Not very long after the famous 10/13/21 executive council arrests, I was spending lots of time at the state house and met Clegg in person for the first time. I was in the dining room, and he walked in from the kitchen, wearing the orange lobbyist nametag.
I recognized him from his picture(s) before reading his nametag and greeted him. I was already angry at Wheeler.
Non-constituents of Wheeler might not know that the 2020 executive council primary was extremely contentious and perhaps used up more trees in daily junk mail than that of many high offices. Perhaps it was partly due to Wheeler having some kind of Kinko-like home office print shop business. (citation needed) Steve Negron’s campaign office was local, and while spending much volunteer time there preparing mailers, I asked him about that race and why it was the way it was. I remember his answer having to do with being two gun club guys who disagree with each other, but I never explored the matter further. I just wanted Pignatelli gone and preferably deported to her native NJ along with her influential lawyer husband. Wheeler won the primary, and it would be another year before the executive council would become a squatter in my mind.
Back to Clegg, my first conversation with him was a complaint against Wheeler, which he handled gracefully and stuck with gun stuff. I didn’t want to talk about gun stuff as the nuts and bolts of it were beyond my level of understanding. I wanted to talk about the arrests, the governor, the dirty money, and other related stuff. Nurse Terese, the most famous arrest victim, was with me the day we met, and it became a 3-way talk as soon as she exited the kitchen and joined us. Then I became a passive listener for the rest, and he gave her his card.
Many, many times following that day, I would run into him at the state house, usually in the kitchen and usually within the hour from its opening time. Oftentimes, he would already have a seat-mate at what I later named “Clegg’s Favorite Table,” the one closest to the kitchen entrance. Tammy, the senate clerk, and various others I had met for the first time while they were dining with him. A generous guy, Clegg sometimes paid for my Diet Coke when I was in the chow line behind him. I learned all kinds of stuff talking to him, and this message could get very long, so I will cherry-pick a few highlights.
I learned about senate staffers, how their pay is decided, and other related minutia. 2 enemy camp minions, one of them being Ava Hawkes, had entered the kitchen and exchanged warm pleasantries with Clegg. When they were out of earshot, I said, “Wasn’t that one Sharon’s secretary last year?” He paid her much praise and gave me a summary of how she was lured away with higher pay(wouldn’t any worker want that?), followed by how such dynamics worked. This was one of many times I walked away from the state house, knowing more than when I had entered hours earlier. I always learned something new with each state house visit, usually from Clegg or gift shop, tour guide, and history guru Virginia.
Being a construction/building industry and OPLC expert that he was, we have had many discussions about related content and bills that were of particular interest to me. Having combed through the thousand LSRs that were not yet in complete bill number form, I was regularly pestering Senator Gray’s secretary for developing details and venting to Clegg. He was a wealth of knowledge and brought to my attention an important bill, sponsored by my own senator, that I had overlooked! He quickly gave me the committee hearing date and encouraged me to speak, which I did. Clegg was “the closer,” to use bullpen language, at that hearing.
And lastly, for the sake of keeping this from getting too long, I will add to what many signers of his obituary guest book have said. He always had something nice to say about everyone, including people that I despise! I will share a few examples because you can’t make this stuff up.
I complained about the mayor, how much he sucks, and how Laurie Ortolano has been treated, among other complaints. He replied, saying, “Donchess is actually a pleasant and friendly guy in a social venue when he’s not under attack,” to which I retorted that he’s not my friend and I didn’t vote for him.(even though he had no opponent in 2019)
I don’t remember if it was Twitley or RPK, but it was one of the looney lawyer Rebeccas in the Senate. She walked by while we were at his favorite table, and I made a snarky yet founded comment, and he replied with something nice to say about her. It was something like her being agreeable on something and, therefore, easy to work with. The message I received from Clegg was that he was happy to have found some common ground. I will concede that RPK introduced a budget amendment that I supported, which was not successful.
Another time, I was complaining about senior House swamp rat Jeff Goley. Clegg called him trustworthy and I asked how that adjective can be attached to a Democrat. His response was that he never had to follow up when Goley said he would do something or not do something; it was reliable, and therefore, the trust had been earned. I still couldn’t resist the urge to point out that he and D’Allesandro have taken turns over the years, um, decades, in sponsoring the “boat tax.”
And one last example is when Lucy Weber walked by in the kitchen. I said, “I wish Walpole would replace that annoying swamp rat ringleader.” Clegg said, “Believe it or not, she’s an amazingly kind woman,” to which I said that’s fine for her family and friends, but I’m more interested in her voting record, which I despise.
So, to summarize the “seeing ‘good’ in everyone” trait, Clegg was a master practitioner. Since I have only known him personally(meaning just talking to him at the state house and nothing beyond that) for less than two years, what I have to say is hardly qualified compared to the squadrons of people, both current or former elected officials, and private citizens alike, I wanted to share my thoughts with the Grok readership.
