Local legislators, attorneys and reporters remember J.W. "Pete" Flynn as a likeable politician widely known for his legislator-friendly restaurant where "schmoozing" was the order of the day.
Flynn died Saturday morning at the age of 83. He served two terms as Frankfort's mayor in the 1960s.
Flynn was famous for owning the Statesman Lounge and Flynn's Restaurant. The lounge became a popular watering hole for legislators, reporters and lobbyists.
Flynn added a new word to the after-hour cocktail circuit for legislators with his "Come schmooze with us" message.
But, the restaurant closed in 1994 after ethics reform came in the wake of the Operation BOPTROT bribery scandal in the General Assembly. Flynn was not implicated in the investigation but new ethics rules required legislators to report meals and drinks purchased for them by lobbyists and their business dwindled.
Dick Wilson was a city hall reporter for The State Journal when Flynn was mayor.
"He loved Frankfort and took the job as mayor seriously," Wilson told The State Journal.
Wilson described Flynn as a down-to-earth and gregarious guy, although he presided over a divided City Commission. Wilson said Flynn was usually in the majority although most controversial votes were decided by a narrow 3-2 margin.
"He presided over the most divided City Commission in recent history," Wilson said.
Wilson also recalled how Flynn helped him break a major story in The State Journal by letting him sit in on a meeting with the state police when they planned for Martin Luther King Jr.'s civil rights march in Frankfort in 1964.
"He'd do anything for you and believed in keeping the public informed," said Wilson, now retired from the Louisville Courier-Journal.
Max Smith was the city police judge from 1961 to 1969 and although there was a lot of squabbling on the City Commission, he said Flynn was a good mayor.
"He was a real good politician," Smith said, whom everybody knew "Pete was friendly and outgoing," Smith said.
Smith knew Flynn and his wife Rose almost his entire life and went to school with his brother at Frankfort High School.
"He was a very popular man around Frankfort," Smith said. "He came to every table and greeted every person," Smith said. "Pete took care of everybody."
Sen. Julian Carroll, D-Frankfort, knew Flynn for almost 36 years.
"Pete has been what you might call the politician's friend," Carroll said. "Pete had a tremendous outgoing personality and was so jovial that all of us enjoyed being around him."
Flynn was also popular with the voters and Carroll said he was a good citizen who in his service to the community.