Remembering Elinor Taylor
When Elinor Taylor passed away last week in Stuart, Florida at the age of 89, I recalled her with some sadness and nostalgia but also remembered with a smile the images of what this feisty lady did for politics on the West Chester and Pennsylvania scene. What she did for women and for senior women in politics is also monumental.
Elinor belonged to a group of State legislators at a time when the word “politician” did not carry the baggage that it bears more recently. Rightly or wrongly the world has become more complicated and distant than it was when she first came to serve in the Pennsylvania House of Representative in 1976. Although some legislators today continue the practice of dealing as directly and as frequently with the public, I sense that it has become more difficult to have voices heard at both ends of the spectrum.
You did not have to be one of a chosen few for Elinor’s name to be at the top of the list of people you would contact when you experienced a problem. In fact, the words “I’ll call Elinor Taylor” were received in the same sense as “I’ll call Mom” when we were kids. The recipient of the implied warning knew that he or she was going to have to answer for misdeeds or at least explain the reason for his or her decision. Elinor took constituent services seriously.
Some years back when my neighbor, Dolores, encountered problems regarding services for her son with Down’s syndrome, she contacted Elinor’s office and the results were typical of the type of response expected.
Dolores’ son, among others, was receiving supportive services outside the home and needed to travel by bus to the location. The transportation cost had always been assumed by the County through State funding and, with budget cuts, a proposal was made to require service recipients to pay for their own transportation. With the minimal monthly income received, to require recipients to pay for their own bus transportation would take a substantial bite. Dolores and other parents decided to fight. My neighbor, like Elinor, was a fighter when she believed in her cause.
Dolores’ first contact was with Elinor whose office was a few short blocks away. Andy Dinniman, then a County Commissioner, assisted also. With this unexpected team of Republican and Democrat, the cause was won and funding restored. Although, in the large scheme of things, the dollars were not great, to the families who needed the help, the decision made a difference. All of this I heard in detail over the fence as matters progressed and I never forgot.
Frankly, I did not agree with Elinor on everything. It would have seemed unusual for people with strong convictions to always agree and the polarizing tendency in recent years for people of the same political parties to assent to everything proposed on each side would have left in the dust many creative solutions.
Even Elinor had a story about bowing to pressure on one side or the other regardless of conviction.
At one of the political fundraisers, honestly I cannot remember where, she recounted what I believe to be an old story – possibly an Aesop’s fable – of a man, a boy and a donkey. The man, the boy and the donkey set out to travel to a distant town. As they traveled down the road, the man sat on the donkey and the boy walked alongside. People gathered watching and several began to mumble that the man was selfish and unfeeling. He should not require his son to walk in the hot sun. The man, hearing the crowd, climbed down from the donkey and gave his place to his son and continued on his way.
As they traveled farther, a crowd gathered and noted disapprovingly that the boy was seated and his father who was older deserved to ride the donkey. The man joined his son seated on the donkey and continued on.
Finally, a group of people gathered and complained that the donkey was being mistreated. How could the man and the boy allow the poor animal to suffer carrying both of them. As a last resort, coming into the town, the man carried the donkey and the boy on his back.
The lesson was obvious. The man ultimately needed to follow his own convictions and decide.
Obviously there is a tension between what people want and what a policy maker believes should be done. In my opinion what has to be done, at a minimum, is to listen.
You might disagree with Elinor but, based on her strong response on whatever issue was before her, you always knew that she listened.
About the Author Janet Colliton
Esquire, Colliton Law Associates, P.C. Janet Colliton has practiced law for over 38 years, 37 of them in Chester County, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia. Her practice, Colliton Law Associates, PC, is limited to elder law, Medicaid, including advice, applications and appeals, and other benefits planning including Veterans benefits, life care and special needs planning, guardianships, retirement, and estate planning and administration.