I can't say I knew Mo. But he was my congressman for 16 years, and I am
proud to say I voted for him 8 times.
I first met Mo in 1976, when he was running for President and had a
"kick-off" party here in Tucson. Then, in 1980, as president of a singles
group in Tucson I invited him to talk to us, an invitation he readily
accepted since it was October, the campaign was in full swing, and we
promised an audience of at least 60 voting age people!.
Two years later, at a debate with an upstart opponent who foolishly
attacked him personally, we met on the patio after the debacle and he
looked at me and asked "Aren't you the president of that singles group I
talked to a couple years back?"
In 1987 I suggested to the editor the the Tucson Weekly, for whom I was
doing some writing at the time, to do a piece on Mo. Mo accepted our
request, and the editor and I spent two hours with him in his Tucson
office. The ravages of Parkinson's were in evidence then, for he tired,
his voice was soft, and he had to stop talking every so often, just to rest
for a bit. I was five years away from being diagnosed, so while I
sympathized, I did not empathize.
Mo was truly a marvelous man. During the two hours I spent with him in '87
he was funny, serious, self-deprecating, proud, and, most of all, convinced
that what he was doing and had done were for the good of the country.
When John McCain walked into his Senate office in 1986, a
wet-behind-the-ears freshman, one of the first messages he received was an
offer from Mo to help him get the lay of the land. He accepted, and
despite frequently divergent political philosophies, they became lasting
friends.
We could sure use a Mo Udall in Washington right now.
Bob Dolezal
