Norfolk Daily News

Friday – October 24, 2008

In Response
NORFOLK — This letter is in response to two recent letters by Mary Doyle. Mary was critical of Republicans Mike Johanns and Jeff Fortenberry and supportive of Democrats Scott Kleeb and Max Yashirin. What Mary neglected to say is she is the chairperson of the Madison County Democratic Party.

I have nothing against a person having a point of view but am disappointed when they try to hide their real agenda. So, in the interest of full disclosure, I will tell you that I, like a majority of the people in Norfolk, am a conservative Republican.

I was an employee of the city for 27 years, with the last 10 years as a member of the Norfolk Fire Division. My interest in politics is on the national level. When I was asked by a renowned firefighter a while back what I thought of the Norfolk mayor’s race, I told him, as the old saying goes, all politics are local.

Even though Norfolk’s mayor’s race is supposed to be non-partisan, as a registered Democrat, one of the candidates chose to make her formal announcement to run for mayor at the Madison County Democrats monthly meeting in November of last year.

The Nebraska Democratic Party has posted on its Web site what they call their 93 County Strategy to get Democrats elected to local offices. Because of this strategy, I also told my fellow firefighter that it is perfectly legit to let party affiliation impact your decision as it relates to the Norfolk mayor’s race. And that is where I left it.

Fast-forwarding through this election season, I can see a lot of similarities between national and local campaigns. On one side you have Obama-Biden, Kleeb, Yashirin and Fuchtman with their “Change we can believe in” and “Bringing people together.” On the other side, you have McCain-Palin, Johanns, Fortenberry and Schommer with experience and courage, proven and trusted, answering questions, not raising taxes and clarity in having a plan and stating what that plan is.

Norfolk is coming out of some rough times, and Tom Schommer has proven to me that he has the credentials to be an excellent mayor for Norfolk during this transitional time.

BRIAN SIGNOR