Description
Book SynopsisIn this legislative autobiography Franklin L. Kury tells the story about his election to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, and later the Senate, against the senior Republican in the House and an entrenched patronage organization. The only Democrat elected from his district to serve in the House or Senate since the Roosevelt landslide in 1936, Kury was instrumental in enacting the environmental amendment to the state constitution, a comprehensive clean streams law, the gubernatorial disability law, reform of the Senate’s procedure for confirmation of gubernatorial appointments, a new public utility law, and flood plain and storm water management laws. The story told here is based on Kury’s recollections of his experience, supplemented by his personal files, extensive research in the legislative archives, and conversations with persons knowledgeable on the issues. This book is well documented with notes and appendices of significant documents. Several chapters provide detailed “inside” descriptions of how campaigns succeeded and the enactment of legislation happened. The passage of the environmental amendment, clean streams law, public utility code, flood plain and storm water management laws, and the gubernatorial disability law are recounted in a manner that reveals what it takes to pass such proposals. The book concludes with the author’s reflections on the legislature’s historical legacies, its present operation, and its future.
Trade ReviewDuring a time when state and national attention is being given to drilling and fracking to mine gas, with claims of various kinds of pollution, a review of how one legislator affected the changes in how the state has to treat water only a few years ago may be of interest. * Pennsylvania Magazine *
Table of ContentsIntroduction Prologue:1701-1954 Part One: Getting There, 1952-1966 Chapter 1: Getting Ready Chapter 2: Cracking Gibralter, the Lark "Machine" Chapter 3: Running for the House Part Two: The House of Representatives, 1967-1972 Chapter 4: The Education of a Freshman Chapter 5: Absentee Ballot Reform Chapter 6: Ballot Box Reform in Northumberland County Chapter 7: Clean Streams and the Enviromental Revolution Chapter 8: The Enviromental Amendment to the State Constituion Chpater 9: The Bridge at Sunbury Part Three: The State Senate, 1973-1980 Chapter 10: Defying Gravity — Going to the Senate Chapter 11: The Senate Is Not the House Chapter 12: Senate Confirmation of the Governor's Appointments Chapter 13: The "Bloodless Coup" Bill and the Governor's Disability Chapter 14: Righting a Listing Ship by Rewritting the Utility Law Chapter 15: Our Rendezvous with Flood Disasters Chapter 16: The Thornburgh Administration and Farewell Part Four: Political Life after the Legislature and Reflections, 1980-2010 Chapter 17: Political Life after the Legislature Chapter 18: Reflections Photographs End Notes Appendix Acknowledgments Bibliography
