Has Push Come to Shove?

Someone sent me a text message this morning while I was still sleeping.  Ugh.  And I very much don't like text messages.  The message was to let me know that today is the last day to declare a candidacy for BP Commissioner, and to ask me to run.

So, because I don't like text messaging, I called the person who sent me the message.  I prefer in person, but telephone will do.

It turns out there were, at that moment, three candidates for the three seats, Dan Samaria was one of the people who declared a candidacy (incumbent Mac Kennedy, and appointed incumbent Ryan Huntington were the others), and the person who reached out to me did not want Dan to become a Commissioner.  Not terribly long thereafter, the same person told me that Will Tudor also declared a candidacy, because Will also did not want Dan to become a Commissioner.  I listened to the story -- I was awake at this point -- no part of this sounded other than very bad, so I decided to call Dan.

I asked Dan which Dan Samaria was running for Commissioner.  Was it the first Dan Samaria, who had relied on support from the Rosses and the Andersons, and been an unexpectedly good Commissioner, or was it the second Dan Samaria, who tended to vote in accordance with Tracy Truppman, and seemed to preoccupy himself with picking fights with then Commissioner Mac Kennedy.

Dan acknowledged that he had made mistakes -- lost his bearings and sense of which end was up -- that he had come to realize that he had gotten off course, and that it was the first Dan Samaria who was now running.  But the first Dan Samaria appears still to harbor some antipathy toward Mac Kennedy, or at least toward Mac's spouse, "Dan Snyder" (I corrected him a few times, and told him that Mac's spouse is Dan Schneiger, not Snyder, and he got it right once), and I told Dan (Samaria) that Mac's spouse, and whatever Dan thinks Mac's spouse says about him, are not relevant, and that the job of a BP Commissioner is to worry about the best welfare of the Village, not to get distracted with who reportedly says what.

I also told Dan that he was right to rely on the Rosses and the Andersons, although he kept coming up with complaints about Janey Anderson and Chuck Ross.  I must have told him 100 times to focus, and don't get distracted with what he thinks people say, or even what they think.

I told Dan that Roxy Ross, and Chuck Ross, were never wrong, and whenever I disagreed with them, I always had to try to figure out what I got wrong.  And that didn't mean we weren't entitled to differences of opinion, or even voting in opposing ways.  But they were 100% trustworthy to have the best interests of the Village most prominently at heart.  But so was I, and sometimes, there are choices to be made, or different, but equally good and right, approaches to adopt.

I asked Dan who, on the present Commission, or among the people running, is always right.  There is one person who is always right.  Different style, and you don't like it?  Sure.  No problem.  But, as I put it to someone else, who is the North Star?  There's one, and only one.  (It's Mac Kennedy.)

So why are we having this conversation?  There are two reasons.  One is that I do not consider myself electable (and I would be champing at the bit to get rid of the manager, who is a disaster), and the other is Will Tudor.  He's another kind of disaster.  His original reason for running was to be part of a majority that would protect him from following Village Codes (with neighbors like that...), and, as someone accurately described him, he is a "pussy."  He sat by his Mama Tracy, did whatever she said, mumbled incoherent nonsense when he was called upon for an opinion (which his Mama didn't actually want anyway), and has absolutely NOTHING to offer.  It's actually a joke that Will thinks Dan is a problem.

So that's why I called Dan.  I wanted to see if there was any possibility that he was salvageable, since I don't think I'm electable, and therefore of no value in this mess.  If I had to choose a somewhat workable Dan, who could more or less keep his eye on the ball, or Will, I'd take Dan in a heartbeat.

Dan offered to rein himself in, and either not respond to outreaches from his neighbors/constituents, or keep them very brief, but I told Dan he can't do that.  He's imagining sort of ignoring people he thinks will vote him into office, allow him decision-making authority, and pay him a small amount, and he owes them.  He can't assume they will agree with him, and he's not required to agree with them, but if they reach out, he has to reach back.  If he doesn't agree with them, which is fine, then he owes them his best explanation.  We have a Commission now, and a couple before, that can't be bothered for one instant with their neighbors/constituents.  Except one, who always responds.  It did not used to be like this.

So, if I do declare a candidacy, I doubt you'll vote for me.  If I don't declare, please vote for Dan.  I've made contact, and he even suggested, all by himself, that maybe he'd rely on me.  That's fine.  I won't tell him what positions he should take about anything.  I'll just keep him on track, decorum-wise and focus-wise.

My reflex was not to disagree with Will Tudor about his apprehensions about Dan.  But offering himself as a replacement is, as I say, a disaster.  FYI, not only did Will get on the Commission in the first place to protect himself from having to follow Village Code (install a driveway), but he still hasn't done it.  Helluva neighbor.