OPINION: Cancer latest foe for Legislature's man of letters

Nov. 17—The down-and-out man called himself Frank Ellis. He was befriended by Bill O'Neill, then a volunteer at St. Martin's, a homeless shelter in Albuquerque.

They seemed to have only one thing connecting them. O'Neill, an Ivy Leaguer with a gift for writing, looked out for the underdog. Ellis was an underdog.

O'Neill discovered an Aryan street gang had bullied and beaten Ellis. That image stuck with O'Neill long after Ellis died of exposure to the cold in 1998.

By his own admission, O'Neill had voted infrequently during the 1990s. Meeting Ellis helped unlock O'Neill's interest in government and social justice. He decided to run for public office.

A Democrat, O'Neill lost his first two campaigns for the state House of Representatives. He broke through on his third try in 2008, ousting Republican Rep. Teresa Zanetti.

After two terms in the House, O'Neill won a seat in the state Senate in 2012. He served for 12 years before redistricting cut into his political base.

Fellow Democrat Debbie O'Malley had a loyal following in reconfigured Senate District 13. A former Bernalillo County commissioner and Albuquerque city councilor, she took 52% of the vote to defeat O'Neill in this year's primary election.

O'Neill is so ferocious a competitor he played varsity football at Cornell University when he weighed only 155 pounds. He led the Ivy League in kickoff return yardage in 1977, though he allows this was because Cornell was scored on with regularity.

O'Neill had not lost an election since 2004. He's 68 now. Defeat hit harder than ever.

He told me so in July when we met for breakfast to settle a months-old wager. We always bet on games between the Cleveland Browns and the Pittsburgh Steelers. O'Neill, a native of Ohio, for a change didn't have to pick up the check.

Knowing he is ill, I called and texted him many times after I paid off that last bet. He finally responded last week with a brief text.

"Sorry I have vanished. Just transitioning into my new life. Am ready to up my game on my Brownies. Another breakfast wager?"

O'Neill earlier in fall had sent a note to friends explaining why he had retreated from view.

"To those of you who noticed a profound change in my physical appearance, I do feel a need to check in with you about my health. In March of last year, I was diagnosed with metastatic prostate cancer, spreading to the bone. It was unclear how long I had to live. Since then, I have made tremendous progress. The battle is ongoing, of course, but I am so fortunate to be in the hands of skilled professionals."

O'Neil at last phoned me Saturday, sounding upbeat. "I'm flirting with chemo, but happily I'm not there yet. I'm on hormone therapy. I'm in great hands. I just can't worry about it."

He spent years fretting about others, especially as a legislator and as executive director of the state Juvenile Parole Board.

At the statehouse he played a significant part in passing a law that enables judges to expunge certain criminal records, most notably for low-level drug possession. The law O'Neill championed does not permit expunction of convictions for drunken driving, sex crimes, crimes against children or crimes that caused death or great bodily harm.

A believer in second chances, he also authored a successful bill prohibiting employers from inquiring about someone's criminal history on an initial job application. The idea is to allow people who are trying to turn around their lives to avoid instant disqualification from the job market. Employers are free to delve into an applicant's criminal history as the selection process proceeds.

Remembering Frank Ellis, O'Neill tried to make attacks on homeless people a hate crime. Those proposals failed.

He will be rooting from afar for revivals of several of his other bills that didn't survive. They include parole reforms and permitting independents to vote in primaries.

But his focus has drifted away from politics. "No excuses. I'm an artist now. It's not retirement. It's like totally reinventing your life," O'Neill said.

He studied writing under novelist E.L. Doctorow. Red Mountain Press has published two of O'Neill's novels. He is at work on what would be his third published poetry collection, as well as his second play, titled The Ghosts of Summer Asphalt.

"I still have lots of energy. I just have to shepherd it," O'Neill said.

As he shifts from part-time senator to full-time writer, he says he wants normalcy.

The Browns play the Steelers on Thursday night. "We're betting again, aren't we?" O'Neill asked.

Of course we are. The season is young, and the Legislature's man of letters still has a lot to give.