Jon
05-01-2007, 09:37 PM
When I first met Lou Papan, he had summoned me to his Millbrae office as his daughter Gina was beginning her 2002 quest to fill his District 19 Assembly seat.
Papan quickly asked me what my parents did for a living, operating room nurse and mortgage broker didn’t seem to excite him much. So he asked
what my grandparents did for a living. Truck driver, animal rights activist and car salesman didn’t elicit much excitement from the assemblyman either.
But when I revealed my grandmother was a newspaper editor, Papan’s eyes lit up.
“So you see why my daughter Gina would want to follow in my footsteps,” Papan said.
In the meeting, he also expressed some displeasure with the now defunct Independent newspaper and offered some assistance in steering some city legal advertising in our then fledgling newspaper’s direction (I didn’t take him up on the offer, it would be a few more years until we were adjudicated).
It was then I recognized Lou’s character — strongly defensive of his family, always looking out for the underdog and always, always the politician.
It was then I also recalled the advice of another newspaperman, who warned me, “never get in a fight with Lou Papan.”
It seemed he also imbued that instinct in his family. When I wrote an editorial claiming Lou was running for state Senate to hurt longtime political rival Mike Nevin, his daughter Diane called me to categorically deny the theory. When a story appeared on our front page Monday about Lou’s death Saturday that paraphrased a quote he made at Gina’s election night party that some took as threatening, Gina called to complain. The tight-knit family has always been strident in its defense of each other.
Lou was also known for his strident defense of causes he felt strongly about. Some argued he was a bully as the chair of the Assembly Rules Committee and he was famous for his donnybrook with then assemblyman Ken Mead over some committee dispute. But you always knew where you stood with Lou. He didn’t mince words and he didn’t eat them either.
He was first elected to the Assembly just a year after I was born, so I didn’t get a chance to see firsthand what happened in those years. But much of the political gamemanship of those days changed how long legislators can serve. Term limits have their benefits, but there are also downfalls. It can be argued that much of the hot air coming from Sacramento is a result of politicians always looking for their next position. Instead of authoring bills that make a difference, too often those in Sacramento are discussing nonsensical bills to grab headlines.
Papan’s rise to power and eventual move to the sidelines also illustrates the fragility of political machines. Just as the Brown-Burton Sacramento machine was dismantled, so to could go the current political machine here in San Mateo County. Papan had a part in that effort too, whether he ever wanted to admit it or not, in his run against Leland Yee and Mike Nevin for Jackie Speier’s Senate seat. By going against the two, some argued Papan pulled votes away from Nevin in San Mateo County but others could argue Yee would have won anyway. Still, Papan sought to make a difference, even if people didn’t agree with how he did it.
He may have had his flaws as all do but you had to admire a man with his values — tough-talking, straight-shooting, family-minded and always pulling for the little guy. And even if you had a difference of opinion, he was always open to talking it out. I hope his daughter Gina takes those values with her as she forges her own political path.
Jon Mays is the editor in chief of the Daily Journal.
Papan quickly asked me what my parents did for a living, operating room nurse and mortgage broker didn’t seem to excite him much. So he asked
what my grandparents did for a living. Truck driver, animal rights activist and car salesman didn’t elicit much excitement from the assemblyman either.
But when I revealed my grandmother was a newspaper editor, Papan’s eyes lit up.
“So you see why my daughter Gina would want to follow in my footsteps,” Papan said.
In the meeting, he also expressed some displeasure with the now defunct Independent newspaper and offered some assistance in steering some city legal advertising in our then fledgling newspaper’s direction (I didn’t take him up on the offer, it would be a few more years until we were adjudicated).
It was then I recognized Lou’s character — strongly defensive of his family, always looking out for the underdog and always, always the politician.
It was then I also recalled the advice of another newspaperman, who warned me, “never get in a fight with Lou Papan.”
It seemed he also imbued that instinct in his family. When I wrote an editorial claiming Lou was running for state Senate to hurt longtime political rival Mike Nevin, his daughter Diane called me to categorically deny the theory. When a story appeared on our front page Monday about Lou’s death Saturday that paraphrased a quote he made at Gina’s election night party that some took as threatening, Gina called to complain. The tight-knit family has always been strident in its defense of each other.
Lou was also known for his strident defense of causes he felt strongly about. Some argued he was a bully as the chair of the Assembly Rules Committee and he was famous for his donnybrook with then assemblyman Ken Mead over some committee dispute. But you always knew where you stood with Lou. He didn’t mince words and he didn’t eat them either.
He was first elected to the Assembly just a year after I was born, so I didn’t get a chance to see firsthand what happened in those years. But much of the political gamemanship of those days changed how long legislators can serve. Term limits have their benefits, but there are also downfalls. It can be argued that much of the hot air coming from Sacramento is a result of politicians always looking for their next position. Instead of authoring bills that make a difference, too often those in Sacramento are discussing nonsensical bills to grab headlines.
Papan’s rise to power and eventual move to the sidelines also illustrates the fragility of political machines. Just as the Brown-Burton Sacramento machine was dismantled, so to could go the current political machine here in San Mateo County. Papan had a part in that effort too, whether he ever wanted to admit it or not, in his run against Leland Yee and Mike Nevin for Jackie Speier’s Senate seat. By going against the two, some argued Papan pulled votes away from Nevin in San Mateo County but others could argue Yee would have won anyway. Still, Papan sought to make a difference, even if people didn’t agree with how he did it.
He may have had his flaws as all do but you had to admire a man with his values — tough-talking, straight-shooting, family-minded and always pulling for the little guy. And even if you had a difference of opinion, he was always open to talking it out. I hope his daughter Gina takes those values with her as she forges her own political path.
Jon Mays is the editor in chief of the Daily Journal.