Susceptible DNC chief Don Fowler dies; turned into as soon as mainstay of politics
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Don Fowler, a ancient chair of the Democratic Nationwide Committee and mainstay of South Carolina and nationwide politics for a protracted time, has died. He turned into as soon as 85.
Trav Robertson, chairman of South Carolina’s Democratic Event, said on Twitter that Fowler died Tuesday night time, calling him “the ”Democrat’s Democrat.” No field off turned into as soon as mentioned, nevertheless Fowler’s wife said on Facebook that he had been in the scientific institution this week.
DNC Affiliate Chairman Jaime Harrison said Fowler had leukemia.
Fowler, a local of Spartanburg, attended Wofford College, the place he performed basketball and baseball, and earned grasp’s and doctorate levels in political science from the University of Kentucky.
He led the remark celebration from 1971 to 1980, overseeing the 1988 Democratic Nationwide Convention in Atlanta.
Fowler served as nationwide chairman of the Democratic Nationwide Committee from 1995 to 1997, working the celebration’s day-to-day operations. Phase of that tenure additionally included defending an unsuccessful actual role from candidate Lyndon LaRouche, whom Fowler said turned into as soon as no longer a “bona fide Democrat” attributable to what he said had been anti-Semitic expressions and diversified actions, instructing remark events no longer to vote for him.
Fowler turned into as soon as additionally accused of nevertheless no longer charged with contacting the CIA a couple of businessman and celebration donor, particularly telling U.S. Senate inquisitors, “I if truth be told contain in the guts of the night time, excessive noon, unhurried in the afternoon, early in the morning, every hour of the day, for months now searched my reminiscence about conversations with the CIA. And I way no longer contain any reminiscence, no reminiscence of any conversation with the CIA.”
After a protracted time of acquaintance, including working collectively on the DNC and his communications company, Fowler and his wife, Carol, married in 2005. Two years later, Carol Fowler would change into chair of the remark celebration.
Their home near Columbia’s Five Elements district turned a normal stop for many of the Democrats vying for their celebration’s consideration in the prolonged bustle-as a lot as the pivotal Feb. 29 predominant, the first balloting to happen in the South. Each and each match, which felt esteem a fundraiser nevertheless turned into as soon as free to anybody to succor, featured the couple introducing a candidate esteem Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar or Bill deBlasio to dozens of of us crowded into their lounge, typically spilling into a front hallway.
Don Fowler remained a mainstay in Democratic politics, serving as a sounding board for chairmen including Robertson and Harrison, who chaired the celebration for the duration of the 2016 president cycle and mounted a fundraising record-shattering role to U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina this year.
“He and I had been plotting, if I change into DNC chair, the things that we’d want to work on,” Harrison told The Connected Press on Wednesday. “I said if that does happen, I’m going to want to lean on you and Carol esteem I always attain. … It’s factual going to be arduous no longer having Don spherical.”
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Meg Kinnard could well additionally additionally be reached at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP.