Blast From The Past

Charles Stile of The Record has a great profile of a pillar of the BCRO, Eleanor Nissley. Ms. Nissley was instumental in my attending and one of the people I got to know a bit when I went to San Diego in 1996. Granted, she probably wouldn't know me if she fell over me at this point, it was great to see she's still involved and still stands for the principles Bergen Republicans stood for back in the day.

Here's a bit of her wisdom she shared with Stile:

Despite the past battles, Nissley said politics were far more civil and less partisan than they are today. County chairmen from both parties often socialized and collaborated on relief efforts for a family who lost their home in a fire, for example.

"I feel people are getting lost in the process," she said. "Today it's more about, 'Can I get a job for Aunt Tillie?' " she said. "Patronage is not the name of the game. People are the name of the game."

I hope enough young Republicans, and Democrats for that matter, will look at Nissley's example as how politics used to be and can be now thanks to people like her.