Fahey and Grandaughter

Being the new guy, I was banished to St. Johns on election night to cover the party of one Mike Fahey, running for council seat #1. Now, I had no idea who this Fahey guy was and when my wife, Kitty, and I finally got to his party at Nichola’s Pizza and Pasta (Kitty, I’m so sorry for not writing the address down), I had no idea what to expect.

The party was happening in a room off the back patio. There were about twenty people sitting at tables and watching an old TV set up with rabbit ears. When Kitty and I walked in the door there was a moment where everyone turned around to look at us before turning back to election coverage. Awkward.

Suddenly a man came lumbering towards us, smiling and holding out his hand.
“Hi there,” he said, “I’m Mike.”
“Um, Hello. My names Patrick and I’m covering your party for the Mercury. This is my wife…”

With that, we were launched into conversation. We’d just missed a big group of people. We’d just missed the food. No, he wasn’t nervous. Yes, he was proud that he hadn’t used any public money. Did I want a glass of wine?

I said I did, indeed. He found a clean glass and poured one for me, shrugging off the returns that came up on the television showing Charles Lewis heading towards a run-off with Amanda Fritz.

Read more about my new best friend after the jump!

We talked for a long time. He didn’t seem upset about not winning this race; in fact he was excited to go forward on a plan to do something about the drop-out problem in Portland Public schools. His idea is to take the money that would have been spent on each drop-out for their Junior and Senior year (he estimated $20,000) and allocate half to the family and half to employment education for the kid. After learning how to build or weld or what-have-you, the kid could be employed by one of the many contractors Fahey has worked with through the years. Smart.

And this is just one of the ideas the guy had. He was funny, down to earth, friendly and just an all around great guy. Plus, he doesn't it know it yet, but we're totally BFF's. That's how the kids say Best Friends Forever, Mike, just in case you read this.

After talking for awhile I kinda wanted him to adopt me and take me fishing or something. I believe if he would have had the time to talk to every voter in Portland, in that easy way of his, he would have taken that council seat in a landslide.

So, yeah, after the fact, I’m a Mike Fahey fan.

I hope he’s doing okay today. Maybe he’s on his way to Mexico in his motor home. Maybe he’s got a line in the water right now. Wherever he is, God bless him. I’m sure we’ll be hearing from him in the future. I’m just wondering how I can get invited to his next BBQ.