm (and occasional debate) as we did back then.