Tag Archives for Ken McGill

Gray Power Can Turn a Campaign Sour

Published in Senior Digest on October 2004

After 24 years on Smith Hill that included a 10-year stint as House speaker, John Harwood’s career came to a surprising end recently when 33-year-old former prosecutor J. Patrick O’Neill’s grass-roots campaign brought home the votes.  The lopsided victory, 758 votes for O’Neill to 352 for Harwood, propelled the political novice into the district 59 House seat.

Two years ago, Harwood barely kept his long-held House seat after a vigorous political campaign by write-in independent candidate Bruce Bayuk.  According to Joseph Fleming, of Fleming & Associates, a Cumberland-based polling and political consultant, seniors casting votes for Harwood at the polling place in Kennedy Manor on Broad Street, played a key role in his victory in that election cycle.

Fleming, who also serves as a political analyst for Channel 12 News said that senior voter support for Harwood was almost nonexistent in the recent Democratic primary.  Senior voters joined with anti-Harwood voters throughout the legislative district to give the former House speaker the boot.

“Harwood lost better than 2-to-1 at the polling place in Kennedy Manor,” Fleming said. “Seniors decided it was a time for a change.”

Over the years, political candidates have made pre-election day pilgrimages to Pawtucket’s senior high-rises.  In District 59, both Harwood and O’Neill courted voters in high-rises, providing food during meet and greet events.

“It’s a myth that a good meal at a senior high-rise will ultimately equate to a vote,” quips Fleming. “Seniors may go down to eat the food, but it doesn’t mean that you’ll get their vote.  Everyone feeds them, but they can’t vote for both sides.” Moreover, he said, the majority of older voters don’t reside in senior high rises.

“Seniors read campaign materials look at the campaign issues and vote for people who reflect their views on these issues,” Fleming says.

Darrell West, a Brown University professor and political pollster, notes that seniors are the biggest voting block in Rhode Island. “Not only are they a sizeable group in numbers, they also are more likely to exercise their franchise to vote,” he says.

Ken McGill, registrar for the City of Pawtucket, agrees with West’s assessment.  McGill says that in any election, political candidates can count on senior voters to turn out in high numbers.

“Seniors were brought up respecting the right to vote and how important it is. They know what is at stake and pay careful attention to the issues that not only affect them, but  issues impacting on members of their family, McGill says.

“Compared to young people, seniors are 30 to 40 percentage points more likely to vote, West said. “Seniors vote because they are invested in their community and come from a generation where it was considered any honor to vote,” says West.  He added that young people tend to be very cynical about politics and more likely to feel their vote does not matter.

West said that seniors voter as a bloc only when they see their issues directly at stake in an election. “If an election centers on Social Security or Medicare, they are more likely to overcome differences by gender, income and ethnicity and cast a ‘senior’ vote,” he says.

Adds Kathleen S. Connell, director of AARP-RI, “There are many reasons why candidates look to the senior citizens for votes. One of them being, the issues that affect the concerned seniors are the same issues that will also affect the candidates and their families now or in the future.”  Also, candidates know that seniors are the most reliable and informed voters, she says.

One of the questions surrounding the upcoming election is whether seniors will support the Rhode Island GOP in its efforts to increase the numbers in the General Assembly?

“Seniors lean Democratic because the elderly typically has seen democrats speak out most forcefully about the need to take care of seniors and protect Medicare and Social Security,” says West. However, Republicans have made in-roads with moral or ethical issues, he says.

Aging groups are gearing up for the upcoming November elections to send educated voting seniors to the polls, Connell says.

“This year, some of our volunteers are participating in presidential debate watches with Rhode Island College, and we are distributing voter guides for them to track the candidate responses to issues of importance to AARP members.  They can use these guides to further study the issues before going to the polls.”

Richard Bidwell, executive director of the Rhode Island Gray Panthers, also sees the value of getting educated senior voters to the polls. With the backdrop of the upcoming elections, the Senior Agenda Consortium (SAC), founded by the Gray Panthers and now comprised of 20 aging groups, is working to improve seniors’ knowledge of issues and develop strategies to pressure candidates to support SAC’s legislative agenda.

