Gone Mild - Right on Mark Forsythe?

Many, many thanks to Gone Mild for a complimentary post this morning. From everything he wrote that I said, I must have been pretty far down into that Latte by the time I said this: He dismissed prior council members who acted as though being on the losing end of a 12-1 vote meant that they were taking a courageous stand. "That's just stupid, and a failure," Mark says, shaking his head. I'll admit that does sound a lot like me, but sheesh! I have to learn to tone it down a bit or switch to decaf! I read a great argument on a blog comment somewhere a long while back. I don't remember where but I thought the point was well made. Losing 12-1 in a council vote does nothing but get your name in the paper. What you've just done is shown the whole city that you are such an inneffective legislator that you cannot sway even 1 other person to see things your (and consequently your constituents') way. That's not leadership. That's grandstanding. That's not consensus building (I despise that phrase), that's playing the martyr. I'm no martyr. Being the youngest of seven I will admit to some youngest child grandstanding tendencies, but not when it comes to the business of leadership. If you ever see my name in the paper on the losing end of a 12-1 vote, I can assure you that it will be accompanied by a sincere apology to you the voters for having completely failed you. I will do all I can to make sure that situation doesn't happen on my watch. Have a great weekend everybody! I have some door-knocking to do.