Now That Was a Tough Election

Here it is upon us again: the election season. Crazy things happen during an election. One hears of candidates being "attacked," possibly "repeatedly attacked," by letters to the editor or in posted comments. Signs are down or missing, so it must be another candidate doing it (and not the wind or kids or someone trying to see around a corner). 

With all this angst, it is important to remember it is about Granville first. It is not about any candidates. It is not about getting elected. It is about Granville.

Actually, so far this year the letters and comments are pretty mild. Questions are being raised about policy issues and potential conflicts of interest. It’s pretty fair to ask about policies a candidate will pursue and whether or not the candidate will exercise independent judgement when elected. 

To help put it all in perspective, let me tell you about an election not so long ago. A number of us, myself included, were running for Village Council. Shortly before election day, information based on a forged document and very derogatory to two Village Council candidates was placed in a newspaper. The forged document was planted with a reporter for the Sentinel by someone who turned out to be involved with a competing candidate’s campaign. It was given to the reporter under the proviso that the identity of the individual planting the information would remain unknown. The paper went ahead and printed the story. As one of the candidates negatively impacted by the forged document my initial reaction was strong. How dare someone attack us using a forged document? It is outrageous that someone can do this anonymously. All the two of us could do is deny that the document was real. It just was not how life should be.

And of course it was, and is, not how life should be. But life in politics is not ordinary life. Any time you get thousands of people together there will be a few who stoop to pretty low tactics to achieve their aims. 

My advice to candidates and elected officials? I hate to use the phrase, but it applies: just get over it. Don’t get distracted. Never take it personally. And always remember after the election we all need to work together for Granville.

What happened in that Village Council election? Both of us were elected to office by an overwhelming margin. And, we did ultimately learn who planted the forged document. But it made no difference. We were over it.

Bill Wernet