Dear Bill,

I’m not aware that Chuck wrote any endorsement letters – his newspaper did endorse Dan Lanen though.

Your question did prompt me to do a bit of after-the-fact reflecting about endorsements though…

Dan Braese was not an NAU candidate and we did not run his campaign. We did, however, recommend voting for him because he was the most qualified candidate. I personally wrote a letter to the newspapers supporting him and I held signs for him. I hope he considers running again next year.

Any successful candidate shoulders the serious fiduciary responsibility of thinking independently. They need to cast well-thought-out votes to support the best long-term interests of the community, regardless of who endorsed them.

This goes for Karin Rhoton. Dan, Bill and Laurie too. No matter who held signs for them, they now have the responsibility to examine the issues and use their own judgment about what’s best for the community. I believe Karin is well aware of that.

A funny thing happens when you’re elected to lead the community. When the endorsers and sign holders aren’t in the room, you have to stand on your own two feet. Those who can, become leaders. Those who can’t, become followers.

It becomes evident, fairly quickly, who the leaders and followers are…

By the way, I am personally disappointed that Dan did not win a seat on the Board of Selectmen because he’s got talents our town needs, but I’m not disappointed with the over-all election results. Dan Lanen having to recuse himself from important decisions will always be a problem for me, but I think the Town may get a great bargain in electing Bill Gordon. He’ll bring fresh enthusiasm to the table with an experienced family resource(his dad, Fincom member and former town manager Jim Gordon) to turn to for advice. Not to mention that the family connection between the Board of Selectmen and the Finance Committee ought to do wonders to improve communication between the boards!!

Sincerely,
Sandy Gleed