Well, it’s that time. I’ve been campaigning for about four months and I’ve learned a lot of things but it’s now all coming to a climax.
As I write this it’s time for all of us to finish voting and the counting of ballots is just a couple hours away. I’m nervous but I feel good about this campaign.
I stayed honest and did not throw the stones I had, I have to live with myself and I do. My form of aggressive campaigning is aggressively getting out more information – honest information. Did it work? I may never know since there are so many different influences but I would not change anything I did, except to start sooner.
I’ve learned a lot more about our community that I thought I knew so well.
I’ve learned that providing good unbiased information can calm fears and create enthusiasm. I learned that some will not want the community to know what is really going on so they can continue to introduce an element of fear and controlling emotion, I learned that some will take advantage of that. I’ve learned that the majority of those I spoke to are very happy with the direction that Morgan Hill is taking and want to continue in that direction (sometimes I had to provide that unbiased information for them to see that).
This community is hungry for information and if you give it to them, in a factual and verifiable manner with context, they will thank you for it, sometimes they’ll even read a lengthy article in this truncated world of Tweets to get it. The decisions they make, good or bad for me, will be based upon good information and not pure emotion. Emotion putting the finishing touch on a decision is fine but a decision based upon emotion while ignoring good information is giving in to an easily manipulated element that is the favorite of some in the political realm.
Some will want to intentionally provide misinformation or information without critical context. This is nothing new but I can’t remember it being used as much in Morgan Hill. Let’s crusade against bad and misleading information. Let’s demand transparency and commitment to promises made so pandering is a thing of the past. There was a recent city council vote which had everyone scratching their heads as to why one councilmember seemingly flipped on a proposed ordinance, watch for that flip back (that’s my prediction for after the election). Let’s call out that kind of behavior.
Social media has been around for the last two election cycles but now it is widely used and a game changer.
Social media is information at the speed of light. I call it information but that could translate into driving of emotion as well as good information, we all know that.
What I am most proud of is that our community is not all pie eyed enamored with everything on a social media site. There are community members who call it like they see it, on different sides of an issue, and the debates are appearing to be more and more balanced. To me that means that some are paying attention to the issues and they care enough to speak up, sometimes in unfriendly territory.
Social media is here to stay and we will see its increasing role in our elections. It is a valuable resource for getting information out there, let’s focus on the good type. Thank you to my friend who taught me about FaceBook and Instagram. I now know I need to have people “Like” me on FaceBook, that’s something new and foreign but probably necessary for the next stages of my life.
In closing out this chapter in my life I have to say that personal relationships once again are the highlight. I have many friends who supported and helped in so many ways. Thank you to all who helped with working or donating to my campaign - thank you, thank you, thank you.
I have found out that some relationships aren’t the strongest and a political campaign is a stress test in general but particularly stressful on relationships. I lost a couple friends, politics can really do a number on friendships, but it turns out that one loss actually helped me, okay, I’ll take that. I may have lost a couple but many friendships were strengthened, I’ll take that ratio anytime.
I’ve made many new friends which is one of the highlights of campaigning. You learn about who holds similar values and who will work for them. To my many new friends – thank you. I look forward to many years of working to benefit our community together in one way or another.
The campaigning is done.
Gone are the hours of writing about where I stand and what is going on in our community. Gone are the late nights doing it. Gone are the hours and hours of walking and knocking on doors and talking to my neighbors. Gone are the candidate’s forums where I had to edit what I had to say in artificial sound bites (okay some did it very well, I just didn’t) but would love to have them every night. Gone are the candidate’s meetings where I got to listen to you and you hear about me - these I really enjoyed and will miss, unless I become your council member and will continue to have them.
I won’t know whether I am a new council member for another five or six hours, maybe longer if the counts are close.
If I am, I promise to serve my Morgan Hill neighbors, all of you. If not, I will work on my many projects, some them new ones as many presented themselves during my campaign. One way or anther there will be a change in dynamics in our local political scene, I can guarantee that.
Thank you for reading and I will keep going with these blogs. Please stick around as this will be a place of honesty and integrity, whether or not you want to hear it…
