Remembering a giant of a guy
Most posts I make on the Oklahoma Energy Blog are pretty straight-forward — just the facts, with maybe a question or two thrown in to try to generate just a little bit of discussion.
Today, though, I’m deviating from my usual format.
Today, I’m remembering Mark Schwartz — a giant in a little guy’s body who took on politics as usual on the local, state and national levels.
Schwartz died Thursday after a long battle with prostate cancer. He only was 58.
Who was Mark Schwartz, you might ask?
Well, Mark Schwartz was the guy who led the fight to get your kids the help they might need the first time they get caught out after curfew in Oklahoma City.
He was the guy who led the charge to bring curbside recycling to Oklahoma City, and to make sure City Hall properly was spending your public safety sales tax dollars to better equip your police and fire departments.
He was the guy on the local governmental level who worked extremely hard — largely, behind the scenes — with President Clinton’s White House staff, local city staffers and elected officials and the state’s delegation to help bring financial aid to Oklahoma City in those dark days after the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building.
John Montgomery, a Congressional lobbyist for Oklahoma City and many others across the country, remembers working with Scwartz and other Oklahoma City officials in the days immediately following the Oklahoma City bombing.
They quickly figured out the federal government was not geared to help the city and its businesses with recovery — traditional victims assistance programs were not what the city needed, Montgomery said.
Montgomery said he and Schwartz determined using community development block grant money from the U.S. Department of Housting and Urban Development could be the answer.
Sure, it never had been tried before. But Schwartz worked with the White House, and Montgomery worked Congress in an environment where a budget showdown nearly had closed the government.
“Feelings were a little raw,” Montgomery remembered.
To Montgomery, Schwartz’s efforts helped bring federal support for the bombing recovery effort, and he said he always will remember the hour he spent in the Oval Office with Clinton and Schwartz, Mayor Ron Norick, and his assistant, Rick Moore.
“We have our picture with President Clinton in front of his desk that, as Mark often said, binds the four of us at the hip, for life,” Montgomery said.
“Now, it is part of the legacy of Mark’s exemplary and unselfish public service for all of us in Oklahoma,” Montgomery said.
Schwartz also was the guy who worked with state and federal governments on issues important to municipalities both inside of Oklahoma and across the nation, leading both the Oklahoma Municipal League and the National League of Cities as the president of each organization.
He was the guy who, as first vice president of the National League of Cities, chose civility as the focus of his coming administration within the group.
Dirk Johnson, a reporter with The New York Times, wrote about Schwartz’ concerns about civility — or a lack, there of –in a 1997 article.
“Mark Schwartz, a City Councilman from Oklahoma City who is president of the League of Cities, said his group had published booklets on civility and conducted seminars aimed at raising the level of consideration in public forums.
“Political life, Mr. Schwartz said, simply mirrors a society that has gone from mannerliness to motorists’ making obscene gestures. Baseball players spit at umpires and attack coaches. Parents sue Little League teams over playing time given to their children.
“And respect for authority, Mr. Schwartz noted, has taken a dive. He pointed to a plan a while back by Congressional Republicans to wear Pinocchio noses when President Clinton addressed them, a move that was ultimately put down by House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
“”There is a way to register disagreement,” Mr. Schwartz said. ”It’s called the ballot box.” ”
Most importantly me to me, he was the guy who cared deeply about his city, state, and nation, and did so without engaging in the partisan politics that seems to get in the way of otherwise good people who are serving our nation on local, state and national levels.
He also was the guy who often interjected a little humor into otherwise hazardously monotonous meetings, I’m reminded.
For example, Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett recalls the end of one council meeting he covered as a reporter for a local television station where, as the meeting had progressed in its typical, slow-moving fashion, people had left as their issues had been heard and settled.
“At the end, Mayor Norick announced it was time for “Citizens to be Heard,” Cornett recalls. “He and the council all looked up into the audience, where they saw that I was the only person still around.“Councilman Schwartz broke the silence, by saying, “Now’s your chance, Mick.” The ensuing laughter ended the meeting on an optimistic note.”And so with that, I do the same.
God’s speed, Mark. I’m sure you’ll have everything straightened out by the time I get to where you are.
By Jack Money, Business Writer
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