this is going to be quite long. so either stop reading now or bare with me.

Much has been said and accussed by many people reguarding my support of Mayor Mcdermott. And frankly most of it is completly wrong. I don't mind that some will think what they will...but I do mind that some, who don't know me, might assume these wrongfull allegations have some merit to them.

So after some thought about this I have decided to tell all about my history with the Mayor, and our Mutual good friend Dave "the Mailman" Woerple. I realize some of you will not be swayed by this in any way. That's ok. But at least I will have this thread to point to in response whenever these false allegations are made again in the future.

So I'll start from the beginning.

About 5 years ago on WJOB radio I was giving a hard time to the County Clerk Tom Philpot. Something I had read in a column had set me off. A friend of Philpot's, Dave Woerple (The Mailman) called to respond. Initially we had a heated exchange. But Dave's sense of humor eventually won me over and we turned out mutually enjoying the conversation. Dave became a regular caller on the radio show at that time. Usually to dispute me whenever i said something positive about the Dedelow administration.

That's right. At that time I was a full on supporter of Hammond Mayor Duane Dedelow. You see I hosted a weekly program with him in which we discussed issues reguarding city government. I found Dedelow to be friendly and very intelligent. And I did agree with many of the initiatives he had put forth in the city. The fact is, I believe Hammond has been gradually improving itself since the mid 80's. And i to this day still think Dedelow was a decent Mayor.

As the 2003 Mayor's race started heating up. I actually took shots at the Mcdermott campaign on air. I simply didn't believe Mcdermott had any ability, nor any actual intention, to accomplish many of the goals he had set out in his 2003 campaign platform (link here http://www.mcdermottformayor.com/web/index.php?platform ) . I regularly bashed him for it.

It was about this time, when I was sitting at the computer touting Dedelow on this very message board that I recieved a knock on my door. When I answered it the person on the other side recognized my voice. He said, "you're that Fowler guy, aint ya." And I immediately recognized his. It was the caller Dave the Mailman Woerple who was walking my nieghborhood with the Mayoral Candidate.

"Hey Tom you gotta come here" Woerple called out, "you aint going to believe this. Mind you at the time, I was sitting at the computer having just awoken from a midafternoon nap (god how i miss being off for the day at 10 am). I was barefoot wearing sweatpants and my hair was way too long and messy (hey I was on radio). So i have to say I was quite embarassed to be meeting Mcdermott under those circumstances.

But Mcdermott was a politician (even if he was new at it) and was very gracious. At some point Woerple challenged me to have Mcdermott on at some point and I decided to offer him.

A week or so later. Mcdermott made his first radio appearence with me. Whenever I had a politician or any potentially controversial guest on, I always prepared by talking to the person first. I'd ask if there were any particular areas that they wanted to discuss. Or even areas that they didn't want me to discuss. Tom Mcdermott was the first political guest I ever had on who said that I was free to talk about whatever I wanted, and also said he had no particular areas he wanted to discuss. In other words he basically put himself at the mercy of a guy who had previously bashed him, and had never given him a reason to suspect that I wouldnt attack him.

This intrigued me about the guy. It took guts. I asked him some pretty tough questions. One I recall in particualar was about a blunder in his 2003 campaign in which he proposed an entertainment arena in an area controlled by a federal wetland. Again to my surprise Mcdermott was both frank and open about it. He said it was a mistake and that he and his staff hadnt been thourough enough in thier research. And he apologized for the mistake. He went on to say he still thought the entertainment venue was important, and that he would still try to see that one was built somewhere in Hammond (horseshoe!).

As the interview progressed I found him to be a candidate worthy of consideration. On air I changed my tune from being pro Dedelow, to more or less publically nuetral. I do recall the day before election day that I said I like both guys. And I think Mcdermott might make a decent Mayor. But I also said i felt the same about Dedelow. Part of me said I should stick with what I know (Dedelow) and part of me said give the new guy a chance.

Well. The election happenned. And Mcdermott won.

During the transition and early in his Mayoral term, I had almost no contact with Mcdermott. Although a couple of times he would call my show to answer questions callers or I had, or correct me if I said something in error. After a few times I decided to invite him on my show (free of charge) to discuss Hammond issues.

He appeared three or four times. Always the ground rules were the same. "Do whatever you want Steve". Sometimes callers complained, other times they were full of praise. Either way Mcdermott treated them with the same respect. I was impressed. The show eventually (through dealings with station ownership and mcdermott that i had nothing to do with) became a paid program. But the groundrules still never changed. There were no groundrules.

than the first august he was in office, the first of the Festival of the Lakes occurred. Through a sponsorship deal with the radio station, I was invited to introduce Blues Traveler along with Mcdermott. It was at this event that I actually for the first time started talking off air regularly with the Mailman. We enjoyed each others sense of humor, and have been friends ever since.

