Small town politics...I just cant get enough

I grew up in little ole Bedford, Iowa. Here's what I truly love about my little hometown community. I love that when someone gets sick...they are all there to help you recover. Be it chicken noodle soup, a ride to the doctor, a fundraiser to help you pay for your bills and/or expenses. There is such great pride in knowing that your town has your back when push comes to shove.

I also love that if someone falls on hard times...the people of the community are there to help them back on their feet. Let's help these people and do whatever it takes to help them succeed.

Like any small town, here's what I absolutely don't love...and don't miss. The pettiness. The cowardess. The back-stabbing. The "beating around the bushes." If you have followed my blogs, you would know that I don't write about where I live very often; or about the people that live in my town. You know why? Because I don't know them like I know my hometown. And from what I am hearing lately, if the people in my current town were anything like some of the people in my hometown, I would be glad I didn't participate in town-wide activities.

Some of you have a lot of explaining to do. Some of you have a lot of apologizing to do. Some of you need to get right with God because He is seeing what you are doing and hearing what you are saying. And He sees you go from one person to the next to the next and to the next; each time telling maybe just one detail different from the previous time. Until eventually, you have blown a simple little story so out of proportion that when your original story comes back around, you don't even recognize it anymore.

Let's talk about the Mayoral race in Bedford. I think it's A-M-A-Z-I-N-G that three people are running for the Mayor position. That just means that a lot of people are taking the real issues of Bedford and choosing to do something about them. That IS what the mayor's job is, right?

I will say that I know the three candidates that are running for Mayor of Bedford. I also know the current Mayor that is stepping down. I have known most of these people many, many years, if not, my whole life. Now, I am going to go out on a very thin limb here and let you know some details of some of the things that I have been "taking notes" on.

I understand that I don't live in Bedford so my opinion will weigh about as much as a gnat's ass but I'm going to give you what I got anyway. But keep in mind, this is MY opinion.

How would you like it if someone came after you and your family for every single thing you did? How would you like to be "attacked" on an almost daily basis every day you went to work? How efficient do you think your work would be when, day after day, week after week, someone kept personally attacking each and every issue you handled? Let me ask you another question. How long would you go out in the public and participate in ANYTHING if you had to look at a piece of paper on the counter of ANY business...seeing the signatures of those people you have grew up around...people you have called your friends...saying that they want pretty much your every work move, checked, re-checked and then checked again? Is that the kind of community YOU would want to live in? What the hell happened to being honest and upfront with people? What the hell are you people scared of? If you have a question of someone in your community, for the love of fried pickles, ASK THEM.

WHAT IS THE WORST THAT COULD HAPPEN?

I'm telling you right now that I would be ashamed to live in such a place. If I was that person...the one getting attacked for every single thing I did...I would move. I would run and I would never have one nice thing to say for that town again. And I would tell everyone. I would post it on every piece of social media there was to post it on. I would start putting some pressure on some people and demand that they be held accountable for their actions; PAST AND PRESENT.

I have a friend from Bedford that is damn good at her job. She has been since the day she got it. And there might have been a time or two when I got angry because of a bill I received, that she sent out, but I guarantee you this.....I am adult enough to understand that she is just doing her job. She doesn't set rates. She doesn't decide who gets to pay more or less. She does what she gets paid to do. And if she wasn't good at her job.....guess what? She would have been fired years ago! Yet every day she goes back. To the job she loves. For the people in her community. Just so she can be hammered and ridiculed again and again.

How would you like to be in charge of the finances for a large corporation and because the new guy in the mail room...that wants to be CEO someday...doesn't like you, your family, or the fact that maybe your father is the current CEO...forces an audit on you everytime he pops a piece of gum in his mouth? How would that feel? At first, it might be funny. After a couple of unnecessary times though, it gets wearisome on anybody that has to go through it. There's nothing to be scared of as long as you're doing your job, right? And every audit costs the city more and more money.

How would you like it if you were on a committe with someone from your community and seemed to get along just fine, and then one day find out that this one certain person, whom you've always gotten along with (not best friends here people, just someone you've gotten along with), has been talking smack behind your back? How would that make you feel? Let's be honest. You don't have to be close friends to hurt someone's feelings and you don't have to be an enemy to be a real d-bag either.

Here's something that we see in each and every political race. Mudslinging. Grow up folks. Act your age. This isn't a Presidental race. There's no reason to be a hairy jerk about things. There's a time and a place to speak your platform but being mean and spiteful isn't what it should be about. Is that the kind of Mayor you want to lead your town? Someone that is CONSTANTLY down-grading the people of the town? Someone that is CONSTANTLY digging and digging at one group in particular, just to bring them to their knees and see them beg? Who wants that kind of dick at the helm?

We all have bad days. We all get grouchy. We all say things or do things that might be misinterpreted by others just simply because of our body language and/or tone of voice. Is that fair to judge someone because of the stress they are under at the time? Are we stopping to think about what issues and hurdles that person may have had to deal with or jump today? Or have we just stopped caring? As a community, we try to protect those we love in any way possible. As a community, you are dropping the ball by letting people talk about YOUR friends; YOUR town; YOUR neighbors. It's disgusting.

I like the people I work with. That doesn't mean that I want to go sing Karaoke with them on our days off. What I really mean to say is that I can tolerate most of the people I work with. The others I truly like to be around. SO...I had a situation not long ago where one of my co-workers kept riding my ass; day-in and day-out every single day; simply because I made ONE mistake...do you think it effected me? Do you think it effected those I worked with? Do you think it made the workplace a hostile environment? Is THAT the kind of town you want to live in? One where your town leader is CONSTANTLY looking for the bad in every situation? Pushing for and thriving on a hostile tone?

