Found this article about Boehner, and it reinforces my opinion of the man. Re the seemingly permanent tan....he carries the genes of his ancestors, as we all do. Plus he plays golf ...<gg>
Let The Framing Begin
hotlineoncall.nationaljournal.com
February 2, 2006 8:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) |
Boehner's camp wasted no time in seeking to frame the forthcoming profile pieces more along the lines of "up-by-his bootstraps Cincinnati boy made good" than "chain-smoking, golf-loving, warehouse party-throwing pol's pol." Or, more practially, more "Gang Of Seven" and "No Child Left Behind" than "Sallie Mae" and "Tobacco Checks On House Floor."
In fact, they sent out the below story so fast that one may think they had it ready for this moment for some time. Sorta like that 37 page manifesto they released the day after Boehner got in the race last month.
Nice work, guys.
Boehner staff comments in italics:
Who is John Boehner? Following are some excerpts from a 1995 Cincinnati Enquirer profile that tells the story particularly well.
Excerpts from original article by Paul Barton; bracketed material added for clarity.
A family emphasis on perseverance, goals
Cincinnati Enquirer
March 12, 1995
John Boehner grew up one of 12 kids in a Catholic family in Reading [Ohio, a Cincinnati neighborhood] and worked mopping floors and cleaning up at his father's establishment, Andy's Café in Carthage [another Cincinnati neighborhood].
"This was the cleanest place you've ever seen," Boehner reflected. "If the floor wasn't clean, you had to do it over again." Customers, he said, would start coming in as early as 5:30 a.m., most wanting breakfast but some looking for a beer.
His father, Earl Boehner, had a strict work ethic and expected the same out of his children.
"When you go to be 16, you were expected to do it on your own if you wanted something beyond the basics," Boehner said. Father John Putka, a former teacher at Moeller High School, where Boehner played football, said he noticed something special in the family.
"It was a great family," Putka said. "There was a tremendous emphasis on perseverance, personal values and commitment to your goals."
Sharing one bathroom at home with all those siblings also proved instructive. Being the second oldest child in the family, Boehner frequently had to look out for the younger ones and "was kind of a disciplinarian," sister Nancy Roell, 42, said.
The tenacious qualities that mark Boehner as a politician were apparent on the football field when he played for Moeller, former coach Gerry Faust said.
"John Boehner is one class act, and I am very proud of him," said Faust, who went on to coach at Notre Dame and Akron.
"He is from a very large family and was very unselfish. That's the way he played football."
Boehner, who graduated from Moeller in 1968, played center and linebacker and was long snapper on punts. He had a bad back that frequently caused him to play with pain, Faust said.
"He would fight through that pain and still perform well because he thought he had an obligation to the team."
Looking back, Boehner said, high school was when he first realized that "some were doing better than others" in terms of family income.
After graduating, Boehner volunteered for the Navy's Seabees program but received an honorable discharge after only six weeks. The Navy asked him to leave when it found out about his back problems.
Boehner set his sights on a degree in business administration from Xavier, but it would take him until 1977. He attended night school while holding odd jobs, including stints as a bartender and janitor.
It was while working as a janitor in 1972 at what is now the Marion Merrell Dow plant in Reading that he met his wife-to-be, Debbie Gunlack. He was cleaning up around her desk.
"I thought he looked kind of cute, "she said, but added, "he probably had another 60 pounds on him so he wasn't all that cute."
Eventually, Boehner got a desk job himself, as a management trainee alongside his future wife. . .
Boehner's business career foreshadows his successful hand in politics.
He began running West Chester-based Nucite Sales Inc. in 1976, a manufacturer's representative firm for packaging and plastics, selling items such as film and applicators for household sprays. . . |
