Death of a Local Legend

Every politician owes their start to someone.

That “start” could come in many ways. My “start” happened in 1978. I was given the opportunity to do political cartoons by our local newspaper owner/publisher Warren Leary.

It was while doing those political cartoons that I really started to study local elected officials. Not just attend meetings but to really study each and every member of the governing body.

I learned who were the “good ones” and what made them good at their job. I learned who were the “bad ones” and what made them bad at their job.

I learned to put out my opinions and let the chips fall where they may. I learned how to accept criticism of my positions with the same humor I used to needle others.

When I was first elected as a Mayor my only political experience was doing those cartoons for the newspaper. For over thirty years local politics has been a huge part of my life.  I owe it all to Warren Leary for giving me the opportunity to do those cartoons.

Warren Leary passed away this week.

Thanks Warren for all you did for me. I won’t ever forget.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 20th, 2009 at 4:57 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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