Mayor Rob Marlowe
I hope that all of you have had an opportunity to recover from the non-stop mud slinging that constituted the 2014 mid term elections.
This was no doubt one of the nastiest elections on record. With all the ads portraying the other guy as scum of the earth and no ads about what a particular candidate might do to actually fix our country’s ills, voters stayed away from the polls in droves.
It doesn’t help that most of the seats in the US House of Representatives are “safe”… That is a code word for “The politicians picked the voters rather than the other way around.”
This is one of those times I’m glad I threw my hat in the ring for a local, non-partisan position. I had the pleasure of serving with a number of people on the New Port Richey city council during my previous six years as a councilman. They ranged in political persuasion from liberal Democrats to conservative Republicans, but when we sat down to conduct the city’s business, we did it as non-partisan representatives of the citizens of the city.
The current members of the New Port Richey City Council have a variety of views and personalities. We don’t always agree on things. Sometimes I convince them to vote with me on an issue. Sometimes I find myself on the losing end of a vote. It isn’t personal and I know that the next time an issue comes up, we are all going to have to to work together to craft the best solution we can for our city. There is no room for the sort of rancor that we see from the people we send to Washington. You elected us to represent you to the best of our abilities and that is what each of us try to do.
I have to wonder if we wouldn’t be better off if all elected positions were non-partisan. Voters would have to consider each candidate on their own and the political parties wouldn’t be out there trash talking just to fire up the base. We may be moving in that direction in Pasco County. It wouldn’t surprise me to see “NPA” or “no party affiliation” become the second largest group of registered voters in the county. Who knows. NPA might even become the largest block.
Enjoy the momentary lull in political ads on TV. Potential presidential candidates are already jockeying for position and I expect that campaign will be in full swing by this time next year. Wouldn’t it be nice if those candidates spent their time telling us what positive leadership they would bring to Washington instead of trying to frame the other candidates as nominees for the position of anti-Christ?
It is way too early for me to decide who I want to be the next President come 2017, but I’d like to have some positive choices. How about you?
Rob Marlowe, Mayor