Sonny's Corner

"Sonny's Corner" is a regular column in Prairie Fire, featuring commentary on civil rights and justice issues. Our friend and Omaha colleague, Joseph P. "Sonny" Foster, died suddenly at age 54 in August 2005. He left an uncompleted agenda, as did many of our civil rights and justice mentors and heroes. We shall attempt to move forward on that unfinished agenda through this column.

By Chris Rodgers

As I have read this section during its inception, I have seen many approaches to how people have gone about sharing their thoughts about Sonny, and all of them reflected their own personal accounts of the man, his thoughts and his passion. So I figured the best route for me to take in this edition of “Sonny’s Corner” was to recount how I met him and how he has and continues to influence my brief and evolving role in local politics.

In August 1994, I was downsized from my job as a public relations assistant for a local integrated marketing company and was looking for a job, any job, to be able to meet my daily living expenses. The late Lonnie Michaels (another important and influential player in my political life), who was then state director for U.S. Sen. Bob Kerrey, offered me the opportunity to work in politics as a field coordinator in the north office of the Nebraska Democratic Party Coordinated Campaign.

The Coordinated Campaign was responsible for helping all local Democrats get elected, particularly incumbent office holders Sen. Kerrey, U.S. Congressman Peter Hoagland and then-Governor Ben Nelson. At the time, I had a limited knowledge of politics. As a matter of fact, I felt I had done my civic duty two years earlier by voting in my first presidential election, but, bottom line, this was a steady job. My goal was to perform my duties as assigned, help the people I represented get elected (especially the “Big Three”), but, most importantly, I would earn money to pay my bills and not have to worry about where I would get my next meal. Little did I know that this job experience would be my entry into politics and facilitate the introduction of one of the most influential people of my political career: Mr. Joseph P. “Sonny” Foster III.

As a young, black American male that was new to politics, everyone that was even familiar with politics in Nebraska said make sure you go talk to Sonny. At this point, I was looking for any assistance I could find so I said OK, and in a matter of days, because of my role with the coordinated campaign, came face to face with Sonny.

When I first met him, he didn’t say what his role or title was in the campaign. So, I introduced myself, and through the conversation and observation of how people reacted to him, I said to myself, “Man, this dude seems to have a lot of clout in here.” Come to find out that he was Gov. Nelson’s campaign manager (a hell of a lot of clout). Now, as I mentioned earlier, I did not know a lot about politics, but my natural instincts were enough to make me say to myself, “DAMN, the governor of Nebraska has a black campaign manager. Well, I see why everybody is saying come talk to you. This dude must know a lot about politics.”

Three months later, in the November general election, the “Big Three” incumbents were 2 – 1. Governor Nelson won in a landslide, Sen. Kerry won handily and Congressman Hoagland lost by a close margin. I had caught the “political itch” (one I have yet to lose), and from that point on whenever Sonny would give me a couple of minutes I would talk to him about any- and everything in the world of politics. I would ask him as much as I could about the lowest races on the ballot to the highest office in the land; about strategies of the past to plans for the future; and predecessors of political offices and who was next in line for possible runs for office.

When I ran for Metropolitan Community College Board in 2000, he was one of the people who helped me plan some of the initial strategies of that campaign. When I served as an assistant to Mayor Mike Fahey from 2001–2005, he was one of the people who helped me walk through political scenarios and helped me understand the history of politics in Omaha’s City Hall. When I got elected to the County Board in 2005, he was one of the key people I turned to about how to approach this new opportunity.

About a year before his passing, I suggested to him that we get together weekly for lunch to pass on some of his political institutional knowledge, and up until he passed in August 2005, he met with me every week unless his job as district manager for Sen. Nelson dictated otherwise. During those times I had him at those lunches, I presented him with any and every question and possible scenario. I knew I was coming along in my political thinking when he regularly started saying, “Yeah, that sounds good” or “Yeah, I think that you got something there.”

I thought I would have years to pick his brain. A few opportunities to sit at his side during the crunch time of a campaign and ask him questions like “Why did you decide to do that?” or “How did you come to that conclusion?”—but that was not the Lord’s will.

Through our conversations and my observation, I learned a lot about politics from Sonny, and in his passing, he still serves as a point of reflection. The following are a few of the political tidbits of which I have tried to stay forever conscious:

1. Be true to yourself as a candidate.
2. Be true to yourself as an elected official.
3. Don’t be constrained in thinking or association by a political party.
4. Be strategic at all times.
5. Be practical in your politics.
6. Don’t get boxed in by political ideology.
7. Don’t try to please everyone.
8. Don’t lead anyone on.
9. Build alliances on both sides.
10. Stay well read.
11. Be realistic.
12. If you don’t understand the political issue, don’t support it.

I will close with a quote from Plato that symbolizes a view of politics I would say Sonny shared: “Those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being governed by those who are dumber.”

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