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D. J. "Joe" Saia: The Padrone Of Crawford County Politics, Steven K. Baden

Electronic Theses & Dissertations

D. J. "Joe" Saia, of Frontenac, Kansas, has been county commissioner and the leader of the Democratic Party in Crawford County, Kansas, for the past three decades. An unemployed coal miner with an eighth-grade education, the county commissioner from Frontenac came from the bottom of the social pyramid. He was able, through his adaptability, tenacity, basic understanding of human nature, and undying concern for those in need, to fight his way to the position of chairman of the Crawford County Board of Commissioners and the leader of a successful political organization.

The road to power was not an easy path, …