Linda Thompson, who for much of her four years as the lightning rod mayor of Harrisburg seemed to wall herself off from much of the outside world, has opened every possible door and window in a new, self-published book.
Ultimately a celebration of Thompson’s Christian faith life, the book - which Thompson will sign at the Goodwin Memorial Family Life Center in Harrisburg Tuesday - also touches on some excruciatingly personal topics including two abortions, a past period of drug use, and what appears to be a post-mayoral depression.
But Thompson declares herself doing well, and happy, now. She is running a new non-profit, Linda D. Thompson Ministries, serving part-time as associate minister at Harrisburg’s Goodwin Memorial Baptist Church and working as an associate chaplain at Dauphin County Prison.
And she has completed this book: “The Chief Editor.”
Built around Bible passages that Thompson sees as having particular applications to her own life, the book is chock-a-block full of stories about the city’s first black and first female mayor from a perspective we’ve never heard before: her own.
“I see me in these pages (of Scripture), and so I write about it,” she said.
Here are some highlights:
Thompson’s love-hate relationship with the media.
It’s no secret that Linda Thompson spent most of her mayoralty at open war with the press.
She doesn’t really declare a truce in the book, either, repeatedly charging news organizations with rushing to print or broadcast with what she terms one-sided stories based on declarations from her political opponents or disgruntled former staffers.
In her book, she characterizes the press as one of “the foxes,” mostly unnamed, but identifiable opponents who she believes were arrayed against her. The media, in particular, she accuses of employing double-standards in coverage of her.
As an example, she cites a photo of her riding in a River Rescue boat through Shipoke in the wake of flooding from Tropical Storm Lee, in which Thompson took heavy criticism for wearing a business suit in what many saw as little more than a photo opp.
Thompson still chafes at the memory.
“At that moment,” she said, “I needed to be out and assessing the damage to our city,” she said Friday. “I didn’t keep a change of clothes, like jeans and boots, at the office. So I went out that day in what I wore.” In his 28 years in office, Thompson said, she never remembered her mayoral predecessor Stephen Reed taking any flack for his wardrobe.
But she also makes a point of fondly remembering the late Patriot-News criminal justice reporter Pete Shellem, who Thompson’s family worked closely with for years while they were battling for the release of her half-brother, Steven Crawford, in a 1970s homicide case.
Thompson identifies herself as the go-between between a tipster who knew of the discovery of long-suppressed evidence in Crawford’s case and Shellem, whose reporting on the discovery put Crawford’s quest for exoneration back in the public eye.
Crawford was eventually freed in 2002 with his conviction overturned and charges dropped after 28 years in prison.
Revealing, and regretting, two abortions.
In a searingly personal reckoning, Thompson writes about her teen years’ relationship with Harrisburg resident Ray George, with whom she had her only son during her junior year in high school.
What Thompson never revealed publicly before now was that she had aborted two other pregnancies before that time.
“It was all out of fear and shame,” she said in a Friday interview. “I was fearful of my mother; fearful of my father; fearful of the shame, because in that era people were still adamant about not being pregnant in your teenage years.”
Thompson writes in her book that she considers that to have been the worst of her sins, but that she also believes God has granted her forgiveness through her faith. She said she wanted to share that story because she knows there are other children in the same situation, and she wants them to know there can be redemption.
She is not against abortion rights, she added, in response to a question. “I’ve always said that is a decision between a woman, her doctor, and God, and I remain with that,” Thompson said.
But having made that decision herself, she said, her main point to the youths of today is that abstinence is the best route, “so no one has to make those panicky decisions.”
Seeking forgiveness from not just God, but Perry County.
You might remember one of the quintessential Mayor Thompson moments: At a press conference meant to announce bulk waste disposal services for city residents, Thompson was asked if non-city residents could use the service too.
She, in a word, stepped in it. The mayor said she didn’t think her constituents would “take kindly to me allowing some scumbag to come into our city from Perry County and dump waste for free after he got paid” to pick it up.
Her point was, she was angry about what she believed was an ingrained practice of illegal dumping in the city, by residents and non-residents, that she knew was lowering the quality of life in Harrisburg. She did not mean, she writes, to call all Perry Countians “scumbags.”
But her critics had a field day: In short order there were bumper stickers, t-shirts and even menu items mocking the statement, and the incident gave fresh momentum to Thompson’s haters.
“No matter how bad I felt for using those choice words, and tried to explain to the pubic what my intended words meant, it was a bad choice of words and at that moment I lacked temperance,” Thompson writes.
“I am sure the people Perry County were hurt with my words and felt like I was looking down on them, but I was not. Deep in my heart I felt bad for my choice of words and remain careful of how I describe a matter.”
A front and center faith.
