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Column

Gentle man made a difference

By BILL STEVENS
Published October 30, 2005

We first met in 1986. He was an educator running for his first political office. I was the new editor of editorials at the Pasco Times, trying to figure which candidates to recommend to our readers.

John Long was easy to like. He was smart but didn't pretend to know everything. He had a slow Southern drawl and a twinkle in his eye. He was proud of his record as an assistant superintendent of Pasco schools. He spoke warmly of his family. We both had two young daughters.

But this race for the state House looked like it was going to be tough. One of his opponents was especially aggressive and seemed credible. She had a good job and a record of public service. For the first half of our hourlong interview, she seemed earnest and informed. And then she challenged her opponents to pee in a cup.

I'm not kidding.

This was one of the favorite tricks of hack politicians at the time. Proclaim your purity and suggest your opponent has something to hide. I can pass a drug test, can you?

That politician is but a faded memory now, and I only mention her because it makes me smile to remember how her tactics left Long sputtering before his skin thickened.

Right about now, I'm looking for reasons to smile.

In my 35 years as a journalist, I have never met a public official whom I liked better or respected more than John Long. It hurts to use the past tense, but as you know he died last week while traveling in Montana with his beloved wife, Marsha. He was a large man, and his heart gave out in only his 59th year.

They don't have a church in Pasco big enough to hold everyone who thought John Long was a decent, talented man. We're all left saddened by his sudden passing and that he only had one year to enjoy retirement. Fifty-nine is so young, we tell ourselves, but those of us in that neighborhood are starting to rethink our own plans - and consider our mortality.

I feel blessed to be able to write this column, to share some of my thoughts about this special man. I am glad that he knew of my admiration and that he occasionally went out of his way to have breakfast with me at a local Denny's just because he enjoyed my company. He never tried to manipulate me. He always knew that if my reporters ever found something negative in his school district, he'd read about it. A few times, he even called us to fall on his sword before we found out.

Other politicians could learn from that openness. He was straightforward and accessible. He told the truth.

Of all the testimonials we published on Thursday, the one from longtime School Board member Marge Whaley raised goosebumps on my arms. "This to me was John Long: You do the right thing when nobody's looking." How true.

He had such a gentle nature and good sense of humor. He had many friends, but my sense was that he was not all that comfortable on the cocktail party set - odd for a man who was a breath away from being the speaker of the House before quitting to come back home. He was a masterful legislator who looked after Pasco County schools well, but it's still difficult to imagine him as part of that Tallahassee gang.

Most counties the size of Pasco stopped electing their superintendents years ago. Educating children is such demanding and important business, it makes sense to search nationwide for your chief executive. Long and his predecessor for two decades, Tom Weightman, fully understood that and supported unsuccessful campaigns to change the process. Ironically, opponents of appointing a superintendent used them as perfect examples to support their cause.

Pasco has been fortunate. Weightman cared enough about the county where he was raised to make sure he groomed a similar successor. Long never missed a beat.

It was tough work in a county with an exploding growth rate. Tough work as federal and state politicians devised more mandates that made veteran educators want to run for the door.

Today it is with mixed feelings that I wish John Long had run for that door earlier; that he had hit the road in his travel trailer with Marsha earlier; that he had gone hunting more often with his buds. But as someone who cares deeply about Pasco County schools where my daughters have been educated and where my wife teaches third-graders, I am grateful he stuck around.

He made this a better place.

[Last modified October 30, 2005, 01:13:18]