Fink out Sunday

Two-term State Representative Michael Holewinski was defeated for re-election in 1978 and he would have been horrified had he known what his organizers had done in the campaign office.

When somebody “finked out” (reneged on an election day volunteer commitment), rather than simply recording the change on an index card - this was before personal computers - and amending the Election Day volunteer schedule, the caller stood on a chair in the middle of headquarters, yelled, “FINK OUT” as loudly as possible, set fire to the card containing that person’s contact information, and dropped the burning remnants into a metal wastebasket.