Mary Lindsey (re-post from March)

There is a meeting today at the Sabal Palm House Bed and Breakfast Inn. It's been called to create a strategy for beating Cara Jennings this coming November in her attempt at re-election. Those hosting the meeting chose not to invite me. Their reason not to invite me will be made clear in a moment.

I greatly respect Mary Lindsey and her work - trying to make the city a better place to live. We have worked together on some projects and share similar passions. We communicated quite frequently, until recently.

I saw Mary at the City Commission retreat a few weeks ago. It was after that meeting that I suggested we go to lunch and chat, which we did. The conversation turned to her future involvement with the City. At one point she said that half of the people hate her in this city because she was for the beach and against the super-majority initiative. The other half, she said, hate her for continuing to run for Mayor and the unintended consequences that resulted. Others were told a similar story at other times and places; I was not the only one who heard this from Mary.

I agreed with her assessment, although "hate" was a bit strong of a characterization - but that was her choice of words.

I asked her why she still involves herself in meetings like the one we attended that day and she said, "For my own self interest". I responded that was too bad as I thought she had more of an altruistic interest by her involvement.

That was our lunch.

Now, this was also at a time when there was a lot of discussion regarding who were possible candidates interested and ready to make the commitment to run for the District #2 seat. Long thought of as a possible candidate for District #2, Mary did not in anyway seem interested in running for the seat. Time was wasting for someone to come forward and decisions had to be made.

So, that's when the wheels started turning. Soon Jim Stafford will be announcing his candidacy for the District #2 seat. I will be his campaign manager. We have already met with many in the community. We have universally received a positive and encouraging response. Jim brings a unique perspective. His background includes being a teacher, a small business owner, family man with two young boys and someone who has demonstrated his concern for this community in many ways. Not the least of which was starting a community Internet message board where people could discuss their views on a wide (sometimes very wide!) array of topics. And, on top of that, he happens to be bilingual in English and Spanish.

I wish Mary all the best in whatever she choses to do. But, the fact is, we have to come together if we want someone other than Cara Jennings sitting on the dais after November. I'm not sure how this strategy meeting being held today will help in accomplishing that goal.

Some may want to interpret that somehow I blame Mary for me not winning the District #3 seat last year and therefore I hold some sort of grudge. The theory being that had she not been in the Mayor's race, there would not have been a run-off and the full forces of the calvary could have been unleashed in support of my campaign.

Was that to blame for the outcome? No. Was it a factor? Yes. It was a factor along with a list of at least 99 other reasons. All 100 or so ingredients combined in a whirling stew that resulted in the final vote coming out the way it did. What happened happened for a reason and I do not hold a grudge.

Let's make a commitment not to model ourselves after the two Democratic presidential candidates currently tearing each other down while their Republican opponent builds his support for the November election.