Mayors and Religion


I was the mayor of Fargo ND for 16 years a long time ago, 1978 to 1994. Today I was interviewed by The Fargo Forum newspaper about an auditorium in the downtown owned and operated by the City. It was built in 1960, part of an urban renewal concept supported by the federal government at the time. It has now closed and the journalist wanted me to recall the history of the place. 

I did not live in Fargo when the Civic Auditorium was built but locals told me there was a lot of enthusiasm for a place where the local symphony and opera company could put on shows. It could host high school basketball tournaments, graduations and such community things. Of course, it could host traveling national musicians and other such events. By the time I moved to Fargo and was a candidate for Mayor, about 17 years later, it was the latter events, not the former, that were the hot topic. Religion and the Civic Auditorium got entangled and never separated.

A decade before I ran for Mayor my wife and I went to the Civic to hear Arlo Guthrie. The place was packed, mostly with young people smoking marijuana. The air above us was thick. This, of course, was very illegal. There were two police officers moon lighting as security. We were not smoking it, but I had this discomfort we would all be hauled in and we had a baby sitter at home. The police officers did the right thing, they opened some doors for fresh air and ignored laws being broken.

Some years later I was running for Mayor. A prominent local man did not like the incumbent I was running against and let me know why. The Civic had hosted the musical, "Hair." Some may remember that play had a scene with several nude actors. The prominent fellow said he wanted a mayor who would stop such performances at the Civic. I, secretly, was happy about "Hair" at the Civic, though I had not attended. I'm sure I did not promise the fellow anything but he was satisfied with my changing the subject and gave me a donation. 

This continued when I became Mayor. A local preacher came to my office carrying a jacket for an LP album by a group coming to the Civic. He pointed to something and said, "That refers to Satan. No Satan-loving group should be allowed at our Civic Auditorium."    

The lesson about city government and the Civic was not lost on me when a few years later Fargo first installed cable television. We had the choice of a city owned and operated business, making the City a nice profit, or having a national firm own and operate it giving the city a small fee. I knew by then I did not want my office filled with religious people telling me which cable channels should be banned and what must appear on TV screens. No way. The national firm we choose did a good job of negotiating that.  

That religion came up so often when I was mayor was a surprise to me. I don't know if it the case for every mayor but if you are thinking of running for a local office be prepared. 

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