The election is over, but it may be until the end of the month before we know who the next Mayor is. Currently I trail write in by a handful of votes but the small increase in votes counted today did not change rpercentages. We know there are at least 100 votes cast that have not yet been counted, but unless those votes make a dramatic shift in percentages it may not be until they announce who the write in candidates are (people assume they are all for Cy Sun, but that may not be the case either). Either way the election is too close for my comfort.
It has been said that every election has consequences. Pierce County voters found this out a few years back with the County Auditor. It is my hope that Pacific voters do not regret the outcome of the election because in my opinion Mr. Sun will be a disaster for this community. He is not qualified to manage this government and if he was to follow through on what he claimed he would do the result would be millions of dollars in lawsuits and legal claims. My biggest disappointment though is what this election will mean to the future. Pacific voters allowed negative attacks by a disgruntled businessman to influence an election. I would predict that we will only see elections in our future get worse than this one was.
As for my plans, my immediate goal is to continue the work I have as Mayor now. To present a balanced budget to the City Council next week and to continue the preparations for this winters flood risk. I will work with our crews tomorrow to close off two of the four openings in the flood wall at Pacific Park for the winter. Between now and January there is a lot of work that needs to be finished regardless of who will be Mayor in January. Either way our city is in much better shape than we were in 2004 when I took over. Then we were in serious debt, had many findings from the State Auditor and had community programs near failure. These same programs are now not only viable, but have doubled units of service over this past year. We have had six strait clean audits as well as closed many fiscal loopholes that has increased accountability. In spite of the fact our entire region is struggling with additional budget cuts, we should finish this year in the black and be on our way to rebuilding the level of reserves required by sound fiscal management.
As for my future, I will continue my work in Emergency Management both nationally and regionally. Although I doubt Mr Sun has an interest in taking over on preparedness for our city, my plans would be to find third parties to work through to still protect this city. I made a personal promise to myself and our community and have no interest in abandoning our citizens and our community. I will continue my work on my Master Trainer Practicum (similar to a Masters Thesis) which is writing a 16 hour training program on the elected official's role in emergency management. This is one of the largest gaps in our Nation's overall preparedness and I am proud to be one of the people working on addressing this issue.
By Friday we should have the majority of the remaining ballots counted. There should be an additional 300 votes to count yet and it would only take a 5% shift in percentages of the remaining ballots for me to catch up. Either way I can hold my head high for running a clean campaign, always holding myself accountable to our community and for what I have accomplished as your Mayor. My only regret would be that my defeat was caused by twisting of the truth. As will always be a fact, there is no corruption in City Hall and no matter how the facts are twisted, those that know me know the truth.
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