‘Losing’ candidates worked hard but couldn’t overcome misinformation

Editor:

There is no doubt that the people of Orleans have spoken. Let’s consider for a moment what they said

Countless no, that’s not quite right “just” a couple thousand residents and voters lined up at the polls to protest the unnecessary sale of the County nursing home. That is a FACT. Thousands PLURAL came out to tell their Legislators that it wasn’t necessary, and the fact is that it isn’t.

Thousands believe that better management and responsible accounting are what’s called for. It’s just plain unfortunate that even more thousands take a more pessimistic stand on what this County is made of.

But it was “only” a mere couple hundred that dedicated literal sweat and tears to the effort and a few less who would likely have given their blood for it as well, as clearly a battle as this has been. And mark those words, thus far this has been merely a battle.

On the other side, we have Legislators who freely suggest, after the election, that voters came out for other reasons. That this was not a one-issue election. If we can be proud of this County, I would say that we can be proud of it more for the willingness of its people to come out in such numbers as to drain some polling places completely of regular ballots rather than be proud of the final outcome.

But lest you think that’s a loser crying of sour grapes, reflect that a single-party Legislature still effectively remains, and that is inarguably to everyone’s disservice in a democracy. Where dialogue fails to thrive, democracy also withers.

And lest you think the side with fewer votes are losers at all, reflect on this:

In the wake of his discouraging “loss” my father first sadly reflected that the solitary win we had in Fred Miller came at the cost of what my dad said was “the hardest working one of the bunch of them (in Henry Smith, Jr.)”

If that’s what you call a loser then I’d suggest you get your definitions sorted out. You don’t become a winner by making your decisions in spite of what people think and without performing the due diligence expected from you in a jobparticularly not when it’s a job you were elected to for the express purpose of performing that diligence so everyone else doesn’t have to.

You become a winner by going the extra mile whether you’re in office or not, by plugging away as hard as you can at every chance you get even when you’re not getting paid for it. Riding the wave of over $30,000 of campaign spending to spread misinformation is not winning, and voting for such spenders instead of voting for workers is about the most tragically losing approach that I can imagine.

In two years, you’ll have another shot at voting against taxing, spending and cutting services. Hopefully, next time around people will be less “informed” by colorful fliers bought with garbage money and more informed by paying real attention to what’s going on right under their noses.

Brian Kent
Batavia

(Kent volunteered with the Concerned Citizens of Orleans County. His father Gary Kent was a candidate for the County Legislature.)