House Divided Oral History Project: Interview with Marcia Fluer and Karen Boros

Titles: House Divided Oral History Project: Interview with Marcia Fluer and Karen Boros (Supplied title)

Description: Marcia Fluer and Karen Boros were television journalists, Fleur of KSTP-TV and Boros of WCCO-TV. The negotiations: neither Fluer or Boros thought the negotiations would be settled quickly. Boros said, "There was no incentive for them to settle anything until the session was ready to start." Fluer said, "I think we misjudged the depth if the hatred on both sides of the table. They were willing to go public without leadership, rather than give in to each other." They both felt that the Kempe-Pavlak case being up in the air meant that there was no reason for an early conclusion to the negotiations. Both reporters said that the Republicans wanted to look good and they agreed that the Democrats assumed that they could retain the Speaker's chair for their party. "I don't think the DFL pushed Rod around...because you just can't push him," Fluer says. "They (the IR) were so image conscious that the Speaker was all they wanted--because there is a Republican up there on television every time you do a story about the House. And he is the spokesman for the House. It is very high profile and that's what they wanted." Neither Fluer or Boros felt there was much progress made in the public negotiations. They agreed that Searle was bluffing when he threatened to organize after the Kostohryz heart attack. The negotiated document: Fluer says that Anderson's name on the final document had a greater affect on the DFL caucus than on the IR. She says it is an insult to the members of his caucus and goes on to say that the final settlement created a House "troyka" when dealing with the Senate in the conference committees, because first House Democrats and Republicans had to agree, then the Governor had to find whatever was passed acceptable, and this was a "House troyka." The Pavlak case: Both Fluer and Boros felt that the Bruenig decision was a catalyst to settlement. They also felt that the IR complaints about voting to unseat Pavlak while he was hospitalized - comparing it to their "kindness" during the Kostohryz hospitalization - were unfounded and the issues were totally different. Opposition to Anderson: Boros and Fluer saw some factionalism in the IR caucus, the Searle-Knickerbocker "voice of reason" faction, and then the new anti-government faction. They also said that in the 1979 session the governor had inadequate relations with the press because the governor employed press people with inadequate talents. Both, particularly Fluer, suspect there was internal party pressure to brighten up Quie's press relations.

Dates

• Not earlier than 1980 - Not later than 1981 (Creation)

Creation

• interviewee: Fluer, Marcia
• interviewee: Boros, Karen S.
• interviewer: Bjornson, Jon

Identifiers

• Library Call Number: OH 41
• Accession Number: AV1980.269.5

Holding Type: Oral History - Interview

Project

• Oral History - Project, MHS Collection, project: 'House Divided Oral History Project' <OH 41>

Quantity: 1.5 hours sound cassette

Format

• Content Category: sound recordings

Measurements

• 01:16:11 running time

Subjects

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