A summary of Paul Crowley's career in the General Assembly can be summed up in the words in James Joyce's Ulysses, as Molly Bloom speaks in her soliloquy. She says:

"A man of genius makes no mistakes. His errors are volitional and are the portals of discovery"

The operative verb here is "volitional" as Paul focused on the process of choices in his decisions on issues and policy as they transitioned through a twenty-six year representation to his district, city, region and the state. As he weathered the seemingly endless catastrophes of budgetary shortfalls, depositors crisis's, the calamity of a failed workmen's compensation system, and the upheavals in its urban public education system he persevered and survived through the vilification of the legislature. He became known as a seeker of solutions to complex problems.

During his earlier years, I suspect that Paul's modus operandi was not unlike any new legislator. Position yourself and the district in the most favorable posture on issues, especially those that bring increased state funding. Newport vacillated from urban to suburban depending on how support was defined. If Newport required a unique departure from other municipalities in such areas as tourism development then Paul honed his skills in the political arts of quid quo pro. Paul was considered a very good advocate of his city.

As time passed, Paul's primary interest of educating the state's children emerged. He served on the Board of Regents and had a role in establishing the Board of Governors for Higher Education. He worked though the challenges of balancing the needs of all Rhode Island's children. Yet he never lost sight of the needs of his district.

As his legislative career progressed Paul reached the conclusion that the traditional process of educating Rhode Island's children was flawed. The composite goal of twelve years of schooling followed by a four year college experience excluded a substantial number of children. Paul became increasingly interested in alternative methodologies for instruction and as a consequence concluded that experiments such Providence's Met School offered opportunities for these students. His legislative influence had a great deal to do with the Met School and a campus of Rhode Island Community College coming to Aquidneck Island.

Paul further concluded that vocational education had become woefully neglected in America and especially in New England. His epiphany came at a point when he realized that the manual arts had been universally relegated to a secondary status behind the liberal and fine arts. Science and engineering had become far more portentous than the skills to implement their results. He once remarked that masons and carpenters built the structure before it became the site for Michelangelo to paint the ceiling that is the Sistine Chapel. Steelworkers, heavy machine operators and electricians had to build the Pell Bridge. Paul saw a need to incorporate the requirements set by an industry within a curriculum. As a result Paul became a strong advocate for secondary education programs such as the Davies High School that trained students to meet industry standards. Moreover he made sure his contemporaries on the house finance committee became familiar and supportive of the issue.

"Think of where man's glory most begins and ends, And say my glory was I had such friends" William Butler Yeats "The Municipal Gallery" Paul can be remembered as thoroughly and eminently Irish. His listings in official publications which were autobiographically selected as personal affiliations prominently listed his membership in the Ancient Order of Hibernians. Paul was proud of his Irish American heritage. He was a pretentiously Irish American. He was student of Irish History and Literature. He promoted events linking Newport with Ireland's city of Kinsale exchanging chefs from both cities. He promoted Irish-American festivals.

A notable Paul Crowley trait was his love of singing, especially Irish songs. He seemed to have an unlimited repertoire, capable of delivering many obscure pieces through all of its verses. People would remark that he knew all the words even if he a difficulty reaching notes in the higher tenor's octaves. He was a spontaneous singer capable of bursting into song without notice. He frequently sang Irish melodies as an unscheduled and unannounced performer at weddings and parties. His rendition of "Danny Boy" was a regular feature at the St. Patrick's Day festivities at the House of Representatives. He frequently entertained the patrons at the La Forge Casino, especially during the weeks in March. After all, as a comedian whose identity escapes me once noted, "They can't kick you out of your own joint!"

Once last quote for Paul from another Irish writer:

"There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about." Oscar Wilde The Picture of Dorian Gray

Don't worry Paul you will be talked about for a long, long time!

http://www.rilin.state.ri.us/Shanley/Biography.html