Statesmen and Mischief Makers: Volume Four

About the Book

The bulk of the stories in this volume are just that—biographies of governors of the late 1980s and early 1990s (men and women who strived to leave the states they served better than the way they found them). The good news is that most of them succeeded. Even those chief executives who were forced to issue concession speeches on election night because they were not successful in convincing voters that they were indeed making the strides the voters wanted, in many cases, could usually point to a solid record of accomplishments. So too could the governors who left office under a legal cloud, including removal, and this was indeed the case with a fair number of governors I profiled.

About the Author

The author’s first word could easily have been “politics.” Scott Crass’s passion for politics may have been fueled by his first book on U.S. presidents, given to him by his mother, Madeline, at the ripe young age of 5. He quickly wore out the pages, prompting his mother to buy a replacement. Scott has been a devoted student of Presidential and Congressional politics ever since. Scott obtained his B.A. in Political Science and Communications from Monmouth University in Long Branch, N.J., and achieved his M.A. in Counseling at the same institution. A New Jersey native, Scott has always been drawn to his beloved Jersey Shore, where he enjoys spending much of his free time. Besides politics and the Shore, Scott is a fan of music of all kinds, including 1940s “Big Band,” Doo Wop/oldies, Strauss waltzes and the sounds of another Jersey treasure, Frank Sinatra. And just like his grandfather, the late Charles J. Mandel, he is enchanted with the beautiful music from Broadway classics, including “South Pacific,” “Oklahoma,” and “My Fair Lady.” He lives in South Brunswick, N.J and thrives by a personal motto, “Failure is only our enemy if it does not serve as our guide.”