20061202 Tom Stuckey retires

Tom Stuckey retires

December 2nd, 2006

The Associated Press’s Tom Stuckey, one of the venerable and distinguished members of the Maryland Statehouse press newsroom is retiring.

Please join me in wishing him well in his future endeavors. He will be missed.

I did not know Mr. Stuckey; however, I admired his work from afar.

He started working for the Associated Press in 1962 and began the Maryland government beat in 1963, when Governor Millard J. Tawes was the Maryland governor. In the ensuing years, became a legend.

There are many lessons for young folks, especially writers, which can be learned by reviewing the life and accomplishments of Mr. Stuckey.

Among many lessons, it may be helpful to begin with the fact that he started his education at a community college. (I have been an unabashed and persistent supporter of Carroll Community College for many years…)

The adjectives describing the life and work of Mr. Stuckey are what everyone would want folks to say about themselves. Words like unassuming, “he treats everybody with great respect and courtesy;” “as nice an individual as I have ever met;” "thoughtful, gentle demeanor, strong work ethic, honesty;” “he was fair, balanced, and never hurt anybody - and he always got the story told accurately;” and the one that really makes me envious, “Stuckey wrote, in 45 minutes, 900 words.”

Mr. Stuckey may be the only writer that I know that is more efficient and quicker-with-the-copy than Justin Palk, who writes for the Carroll County Times. There are many examples in which Mr. Palk and I will have attended the same event and when I would get back to my office and have a question – as I slowly began writing about the event. I would call Mr. Palk and inevitably, he will have already filed his story…

$##$%^!!!

Earl Kelly, writing for The Capital on November 19th, 2006, “State House press icon retires,” cited Doug Tallman’s thoughts on Mr. Stuckey’s retirement.

(If you will recall, Mr. Tallman first started with the Carroll County Times a number of years ago, before moving on the Frederick News-Post and eventually to the Montgomery Gazette.)

Doug Tallman, a State House reporter for The (Montgomery) Gazette and former city editor of The Frederick News-Post, has worked alongside Mr. Stuckey for years. He looked stricken one day recently, as he contemplated having to cover state government without being able to "go ask Stuckey."

"He is the gold standard; there isn't a reporter who has worked with Stuckey who doesn't wish he had his skills," Mr. Tallman said.

Readers across the state, even though they don't know Mr. Stuckey's name, are going to miss him, Mr. Tallman said.

"There are a dozen news organizations represented in that room," Mr. Tallman said pointing to the State House press pool, "and another dozen who can't be there. He is their voice."

"He's even-tempered, and this business seems to be filled with a lot of folks who are quick with their tempers, and have big egos."

Matthew Mosk, writing for the Washington Post on Thursday, November 30, 2006, stole my thunder as I pondered writing my next Tentacle column on Mr. Stuckey. He called to the readers’ attention that Mr. Stuckey was present when presidential candidate, Alabama governor George Wallace was shot in Laurel, MD in 1972. Although Mr. Stuckey missed the actual shots being fired…

Mr. Mosk noted:

Former governor Marvin Mandel, who became House speaker just after Stuckey arrived, recalled fondly the days when reporters and lawmakers shared a suite at the Maryland Inn, where they would unwind after a day's work.

"We were able to talk freely with reporters," Mandel recalled, "say what was on our minds without having to worry about how it was going to look in the next morning's paper."

Stuckey agrees that there "was less of an arms-length relationship," though he doesn't think anyone pulled any punches. His coverage of Mandel, whose tenure was marred by marital problems and corruption allegations, was unflinching. At one point he described the governor's time in office as grist for a best-selling novel.

Perhaps the relationship between the press and elected officials would not be as contentious as it is today if more folks had Mr. Stuckey’s approach.

Mr. Stuckey, who has told several folks that he presently has no intentions on writing a book.

I’ll bet (or I certainly hope) that won’t last that long.

We would all look forward to reading Mr. Stuckey’s historical accounts and analysis of what he has seen, heard and reported upon, since 1963.

Especially since what we have read since 1963 has been straight-up, right down the middle reporting of the news – and not his analysis of the news as is so popular with too many reporters these days.

Join me in wishing Mr. Stuckey all the best in his retirement.

####

Kevin