So before you ask when I ran a Greek restaurant (“no fries. cheeps.), I will tell you that this picture was taken in early January, 1997 when John Pippy and Jane Orie were sworn into the Pennsylvania Legislature. By the early 2000s, they both ran and became Pennsylvania State Senators.

They both recently left the Pennsylvania Senate, though. Sen. Pippy left to pursue a career in government affairs for the coal industry, and Sen. Orie was sentenced to 2-10 on public corruption charges. Before you judge too harshly, many members of both the PA House and Senate have been sentenced to jail lately. Apparently staff members are not allowed to campaign on workdays. Who knew? Horse feathers if you ask this old timey Athenian.

The things is, though, that both Senators were Labor-supported Republicans. I know, weird right? It is hard to imagine that a mere 15 years ago a republican could win election without demonizing organized labor.

If you read these posts with any regularity or follow us on Twitter, you know our politics lean considerably to the left. However, I maintained friendly working relationships with both senators. Well, until a friend of mine ran against Sen. Orie and she literally tried to strangle me. Came up behind at an event and started squeezing my neck. I never said politics wasn’t a contact sport. Still, I never wished jail on her.

Sen. Orie was a strong advocate for women’s issue (though, she was a Pro-Life advocate as well,) and Sen. Pippy was a strong advocate for veterans issues. They will be missed.

And, as always, “no Coke. Pepsi!”