Why I'm Running

Some of the friends that I've known for years look at me with their eyes bulging out and ask, "Why are you running again? Didn't you learn your lesson the first time?"

I must admit that there's a big difference between running for city council and running for an office on the national level. On the national level you get to take junkets to tropical isles and have a gym set aside for your personal use. Running for an office like that makes sense to the average person. But when you get involved with local politics such as school board or city council, a lot of folks look at that and decide they'd just as soon put their head in a vise and crank it down real tight.

Years and years ago, before I ran for office the first time, I was walking with a friend who had served many years on our city council. I mentioned that someday I might consider such a thing, and he said something to this effect: "You should! Somebody's got to help out around here." It struck me quite forcefully. Up until then, I'd always thought of public office as a thing people did to feather their own nests, not as doing something that requires self-sacrifice in the same vein as being in the PTA or a scoutmaster. So I thought about it and decided I wanted to be someone who "helped out around here."

Well, you'd think that six years of that kind of business would have been enough. I certainly thought it was at the time.

But a strange thing happened to me a while back. Many mornings I get on my bike and ride around the university campus and the city for exercise. It just so happened that the storm-drain installation crew  was working at the corner of 200 South and 300 West one morning when I rode by. I stopped and watched them as long as I could before they began to think I was some sort of creep and then went on my way. But as I rode that day, I realized that I missed that sort of thing--being part of making the world a better place.

So when the opportunity arose to run for city council, I marched in and signed up.

I don't have any sort of grand agenda or axe to grind. I just want to be a part of "helping out around here" to make our city beautiful, safe, and stable. I hope you'll give me that chance.