IMPOLITICLY CORRECT / Joe Baker

Reporters are supposed to distance themselves from the people they report on. For good reason, too. Getting too close to sources can taint your objectivity when you're giving weight to what they are telling you.

But let me share a dirty little secret.

We're human, too.

We form impressions of those we interact with, especially those we talk to over a long period of time. We like some people. Others we can't stand. We trust some people. We distrust others.

Good reporters have a well-developed bull detector - especially those who deal with politicians on a regular basis. It is a given that most politicians will spin you three ways from Sunday. While this does not necessarily mean they lie to you, it does mean you won't always hear the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. And though it's bad form to actually accuse someone of feeding you BS, you do have to separate the wheat from the chaff.

That was never an issue in my dealings with Paul Crowley.

I came to The Daily News in 1984, three years after Paul was first elected to the General Assembly. I can't remember the details of our first few conversations, but I do recall being pleasantly surprised by his candor and impressed by his grasp of various complex issues.

Although I loved politics, I thought I had a better understanding of the legislative process than I actually did. Watching Paul's legislative accomplishments, and listening to his explanation of how he achieved them, greatly expanded my grip on what it takes to succeed at the Statehouse. Paul made me a better reporter.

The General Assembly is an easy target for cynics because of the very nature of the process. In the House, you have 75 representatives. Voters in Exeter have far different priorities than those in Providence. Even if a representative has the perfect idea for the best mousetrap ever made, he or she still must convince a majority of his colleagues to support it. Unlike the governor, who can issue edicts, legislators must cajole and convince. And that process of compromise is always open to misinterpretation.

To be good at anything, one has to understand the process. There are a lot of legislators who understand how to play the legislative game, but few have mastered it as well as Paul did. From my spectator's perch, I realized it went beyond his grasp of the system. He was one of those rare people who was both pragmatic and idealistic, candid and diplomatic. I think the best way to say it is that, while he could be political, he was never a politician in the worst sense of the word.

In the time I have covered the General Assembly, I have dealt with more intellectual legislators, smoother legislators, funnier legislators, but I really don't think I've ever covered anyone who was more of the complete package than Paul Crowley.

For the past two decades, I have strived to give Newport County readers a window into what happens under the Statehouse dome. But, in the end, a reporter's ability to give readers real insight into whatever they're writing about is only as good as the information they get from the sources they cover. And for much of my career here at The Daily News, I have been privileged to rely on Paul Crowley as one of my sources.

Today I am less of a reporter.

Joe Baker is a Daily News staff writer. Send him e-mail at Baker@NewportRI.com.