 As it did two years ago, SAC, which is funded by the Rhode Island Foundation, will organize three regional forums, to prod the candidates to support its legislation positions on issues ranging from ensuring access to low-cost prescription drugs, better funding for community long-term care services and protecting RIPTA bus routes.  The results will be released to the media.

Preparing for Golden Years Starts with Taking Charge of Your Life in Your 40s

Published in Pawtucket Times on October 7, 2002

Ken McGill, a colleague of mine, recently celebrated his 40th birthday.

The now forty-something municipal employee joins the rank and file of millions of Baby boomers – people born between 1946 to 1964 – who are now in the middle and later years of their life.

Like many, McGill dreaded reaching that chronological milestone.

“Half my life is over,” he told me. But McGill’s approaching birthday triggered a strong desire for him to take control of his life style.

One aspect was to get in better shape, and through diet and exercise, he succeeded.

Here are some suggestions for McGill and millions of aging Baby Boomers to follow to age gracefully, which will enhance their health and mental capabilities in their later years.

  1. A positive attitude becomes very important as you get older. Every day you have a choice on how to view problems – either viewing the glass half-full or half-empty. A good attitude is key to helping you live longer. Moreover, your attitude can help you face the downsides of growing older.
  • It is so easy to continually reflect on ones’ successes and especially all the negatives you have experienced throughout your life. While savoring your personal and professional victories, it is important to forgive yourself for your defeats.
  • By viewing your past as a cancelled check, you can let go of past regrets and mistakes made in your younger and middle years. It is now time to  live in the present and let go of the past. You cannot live or end your life peacefully if you are still holding onto anger, bitterness or grudges all tied to your past. But most importantly, forgive those who have hurt you personally or professionally.
  • Don’t sit on the sidelines of life.  View life as a “spectator sport” and stay as physically active as you can. According to research, “if you rest-you rust.” Physical exercise elevates your mood and benefits your cardiovascular system. Resistance training can help maintain strength and muscle.
  • Keep your mind active by investigating new challenges. By seeking second careers, taking advantage of volunteer opportunities and traveling can be your “fountain of youth.” Take time to write, learn how to play musical instruments, and settle down to read daily newspapers and magazines. Spend some time working on a challenging crossword puzzle or even playing chess.
  • Don’t be afraid of asking for help or support from your family and friends. No one is an island, and we need to become more interdependent as we get older. According to research, people with a strong social network will improve their mental health, have a stronger immune system, and even live longer than those who don’t. So, strive to keep up your social contact and personal connection with others.
  • Reduce stress through humor, meditation and low-impact exercise like walking and the Chinese discipline of tai chi.
  • Reduce the amount of red meat, saturated and hydrogenated fats and sweets that you eat while increasing your portions of vegetables and fruits.
  • By following these suggestions, McGill and other Baby Boomers will be better able to tackle life’s challenges they encounter in their 50s, 60s and even 70s.

Program Allows World War II Vets to Get High School Diplomas  

Published in the Pawtucket Times on March 18, 2002

Thousands of young students across the nation left their high school studies to join the armed forces during World War II.

Their high school education would instead be gleaned from life experience learned on the bloody battlefields rather than from school textbooks.

Former Pawtucket resident George Redman, a World War II veteran, along with others, will receive his long-awaited high school diploma in May, courtesy of a state initiative dubbed Operation Recognition.

The City of Pawtucket has joined other Rhode Island communities in conferring diplomas to aging war veterans in their 70s and 80s who were honorably discharged between Sept. 16, 1940 and Dec. 31, 1946. Diplomas can also be awarded posthumously. Additionally, those who have earned GEDs are also eligible to receive their diplomas.

For many like then 17-year-old Redman, high school took a back seat as the clouds of war swirled over Europe. Times were tough for the youngster’s family because the Great Depression was just ending. It became necessary for Redman to take a job to help his disabled war veteran father supplement the family’s coffers. It became a very easy decision for Redman, who was playing baseball Pawtucket Red Sox, to drop out of Pawtucket High School’s Class of 1939.