My relationship with Mcdermott, evolved very gradually. Still skeptical at times of his ability to keep some of his campaign promises. At times listeners to the show actually criticised me for being too critical of him.

But gradually, my opinion of him improved. Plans such as the Optimist Park improvements came out, the announcement of the horseshoe expansion, talk of the river park buyout began which i never imagined was possible when he was first elected.

Than. Cabela's happenned.

Understand. The owner of the radio station I worked at and his business partner (who eventually became my afternoon cohost) were both members of the Woodmar Country Club and loved that place very much. I, as a typical Hammond resident, had almost never been there, and saw the potential development around Cabela's has a huge opportunity for the city. I saw first hand some of the underhanded tactics that were used against the Mayor by some trying to stop that deal. I also saw how when the Mayor responded to those underhanded tactics in any way, how some people tried to make him out to be the bad guy in the deal.

Mcdermott was called every name in the book. His family was brought in to the fight. And not just the well publicized attacks on his father who was somewhat involved in the deal, but unfounded accusations against his brother, and his wife were also made. Documents were falsified and misrepresented to make it look as if undue pressure was being used by the administration, ads were taken out against the mayor claiming he was bringing thousands of new firearms to the city, etc...I saw first hand what a horrific experience it must have been for a well meaning Mayor to go through. And still he came, every week, to the WJOB studios to answer questions from myself and callers about anything in the world we wanted to discuss.

it was during this time, that I appeared in a dunk tank at a city function that has been held for 10 years running now known as the mayor's stake fry. it is not a campaign fundraiser. it is an annual civic event. nonetheless suddenly a wing of the listeners of my show were put off by this apparently (to them) brazen bias i had shown for mcdermott. (truth is if dedelow would have asked i'd have shown up while he was mayor too.

Than the station ownership decided for a time to kick him off the air and cancelled his show.

I almost quit when this happenned. The only reason I didnt (besides not having another job offer), was because if I had, I realized that there would have been little chance of Mcdermott ever getting back on the air again, and i felt that that would have been bad for all involved.

Mcdermott did eventually come back on the air. But his show ended just a few months after i left the station for good at the end of 2005.

several months to a year later, I was helping the station out, broadcasting a boxing event at the civic center. It was there that I ran into the Mayor. He asked me if I was a republican. I unwittingly answered yes I usually vote republican in the primaries. He than explained he had an opening for a seat on the hsd board but that by statute it had to be filled by a republican and i was about the only republican he knew that wasnt out to get him. he said he trusted my judgement to do whatever i thought was right on the board and that he would never try to influence my vote. That's when i became an hsd member. and much like his promise reguarding his radio show, the mayor has stuck to his promise to me when he appointed me to the hsd. in nearly two years now he has never once privately spoken to me about a vote.

again, i took heat for my supposedly cozy relationship with the mayor. people on this message board bashed me. the wes miller clan (theres another epic yet to be written about that story) in particular were rough on me. but the more people tried to say that I couldnt be friendly towards the Mayor. The more friendly I and the Mayor became. Partly because I admired his political boldness and fortitude. And partly because the man is really a good person with all of the personality qualities most people like to have in friends. Eventually, our relationship has grown to a point where we occasionally see each other at social events, and I think we now consider ourselves friends. Not close friends by any means, but friends.

As time moved on and it became more apparent I would never return to local radio. I became more politically active. Both in befriending the republican chairman of the time, joe mccarthy. And in my support of Mayor Mcdermott. Joe never had a problem with my being a republican who also liked the Mayor. He disagreed with me often of course, but he never gave me any difficulty. And the mayor never had a problem with me being friendly with joe. alas joe's demise as chairman meant the end of my active participation in the republican party of hammond, and thus i became more politically active with team mcdermott.

and that is where i am today.

was he gentle the first time?

bert68 wrote:was he gentle the first time?

ROTFLMAO!!! bert....dude.....that was funny !!! Sorry Oracle, don't hate me, but that was funny!! lol

“if it looks like a duck and sounds like a duck, it’s a duck”

what do ya think people are naive and don't know how the patronage game works? Its the path you choose, you're the one who's going to have to live with the consequences. On the flip side you're reaping its benefits. Futhermore if you didn't have a conscious you wouldn't bother with this little ditty, so thats a plus.

bert68 wrote:was he gentle the first time?

now that you mention it

oracle wrote:About 5 years ago on WJOB radio I was giving a hard time to the County Clerk Tom Philpot. Something I had read in a column had set me off....

a little of this, a little of that, blah blah blah, you know how those articles always have a happy ending

That's so sweet...Reminiscing about the first time you two met. Self-conscious about your hair and appearance. The first handshake...the gleam in his eye...the intrigue... WTF!...I can't believe I read oracle's drek...

Someone let me know when the movie comes out.