GLOUCESTER, Mass. — After he helped elect John Tierney to Congress in 1996, Harry Hoglander went to Washington. But he did not stay for long, according to the Gloucester Daily Times.
Though he remained a legislative specialist on Tierney’s staff, Hoglander was not always attached to the Capitol Hill office. He spent as much time in the Democrat’s district offices in Peabody.
The Magnolia resident said one reason was that he and his wife, Judith, wanted to be closer to their family. Tierney also had projects that needed attention back home.
But Hoglander is again being called to the nation’s capital, and this time it’s for a more permanent assignment.
Hoglander, 69, was sworn in Tuesday as a member of the three-person National Mediation Board, an independent agency that helps settle disputes between airlines and railroads, and their workers.
He is the only Democrat on the board, which is required to have at least one member from each political party. His nomination for a three-year term, after being submitted by President George W. Bush, was confirmed by the U.S. Senate a week ago today.
In an interview before he left for Washington this week, Hoglander said two large issues await him inside the Beltway.
One is the consolidation of the railroads. Another is the recession and, specifically, the effect it has had on airlines.
“In difficult times like this, airlines are asking … employees to reduce their contracts and make adjustments,” he said. “And that always leads to strife within the industry.”
There will also be plenty of work.
Another board member, Dallas lawyer Edward J. Fitzmaurice, was just sworn in last week. And Hoglander said several issues have been on hold until the panel could be filled.
Tierney, who helped lobby for Hoglander’s appointment, expressed confidence in his longtime aide.
“He has a whole realm of skills and past experiences,” said Tierney, who described Hoglander as “fair-minded” and added that he “understands the issues thoroughly.”
“There couldn’t be a more deserving guy on the planet,” he said.
The New York City native’s experience dates to 1951, when he got his first job on an airplane after enlisting in the Air Force.
Hoglander served as a gunner during the Korean War and, after four years, left the service for college.
He later returned to the Air Force, this time with a degree in business administration from Florida State University, where he also was in the ROTC. He was also determined to become a pilot.
“I was a gunner on a crew, and I thought the guys who really ran the show were the pilots,” he said.
Hoglander flew bombers and fighters for seven more years in the Air Force, which prepared him to take a job flying commercial airplanes for Trans World Airlines.
He captained 727s, 747s and 707s for TWA for nearly three decades while continuing his service in the Massachusetts Air National Guard. “I always tell people it’s not always exciting, but I always saw the sun shine. Every day, I saw the sun shine,” he said.
Not all of his duties were in the cockpit, however.
Hoglander also became involved in labor issues, working his way onto the Master Executive Council of TWA’s pilots union. He was later an executive vice president of the Air Line Pilots Association.
Hoglander said those jobs came at a difficult time. The airline industry, which he described as always in a “boom-or-bust situation,” was struggling.
“I was always involved in rather stressful negotiations with airlines when I was serving there. It just seemed that I was on the down cycle,” he said.
Hoglander, who also earned a law degree from Suffolk University, later gained international experience as a union representative on the U.S. Aviation Bi-Lateral Delegation.
The team, which included members of the State and Transportation departments, negotiated “every flying treaty that we had with 146 different nations around the world,” he said.
Given his work with unions, he was also involved in several political campaigns. But it was after retirement — he left the Air National Guard as a lieutenant colonel in 1986 and TWA in 1993 — that he met Tierney.
Hoglander said he was lying on his couch, watching television one day in 1994 “when this good looking Irishman came on.”
“He had the same principles and thoughts about what should happen to America that I did,” he said. “I ran right over and volunteered for him, and I’ve been with him ever since.”
Though Tierney lost that year’s bid, Hoglander was with him again two years later, when Tierney won his seat in Congress.
In 1998 and 2000, Hoglander took leaves of absence from the congressional office to manage Tierney’s campaigns.
Tierney described Hoglander as a “stern taskmaster” on the campaign trail, though he also became a second parent to many.
“Young people love him,” he said.
During non-election years, Hoglander specialized in labor, employment and veterans issues for the congressman.
Tierney credited Hoglander’s “tenaciousness” for persuading the Department of Veterans Affairs to open three outpatient clinics in his district, including one in Gloucester.
Tierney was later a force in helping Hoglander land the post on the National Mediation Board.
Hoglander said the process started “unbeknownst to me,” when his name was mentioned in Washington labor circles after board member Maggie Jacobsen announced her retirement.
Though others were in the running, Tierney helped align support for Hoglander from the rest of Massachusetts’ congressional delegation.
Sen. Edward M. Kennedy championed his nomination in the Senate, and he was confirmed moments before the Senate adjourned last week for its August recess.
Hoglander, who described his work for Tierney as “the experience of my lifetime,” said he believe his career has prepared him well to work on the board.
He noted much of the job will involve creating policy for the board’s mediators and other staff. On occasion, he said, board members are asked to weigh in directly on negotiations.
It will also be full-time, which will probably mean moving back to Washington.
Even so, Hoglander said he and his wife are attached to Magnolia. “We made a decision not to give up our house here,” he said.