Here's something else I have found in my "notes." How would it make you feel if your Mayor didn't give a hoot's patootie about your views because you are a registered voter of a party they don't like? I don't care what your political views are when it comes to our damned President of the United States. Local is local. These are the people you do business with. These are the people that babysit your children. These are the people you babysit for. These are the people that carry your groceries out to your car. Let's keep this race in it's context people. Let's start CARING about what is really going on and who it is really effecting.

Where I live, I have an awesome Mayor. He has been at it so long and is so good at it, we just call him "Mayor." I just saw him in the lumber yard today and said, "Hi Mayor." That is something I absolutely love about my current town. My Mayor volunteers on a lot of local committees and is present IN our community. You name it...he has, is, or does help with it. He doesn't have to blow his own horn about what he has done because THE PEOPLE KNOW. We can see it with our very eyes.

My Mayor doesn't get on his Facebook page and boast to everybody about WHY he's a better person than anyone else. My Mayor doesn't run to Facebook to brag about what he has done "out of the goodness of his heart." He just does it and goes back to work. And that my friends, is why he is good at his job.

I think the people of Bedford need to stop and take a long hard look at what you really are. A small town. You aren't a metropolis. You aren't even a big city. What you ARE is a small-town. You ARE the heart of what is important in life. You ARE what every city and every metropolis once was...and lost. Don't give that up because someone wants to step up and make a name for themselves. Because someone's britches are too damned big for them. Unless you are a big-business, you shouldn't run like a big-business. I urge you to take the road less travelled and pick the grown-up candidate. The one that is truly in it for Bedford. Not for themselves. Not for their benefit. Not for their reward. This election has to be about Bedford and nothing/nobody else.

Going back to the part where you are in charge of finances for that big corporation. After many, many years of success, how would you like it if that mail guy accused you of "insider trading," or "falsifing documents?" Would be pretty damn shocking, would it not? These things of course are examples but this is the exact kind of person that wants to take care of Bedford. Did you know that? Were you aware? Do you REALLY know the personal agendas that some of the candidates have?

One of your candidates threw a hissy fit because the Mayor used equipment of the city's for personal use...WITH PERMISSION FROM THE COUNCIL...and might I add, before it was policy to not do this. But it was okay that this candidate used some city equipment himself, before the policy got changed.. If that doesn't spell hypocrite, I don't know what does! Why is it okay for this guy to use some of the city's equipment and not anyone else, what is on his agenda?? ThIs isnt the first tiMe I have talked about this man and hIs lying manipulative ways.

Over the past couple of years, I have heard people relay that this guy...this candidate... is "pissed about the Mayor doing this... and pissed about the Mayor doing that..." Who gives a rat's ass what that Mayor is doing on his personal time?? I have my own issues and so do you and so do your candidates. Let me ask you this: If this person becomes the next Mayor of Bedford, is he going to have his door open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week? Because if so, I think some of you should be on his doorstep between the hours of 1:00am and 5:00am Mondays through Fridays. If he wants to be a jerk, then bring jerk to his door. Does he not have a family to take care of? Is his wife not going to be stressed at how people react to her when they don't like HIS politics? Because that my friend, is what is going on in little ole Bedford, Iowa.

Because someone is family, doesn't mean they have the same morals; the same values; the same way of thinking; and it damn sure doesn't mean they agree on everything. If there's anything I can attest to, it is the aforementioned. Because you don't like what the current Mayor is doing, doesn't mean his whole family is to be stoned. They do not wear the Scarlet Letter.

I will close because...well even though I could go on and on and on...I think I have given you enough to think about. If you want to ask questions, ask them. This is your town; your friends; your family; ASK THOSE QUESTIONS. GET THOSE ANSWERS!!

I see a huge personal agenda going on in the Mayoral race in Bedford and I dont even live there!! Open your eyes folks. One of your candidates wants to, upon being elected, spend half of his day IN city hall "watching" the clerks because he has been trying to get them fired for years and the other half of the day, he will spend at the city shed "watching" their practices. I am pulling the Bullshit card here and now.  This guy says there should be no neputism at work. Obviously he isn't related to many people around here because if anybody came from any family over 2 siblings, you are usually related to them. Apparently all those years ago, when he left Bedford...escaped the small town life for the bigger and better things in life...he forgot what really makes a small town succeed. And that my friends, is the close-knit relationships that we need and want...to make Bedford be the kind of place EVERYONE wants to live in and raise their families in. Even the ones that left us so many years ago! 

On a more personal level, I would to end this with a big shout out of thanks to Lary and Karen Wyckoff, and Doug, Tammy, Morgan, Bailey and Bradyn Thompson of Bedford. For years, they took care of my mom and many others at the Northside Apartments. They mowed when it was 100+ degrees and always had a smile on their face. They were up there before the crack of dawn, shoveling snow in below zero-temps and harsh winds, putting out salt as soon as the sun came up, so the residents of the apartment complexes and their families, could get in and out safely. They took great care of my mom and she thought a lot of them. When something needed fixed or looked at, Lary or Karen was always there that day.

I could never re-pay them for what they did for my mom. Again I commend you and I thank you and I am sorry that people that turned their backs on you and/or stabbed you in the back. I know how it feels when that knife twists and turns back there. Hold your ground, you're good people!

Until next time...thanks for reading!!