Remembering Edith Galt Wilson

Virginia Littell's defense of her husband, State Senator Robert Littell, seems eerily reminiscent of the way Woodrow Wilson's wife protected his interests following a massive stroke in 1919. First Lady Edith Galt Wilson hid the President's condition from the public and even most of the White House staff -- a period that she called her "stewardship." It was Mrs. Littell, a former Republican State Chairman, that spoke to the New Jersey Herald's John Brand about speculation that Assemblyman Guy Gregg would challenge her 70-year-old husband -- a legislator since 1967 -- in the 2007 Republican primary. Insiders say that these days Ginnie Littell does most of the talking for her husband, who she said walks with a slight hunch due to arthritis of the spine and has lost 75% of his hearing. She had harsh words for Gregg: It's disappointing when somebody who is a part of your team and you've run with for years goes behind your back and doesn't want to return to the work he's done ... He's been talking about this for ages. I think it's disappointing, actually, to have somebody serving in one capacity so unhappy in that capacity that he has to take a look at another seat ... "If you feel like saying something or doing something, just come out and say this is the story and this is how I want it written." On Senator Littell: "My husband doesn't operate under conjecture," she said. "There is no plotting. He just does the job of the people of the 24th District." Finally: "The difficult thing is there is a lot of unauthorized or unidentifiable people out there with these blogs and the Internet and they're pretty much saying what they want," Ginnie Littell said. "And that's just chicken. You don't play sneak-around-to-come-and-whisper campaigns."