December 31

You first met Boies Penrose on November 1, 1860, his birthday. I offered the quote, from a speech he had delivered in 1896: “I believe in the division of labor. You send us to Congress; we pass laws under which you make money…and out of your profits, you further contribute to our campaign funds to send us back again to pass more laws to enable you to make more money.” Mr. Penrose died on the 31st in 1921. I generally don’t like to repeat myself, but Penrose gave us another quote that I liked so much that I am going to use him again. The quote echoes my own feelings about politics in general and politicians in particular. To coin a phrase, he hit the nail on the head when he said, “Public office is the last refuge of a scoundrel.”