S C T E CHN I CA L CO L L E G E S Y S T EM ’ S
F I R S T 5 0 Y EAR S
|
4 1
The 1970s
A
M O D E L F O R T H E N A T I O N E M E R G E S
members stayed in the Wade Hampton Hotel. From the House
floor, you could see a room that belonged to a member of the
House fromAnderson. Well, if it got late and the bull bath started
flying, he would go over there and hang a Confederate flag out
the window, which meant the bar was open.”
This took place in an era many years before liquor started
showing up inside the State House. “Two by two and three by
three, guys would go over and get a toddy and return to the State
House,” said Zobel. “The steps of the State House looked like
there’d been a picnic with all the Dixie cups slung around because
they couldn’t take it inside.”
Drinking inside started in Ways and Means. “They had lock-
ers for the members. We lobbyists would get a call saying it’s time
to fill the lockers. They would give us a list, and we’d go to a par-
ticular liquor store, and everybody would chip in and furnish
the liquor. In those days, a handicap elevator existed on the first
floor. Late in the evenings we’d set up a bar in that elevator be-
cause you could raise the elevator up to bar height and pull the
doors open,” said Zobel.
Learning how to play the game was a key strategy to getting
what the system needed. A successful lobbyist had to learn what
legislators’ favorite drinks were.
“We called it a resume,” said Zobel. “But in that resume, you
had to know what each one of them drank, what they liked, what
sport they played, if they liked golf, if they liked football, what
have you. And I felt sorry for Carolina/Clemson lobbyists, be-
cause when the Carolina/Clemson game came on, everybody
needed tickets. I tell you those folks caught it. They really did.
Same way with the Citadel. The Citadel put on a big barbeque in
April of each year for their alumni, and that’s the hottest ticket in
town. Legislators wanting to impress friends ... ‘I need ten tick-
ets. I’ve got ten friends I want to bring.’”
Zobel faced pressure from within the system too. “I had sev-
enteen bosses—the system boss and college bosses—and
that was tough. Thank goodness the Commission
