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F I R S T 5 0 Y EAR S
on Higher Education came up with prioritizing, especially for
bond issues. Because everyone in the sixteen colleges thought
their needs were greater than the next person.”
Working with the legislature generated a lot of stress, and Zo-
bel said pressure-relieving shenanigans found fertile soil in the
State House. Zobel remembers the last day of one session when
somebody cried out in relief, “Soon be time for the fat lady to
sing.”
“Let’s get a fat lady to sing,” thought Zobel. He called a friend
at the Arts Commission and left a message. It didn’t take long.
A page came over. “You’ve got a phone call.”
“I understand you’re looking for a fat lady,” said a young
woman.
“Yes, I am.”
“Well, I sing. I’ll be glad to come down.”
Zobel went to his lobbyist friends and collected a $150 hon-
orarium. “She came in, a beautiful young lady taking opera, and
we put her up on the third floor. Both Houses adjourned at the
same time and when they did she broke into this beautiful song.
It echoed over that big old House.”
“The governor went out and had his picture made with her.
Jean Toal (then House member from Richland County) had a
resolution passed in her honor. She went on to study at the Met-
ropolitan Opera and was written up in
People Magazine.
”
No good deed goes unpunished. The word of this operatic
prank got out. “We got lambasted by letters to the editor about
talking about a young lady who might be a little bit overweight.”
Zobel recalls that even the fun came with pressure. “We had,
at one time during December, the off-season, a golf tournament
down in Charleston called the Brown-Harrelson. Henry Brown
was chairman of Ways and Means and James Harrelson was
chairman of the Judiciary. Harrelson would pick a team, and
Henry Brown would pick a team. Henry would ride around on
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
Pictured from left to right
–
Executive Director G. William Dudley, Jr.
(1976-1986) and South Carolina Commissioner of Agriculture Les Tindal
Pictured left
–
Executive Director Charles Palmer
(1973-1976)