Initially, Redman had wanted to serve on an aerial bomber. Coming from a military family fueled this high school dropout’s desire to serve his country even more, says the longtime resident of North Attleboro. He claims that his uncle was the first Pawtucket resident to die in the Great War of 1917.

“Wait until they call you,” his mother urged. That is what the young Redman did, taking a night shift job at New England Pretzel Company, packing hundreds of boxes of salty pretzels each shift. Before he entered military service, the young man would ultimately become a drill press operator at H P& B American Machine Company.

When his draft notice arrived in 1942, 21-year-old Redman gave up his manufacturing job, traveling to Fort Devens in Avery, Mass., for training. Later he would travel to Oklahoma and Texas for field training before being sent overseas to fight in the bloody Italian Campaign. Two bullets from a German machine gun in 1944 ended Redman’s military career. Upon his discharge, he returned to the states with a Purple Heart, the Combat Infantryman’s Bade and the Bronze Star Medal.

Redman would later re-enroll at Pawtucket Hight School, but a bout with the flu forced him to withdraw from his studies. Not having hs high school diploma never negatively impacted his career selling office supplies and equipment. “You learned your trade on the road,” he quips.

More than 50 years after World War II, not graduating high school, however did come back to haunt him. The retired war vet called a local college to inquire taking paralegal courses. Not having is diploma effectively blocked his admission to take courses.

“Right there, I knew that I needed that high school diploma to further my education,” Redman says. “Any college course I wanted to take would require my diploma.”

Like Redman, Pawtucket resident Henry Fugere, 78, a World War II veteran who is a retired electrician from Rhode Island Hospital never graduated from high school. Helping to support his 15 sibling and a nation mobilizing for war ended his dream of  obtaining a high school diploma.

“Getting my high school diploma is now a matter of principle,” Fugere says, explaining why he filed out his application to participate. “I will feel a little bit prouder of myself for getting that diploma. I didn’t earn my diploma by sitting at a desk buy by the hard way, through serving my country and the many jobs I held.”

A chance conversation by Assistant General Manager Laureen Grebien, of Gregg’s Restaurant on North Main Street, Providence with Redman ultimately got Pawtucket City Councilor Donald Grebien involved in bringing  Operation Recognition to Pawtucket.

Grebien remembers his wife, Laureen, waking him up at 11:30 p.m. that night to tell him of her conversation with Redman and about the war vet’s desire to get his high school diploma.

After contacting local veterans groups, the Rhode Island Veterans Affairs Office, and checking the Internet for programs implemented by other states, Grebien said, “things just snowballed.”

With the blessing of the Pawtucket City Council President John Barry, Grebien created a Veterans Ad Hoc Committee that would later hammer out Pawtucket’s Operation Recognition program. Members include Grebien along with School Committee Chair Raymond Spooner. Santa Almeida, a veteran and president of AFSCME Local 1012, Ken McGill from the mayor’s office and representatives of the Pawtucket School Department.

Thirty-plus meetings held over the last year have created Pawtucket’s Operation Recognition Program, promoted it and have planned the upcoming graduation ceremony on May 31 at Veterans Amphitheater on Roosevelt Avenue, Grebien says.

“Promoting the program heavily in newspapers, on cable TV and to veterans groups is key to our success,” Grebien notes, because lack of records block the efforts to develop accurate listing of all those eligible to receive a high school diploma. High school yearbooks, with a listing of students from 1941 to 1946, were used to identify potential candidates.

“Approximately 10 veterans responded,” Grebien adds, noting that he hopes to identify other eligible former veterans, too.

Ad Hoc Veterans Committee member Ray Spooner, who chairs the Pawtucket School Committee stands strongly behind the program.

“Their education was sacrificed for our freedom,” he says. “After all these years we are giving seniors their just due for all their years of service to their country. For all the people that we can find who are eligible to participate, they deserve getting their diplomas.”

Applications to participate in Operation Recognition for War II Veterans are due on March 31.