689-673

Well, Anonymous, Since you've asked, I'll explain where I'm at... And then use your question as a springboard to a rant. If you are who I think you are... I think you could do a better job than me, and should quit pulling strings behind the scenes, register in NJ, and do it!

Apparently, I never got the memo... 30 year old, tattoo artist/non-profit directors, with 2 little kids, do not run for public office.

Running for Stillwater Township committee was quite an experience. At a time in my life where I felt I had nothing to lose, I ran and lost... And it was the best thing that could have happened. It was gut wrenching, stressful, and a lot like jumping in the deep end of the pool for the first time. On one hand, I would stand a good chance of being elected if I ran again. On the other, why would I want to include myself in the current committee's self inflicted turmoil?

My Answer...
Although I'm flattered. It's Simple. I like my life as it is right now. My heart bleeds for our town, but I can not at this time justify the level of commitment required.

Beating a dead horse...
I want to enjoy being right about our former mayor, "Boss Hogg", for a little while.
For the record... He is a Napoleonic carpet-bagger, a liar, a coward, a bully, an ego-maniac, a closet drunk, and above all... A sad man. And I would have liked to show him to the town limits when he left. I hope the door did hit him in the ass on his departure. He never cared about Stillwater. He only needed to fill the void in his life created by retirement. Our small town and its municipal building were the unfortunate victims of his short comings. I'd like to tattoo "cheaper today than it will be tomorrow" on his smug, cake eating face. That felt GREAT to say! Ha.

When I'm alone sometimes I go over things that I did in my campaign in my head. The only two things I would have done differently that would have altered the course of the election results and coincidentally Stillwater's history would have been:
1. Explain bullet voting to people who I knew were 100% supporters of mine.
2. Picked up and drove to the polls just the people I know who didn't have a license.

16 votes! I lost to an incumbent, republican, CEO by 16 votes. Whether I'm thought of as an underachiever or a late bloomer or a fuck up, I got 673 more votes than a lot people more qualified than myself, because I'm not afraid to put my money where my mouth is. I think that there were only a handful of people that gave me good odds of being elected. I represented what people felt but weren't willing to say. The 673 votes cast for the underdog were inspiring to me, but it fell on deaf ears on the committee level. Re-election fueled their ignorant arrogance.

I'll be back. When the time is right. I will run again. For right now, you tell me... what's better? Being the Mayor of Stillwater or... "The Mayor of Stillwater"... I know what Bill Morrison would say.