Outrageous Hero, Indeed

B.T. Collins was one of those political figures who was a mass of contradictions that worked together. During the time I knew him in Sacramento, he worked for an amazingly disparate group of politicians - Jerry Brown, George Deukmejian and Pete Wilson (and a few minor ones like Tom Hayes). While there are a lot of political types who claim to be able to do that, all the time that he did, he kept his integrity. That is rare. His older sister Maureen, has written an excellent biography which captures him in a wonderful way. B.T. was a Vietnam veteran who had lost an arm and a leg there. He was inordinately irreverent but had an underlying deep respect for the political process.

For a period of about 15 years he was ubiquitous - and then suddenly he died. Outrageous Hero; The B.T. Collins Story tells his story from the end - it begins with his funeral, he died in 1993 of a heart attack. I worked with him when he first came to Sacramento and then as he moved through jobs, finally agreeing to run in the Assembly district where I lived, I kept working with him.

Two short stories about him that are not in the book - both about his too short career in the legislature. Surprisingly, he did not introduce many legislative proposals. But he cared about issues. In one particularly difficult fight he was on the committee that would hear the bill. I went to see him to explain our position, he listened intently. He then said "The opponents tell a very different story." I explained why they were wrong. When the bill came up in committee, he asked a couple of key questions - showing he had thought about both sides, and then (fortunately) voted the right way. About two weeks later I was sitting in the gallery of the Assembly and B.T. ever the showman, looked up at me and yelled my name and then said- " how am I supposed to vote on this one?" He cared enough about the process to try to get it to work. But I sensed, and the book confirms, that the silly games in the process annoyed him.

The second story is even more typical. In his first campaign he was running in a tight situation. He had moved into the district at the request of the Governor (Wilson). His major opponent was one of those types in politics who could have benefitted from a bit less talk and a lot more listening. I decided to do calling for him. That is not an especially fun job - you go through voter lists and call to ask how people plan to vote - it helps in getting out the vote. A few days after I did that I got a note from him (he was big on personal notes) which said in effect - why in the world would you waste you time calling for me - obviously you have too much time on your hands. In his last campaign, one of his campaign buttons was of a hook - his prothesis was a hook - and he signed the letter "Captain Hook."

Few books about politics these days are inspiring, accurate and funny. This one fits that bill.