The game of politics: some days you want to stop and shake your head at the things that are said. Take for instance a phone call that my wife received from someone asking us to vote for Charles Weber. The person made his pitch as to why he thought we should vote for Charles over Brad. Personally, I think this is great, grassroots boots-on-the-ground type of campaigning. It is the type of thing that encourages people to vote. Then, the story moves away from the Area H arena and enters the municipal stage. The person on the other end of the line told my wife that he was going to support Fred Thomas, but can’t now because he is too close to Brad. I find this comment a little funny because it was the same thing that was said last time around about Brad and Randy McLean. The caller told my wife that he would not be supporting Fred Thomas, but would be supporting Randy McLean.
Before I go any further I just want to make clear I am not sure if this person is working directly with Mr. Weber or Mr. McLean’s campaign. I cannot help point out the irony of the accusation that Brad Hope and Fred Thomas are too close when you are actively seeking votes for an Area H director candidate, and then intentionally or not place that person on a ticket with a candidate for Mayor. I know Mr. Thomas and Mr. Hope are acquaintances but so are Mr. Hope and Mr. McLean, and Mr. McLean and Mr. Weber, so to make an assumption that because people may have similar feelings, thoughts or a relationship makes them too close in a community of our size is reaching to a questionable conclusion.
The same caller brought up another point about Fred Thomas that was a little confusing to me. He was annoyed that Fred Thomas was putting his website address on his advertisements because not all people in Area H have access to the internet. The caller would much rather have seen Mr. Thomas’ bio in the paper. To this I can only say, please check the Spotlight’s November 1st edition of the paper where not only Fred Thomas’ bio was published, but all the candidates’ bios were published. As for the use of websites, I thankfully welcome the fact that candidates are reaching out to the public with all forms of communication. Fred Thomas’ bio states that he worked for IBM. I would naturally assume that someone who had worked in the tech industry would utilize such a powerful tool to disseminate information. For instance, Mr. Thomas recently posted an interesting piece about the pool referendum.
For the record, Mr. Thomas is not the only one who is using the internet to get his message across. Facebook has become a destination for a number of our local politicians, including Randy McLean, Brad Hope and Fred Thomas.
What I am trying to say is if you are going to try and paint people with the same brush, you need to be careful. To say that Mr. Thomas is out of touch with voters is like saying that Randy McLean’s Facebook page is too. To say that because people may have a previous relationship means they are too close in a community as small as ours is setting a precedent that we don’t want.