After three years serving as the city councilor for District 1 in South Portland, Claude Morgan has decided not to run for re-election. It was, after    all, only a strong desire to paint that originally inspired him to move to Maine in 1980. After three years studying at Maine College of Art in Portland, Morgan said he decided to “change gears” and began bartending at the original “Three Dollar Deweys” on Fore Street in Portland.

“I’d like to think I didn’t have enough [painting] talent,” he said. 

Morgan spent the next 10 years serving drinks in Portland’s Old Port before he decided to return to school and enrolled in Asian History courses at Tufts University in Medford, Mass. at age 33. Often he would find himself sitting next to students more than 10 years younger, but Morgan said he wasn’t about to let his age affect his hunger for knowledge. 

“If I had the means I would be a professional student,” he said. “I would seek out the finest scholars, kneel before them and take their classes.”

Morgan earned his bachelor’s degree and continued to attend pre-medical, modern European history and literary criticism courses at Tufts while he became interested in Balkan literature. 

“I’m a very steady reader and I have always gravitated toward human narratives,” he said. “History is kind of the ‘mother of all humanities’ but studying can really help form your thinking.”

Morgan has yet to finish his master’s degree, “falling short” of graduating by two credits.

“That has been a constant thorn in my side,” he said. 

Inspired to take his fascination with the Balkans to the next level, Morgan began sending journalism proposals to several magazines and newspapers that allowed him to visit the country and publish his discoveries. Morgan said he enjoyed the “freedom” of working in print for nearly eight years before getting involved with local radio stations as a broadcast journalist.

“Collecting sound and putting things together, that was a real treat,” he said. 

Eventually Morgan found himself “spot newscasting” for News Radio WMTW in Portland, a challenging and ambitious position, he said.

“They would drop you in the middle of something and suddenly you were on the spot and responsible for accurate information,” he said.

While Morgan said WMTW took pride in being a successful news source for local issues, the station struggled financially and was eventually bought out and converted to a music station in 2003. 

“Can’t blame them for doing it, you really have to be in a major metropolitan area to make money in the news business,” he said.

Educated in the ways of gathering information and presenting it to the public, Morgan said he obtained his private investigator license and continued doing “a lot of the same stuff” he had practiced as a journalist.

“You parachute in, get the lay of the land and help construct a narrative that is helpful to people,” he said. 

Morgan said around the same time he started working as a private investigator he also participated in a “grassroots” effort by the organizers of www.MoveOn.org, a group dedicated to raising political awareness in the local community. 

“It was a kind of movement to see what kind of energy we could drum up,” he said. “We did a lot of knocking on doors and asking people if they were registered to vote.” 

An avid dog lover, Morgan was appointed the president of the South Portland Dog Owners Group and in 2005 decided to campaign for the District 1 seat on the city council. 

“[Other candidates] were great folks, but I did not feel they would best serve the community,” he said. “I had an opportunity, if not an obligation, to put my money where my mouth was.”

For five weeks, Morgan went door to door throughout the city to discuss his candidacy and ultimately develop the ideals he would bring to the council. 

“You go into it with an ideal image and then there you are sitting at a kitchen table asking specific questions that help you form what is actually possible,” he said. “Any candidate who doesn’t [go door to door] is missing a great opportunity and an educational experience.”

Now, when Morgan isn’t negotiating with residents, legislators and other municipalities as a South Portland city councilor, he’s bargaining with those dealing with financial instability as a collections manager for a credit union. 

“I help negotiate loans that are going south,” he said. “A lot of times it’s trying to keep people in their homes, which is a huge responsibility.”

Morgan said to continue to help people with their finances, in an economy when foreclosures are more and more common, he has decided not to run for re-election. 

“It’s not fair to them when I come home exhausted from a council meeting, and vice versa,” he said. “Something had to give.”

A self-described “hands-on” councilor, Morgan said he was proud to have inspired the city to “take a look” at the police department, “which had really capped and stopped growing,” by forming a “Blue Ribbon” committee that continues to update the department’s charter. 

“They are so thorough and so dedicated, we’ve already made some down-payments toward where we need to be,” he said. “People recognize we want the best for our police force.”

Visiting legislators in both Augusta and Washington was also an important achievement for Morgan, who said he believed the city – being the largest oil depot on the eastern seaboard – should receive more state and federal dollars than have been provided in the past. 

“All of that petroleum business starts right here in South Portland,” he said. “What do we get back in return?”

Morgan said it was ironic he was criticized for spending less than $1,500 in tax dollars on plane tickets to Washington when the trip resulted in the federal government allocating an additional $1.3 million in federal earmarks for the city. 

“It was a very important and concrete step that the city needed to make,” he said. “If South Portland is the goose that lays the golden egg, somebody’s going to have to feed that goose.”

Although he is stepping down from his seat on the council, Morgan said he plans to continue to be active as a resident and volunteer for committees and other groups where he may be of value.

“I’m ready to be used and abused for what it good for the city,” he said. 

Other than that, Morgan said he plans on spending “a lot of time reading.”