We have a regular library visitor who loves looking through old news clipping files as much as we (the librarians) do. He brought us a small photocopy. "Guess who this is." (Click on the photo for a bigger image.) Even though we are good at identifying legislators and public officials from decades past, we were stumped. Here's the answer. Here's the other article our visitor found amazing, "Legislative Smoking: She Huffs, He Puffs." (Betty Wilson, Minneapolis Star, 1/4/1975) There's a great section about a House Rules committee meeting when they agreed to designate a section of the House chamber for non-smoking members.
House Speaker Martin Sabo, a chain smoker who puffed away during initial debate on the matter Friday, discreetly crushed out a cigarette as yesterday's discussion began. Rep. Arne Carlson, a Minneapolis Republican, argued that smoking in the chamber and during committee sessions causes drowsiness and impairs alertness "and God knows we can't afford that."
That reminded me of another article in a Library notebook, from 1973, "Park-at-will Days Finished for Legislators." (Peter Ackenberg, Minneapolis Star, 12/7/1973) The time-honored tradition of fixing St. Paul parking tickets for legislators came to an end. Louis Schroth, head of the St. Paul Traffic Violations Bureau said, "It got a little out of hand," and legislators had "abused their privilege by parking on the sidewalks and all that foolishness."