by Curt Kovener
It’s been 20 years…two decades… since he died. In that time a generation has passed; a new generation has taken their place. Many may have forgotten; many more may not know of the leadership, statesmanship, compromising consensus builder that was the late Governor Frank O’Bannon.
During an international trade meeting in Chicago, he was felled by a stroke on Sept. 8, 2003; he succumbed on Sept. 13. He was the last elected Democrat governor of Indiana of this century.
I first met Frank O’Bannon of Corydon in 1983 while he was a state senator—an office he held for 18 years before being elected Lt. Governor with a youthful Evan Bayh as his gubernatorial running mate. Eight years later he would be elected then re-elected governor of our state.
Forty years ago I was a tenderfoot journalist who had just purchased the hometown newspaper— Crothersville Times— which I had helped to launch four years before. I knew that O’Bannon was a state senator and a newspaperman who owned the Corydon Democrat. Being green and naive about newspaper publishing, I called the Corydon Democrat’s phone number to have a talk publisher to publisher (as if I had earned that moniker) about the newspaper business.
The phone rang and Frank O’Bannon himself answered. I explained who I was and why I was calling. We talked a bit before he said, “Judy and I are driving to Indianapolis this Saturday for a Hoosier State Press Association conference. Why don’t we swing by Crothersville and pick you up. We can talk shop during the ride to Indianapolis,” he invited.
I was barely 31 years old and was going to be chauffeured by a state senator to talk and rub elbows with newspaper bigwigs from across Indiana. While that made me feel like I was somebody, the ride to Indy impressed me with O’Bannon’s grace, tolerance and knowledgeable easygoing spirit. Arriving at the state newspaper association gathering every newspaper owner and publisher was eager to welcome Frank O’Bannon. As he greeted his old business contemporaries, he was gracious to introduce me to them as the state’s newest community newspaper publisher.
“Curt’s the next generation, the new blood for newspapering,” he told the suit & tie, gray haired owner-publishers. And again he made me feel like I was somebody. (An aside, I am now a gray haired owner-publisher…one of the few left in the state…but I eschewed the suit & tie many years ago.)
It was several years later when he was Lt. Governor and I was a newly elected township trustee that he saw to it our paths crossed again. He was to be a guest speaker at an annual Indiana Township Association meeting in Indianapolis. Before he was called to the stage, he spotted me sitting near where he was waiting.
Calling out my name, he walked directly to me. We shook hands, chatted a bit, before our conversation was interrupted by his introduction to the dais.
My trustee colleagues from Jackson County took note and even those of the Republican faith were impressed that the Lt. Governor knew me.
And again he made me feel like I was somebody.
And that was not just isolated incidents occurring with me. Frank O’Bannon’s grace, charm, butternut smooth southern Hoosier drawl made everyone he met feel like they were somebody.
Unlike the elected officials of today who seem to convey the message ”this is what I believe and you need to as well”, throughout his political life Frank O’Bannon listened— genuinely listened— to what his constituents thought and he always kept their opinions in mind as he worked to formulate consensus on both sides of the aisle in public policy. He knew how to disagree without being disagreeable…an attribute which is woefully lacking in today’s statehouse. And though he may disagree with you, he would leave you feeling like you were somebody.
Frank O’Bannon’s tolerance, respect and civility were his way of life that needs to be reclaimed by today’s political practitioners.
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Curt Kovener is still owner-publisher of the Crothersville Times and has been a one-person weekly community newspaperman for 44 years.