The following was taken from a letter sent to supporters that may have relevance to a broader audience:
Thank you all for your support during the campaign and on election day earlier this week. Your warm support of a new candidate on the scene was enormously helpful and kept me going through weeks of cold weather campaigning!
I have congratulated John DeMaro on his victory and he and I intend to get together to discuss budget matters, personnel staffing, outsourcing, St. Paul’s and communications over coffee meetings in the coming weeks.
I also intend to be a “regular” at budget workshops and trustee and POA meetings beginning on 2/14. I will miss the budget and trustee meetings this week due to a conflict that cannot be canceled, but I have arranged to have these meetings covered.
I was asked to run by friends in the community and, with your help, we gathered some wonderful resources to mount an impressive campaign. We visited 90% of the homes in the Estates and met personally with at least 25% of the homeowners, leaving behind information cards with those who weren’t available. We also mailed oversized postcards to every home in the days leading up to the Election. On Election Day itself, we covered the railroads and either “robo-called” or live-called all homes to remind people to vote.
The results of the election were 335-208. This represents a total turnout of only 10-15% of the eligible electorate. There are undoubtedly lessons to be derived from this experience and opinions as to why this election did not resonate to a higher turnout. I would be inclined to take this personally but our results seemed to track with turnout statistics in the two other POA areas that hosted challenge elections.
It would be great if we could all spend a little more time thinking and talking with all our friends and neighbors about our local government. Perhaps with more conversation, interest levels will rise and with that perhaps the level of debate will follow.
There’s a perception in the village that this is all about politics and polarizing viewpoints, on St. Paul’s especially. It doesn’t have to be so. This is about neighbors living together in community and deciding how to arrive at a common ground on a very large array of issues that everyone can be pleased with.
I hope to continue in a manner that makes you proud of your association with me at the earliest stages of my involvement – thanks again for your friendship!
Greg Blair