Thompson was taken to task by the ACLU and others for her regular insertion of her faith life in to the public square, including opening her staff meetings at City Hall with prayer, and a three-day call for fasting and prayer for the city’s fiscal health.
She was never shy about sharing the rather regular visions she says she gets directly from God, often in dreams.
There were also complaints that she had gone so far with her values as to make City Hall a hostile workplace. Former staffers described incidents in which she allegedly made derogatory comments about then-City Controller Dan Miller, a political rival who is gay, and Jews who she had to work with as Mayor, for example.
Thompson never actually denied the words. Instead, she said her record shows a commitment to diversity:
“I have a passion for all people and have surrounded myself with a diverse group of people, both in my personal and professional life,” said Thompson. “Those who have a relationship with me, both personally and professionally, know that I care about our city and all people."
In her book, however, the former mayor doubles down on her reliance on her God as her chief advisor, in all things.
“I was not perfect but I did not deny Jesus at any time during my political walk... I needed to be guided by God’s wisdom, because me administration inherited the worst fiscal crises of any municipal government since the depression and I had no time to visit God in secret,” Thompson writes in her book.
“I never forced my spiritual beliefs on any one in my administration,” she continues, “nor in the community. We had God fearing and Jesus loving members within my administration, who participated and enjoyed our voluntary prayers.”
Laid low by defeat.
Just as many outside observers were surprised by her they-said-it’d-never-happen 2009 Democratic primary win over seven-term incumbent Reed, Thompson was shaken by her own primary defeat when she was seeking a second term in 2013.
Facing two white men in a minority-majority city, Thompson seemed to think that enough of her coalition would hold together to win. Instead, she placed third.
The worst was yet to come.
Thompson writes about meeting with the city’s personnel director the following October to ask about the benefits she was due.
“Mayor, you get nothing,” was the response... “Surely I was not expecting to lose my re-election. So when the time came to leave the Mayor’s office, I had not pension and no plan of action.” As an elected official, Thompson notes, she didn’t even qualify for unemployment.
There was a point, Thompson said, where she had less than $5 left in her bank account. The kindness of family, church members helped to pull her through.
“Letting go of any and all pride allowed me to survive one of the lowest, and most difficult times of my life,” Thompson wrote. “The love and kindness I received from my dearest friends was... reinforcement of knowing that God makes promises and he keeps them and they are life-changing.”
Eventually, Thompson writes, she came to see her work as mayor as “an assignment” that God did not intend to be long-term.
A savior for the city.
Thompson’s one term as mayor ended with her being viewed as one of the most unpopular politicians South Central Pennsylvania has ever seen.
She received harsh criticism for ousting Reed-appointed schools superintendent Gerald Kohn, who many felt had taken steps to push the city schools - albeit slowly - in a positive direction.
Turnover in her own senior staff was epidemic.
Most of her term was marked by such gridlock with city council, and a mutual inability from either side to break the logjam over how to respond to the city’s incinerator debt crisis, that state officials stepped in to place Harrisburg in receivership.
But Thompson points out that the resulting “Harrisburg Strong” plan that by most measures is helping the city reach a new level of stability, is based on the same foundation of leveraging key public assets that she and her advisors had always wanted to pursue.
She believes history will judge her kindly for her refusal to concede to a council majority that wanted Harrisburg to declare bankruptcy. As she puts it:
"I had run my race and finished it well. The “Strong Plan” was finished and we defeated our adversaries who fought relentlessly to try and prevent us from succeeding at creating a plan under my administration...
“I admit I made some mistakes, and surely I acknowledged those mistakes, and took them before God, but my mistakes were not life threatening to the people I loved and were called to serve. In fact, the Thompson Administration made Harrisburg better and we kept a steady hand to the plow and got the big things done.”
Living by grace.
As much as she could be a warrior in city hall, both as mayor and before that in two terms on city council, the theme that pervades Thompson’s book is living a life full of grace and forgiveness.
She insists that that’s a very genuine sentiment, albeit maybe one that she didn’t let the public see enough of during her tenure as mayor.
From Chapter Six of Thompson’s book, entitled "A More Excellent Way! LOVE!:
“I travel throughout the community and come into contact with many who opposed me. These individuals made it a point to support and be a part of the nasty lies and attacks on my character. Today, I truly can smile from my heart and hold no grudges and unforgiveness toward them. It is my prayer that they do the same for me.
“Life is precious and it should be filled with love.”
Thompson, in the interview, said the book is her latest attempt to inspire and encourage others to find that grace. If it helps get her view of the Linda Thompson Era in Harrisburg out there in the process, so be it.
“There will probably be some who will never like me, and I have no control over that," Thompson said. But for the rest, “I wanted to explain myself, and I think I did.”
Thompson’s book launch celebration is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Goodwin Memorial Family Life Center, 2430 N. 3rd St., Harrisburg.