Around this time of year, the circus came to Madison square garden. In 1980 the democratic convention was supposed to follow the circus into the Garden. Like one circus following the next. Bill Dixon called me to report that they had hired convention staff except for the Director of Security. He proceeded to tell me that although they needed one woman in a senior role, the White House was pretty sure I wouldn’t or couldn’t be that person. I put on my Sadie hat and said, “of course I can, I have let’s of experience.”
Off to New York City to reinvent myself and begin another adventure. There was a terrific appartment available on Park Ave, available with one bedroom and a sunken living room.
It was close to the Garden but in a better neighborhood, so I signed a 6 month lease. Off I went to NYC. Having no idea what was in store for me. There were two important lessons I learned immediately. One was that you could have anything delivered to your home. And two, the most important one was that if you sign the checks you can do anything.
On the first day there was a security meeting with all the players, The Garden, the Secret Service, NYPD, and the Democratic Committee security. The rule was the the newest had to take the notes. Imagine what all the outsiders thought of me. But the first policy question was on the table about whether or not we would allow guns to be carried in the hall. Governors often brought their own security and they carried guns. “Not inside the Hall this year” I said. Every person at the table turned to me and began to voice their opinions. Rocky Pomerantz a long time DNC consultant asked me why. And I said, Rocky, when you were in charge in Florida you said with that amount of people, it would be too dangerous, especially if they were not authorized by official protective persons, like police, Secret Service or the FBI.
That shut them all up and Bill Dixon introduced me reminding them That I controlled the budget.
Then it was my task to hire staff. How does that happen? Well, the best way is to plug into the advance people who understand the politics and work ethic. I was told to call Howard Druckman a well connected NY lawyer, and former Secret Service agent. He made a list of people to talk to. Many of those people had already called me. It was one of the best times of my life. I owned America. Not that I’m so great but it’s all about the credentials. I ruled the world— at least NYC. there were numbers of people who were beyond excited and some of my best friends came out of that time. You know who you are. It was also a time to figure out what we would do with the media, political VIPs. Delegates, what states would sit where but more importantly, the convention site was above the main train station with hundreds of people and lockers. How do you secure that site. Thousands of people passed through there every day.
The convention lasted four very long days. And there were many highlights. There were stars galore. Dixon knew everyone. Jimmy Buffet, was my favorite buy lots of music people. The security officer was so small we had to take credential photos in the bathtub For everyone. My favorite was Tip O’Neill and much to the chagrin from his staff he was happy to get into the tub.
Every important person in NY wanted to be my friend. All went well until my mother got lost. She decided to take the bus home because she didn’t want me to pay for her room. It goes on from there but the entire NYPD was searching for “buttercups” mother —- that was my code name. It was hard to go back to reality after that but I did my best to solidify all the connections I made, which lasted for years.