Update (7:40 a.m.): Turner wrote to us asking to correct an inadvertent omission of Russo, whose name has missing when the post was first published, but has since been added.
Karen Turner sent this statement of congratulations to former adversary Robert Jackson tonight:
Individual congratulations have gone out to some of the winning candidates, but not yet all. Therefore all of the candidates on the Real Progress Montclair slate would like to release this statement to send congratulations to all of the winning candidates in last night’s Montclair municipal elections:
The Real Progress Montclair team (RPM) would like to extend congratulations to Robert Jackson, Rich McMahon, Bob Russo, Bill Hurlock, Robin Schlager, Sean Spiller and Renee Baskerville on their victories in yesterday’s election. We will support their efforts to tackle our rising taxes and excessive debt while maintaining the values we all hold dear. Our approaches to these issues may be different, but each of the candidates who ran has only the best interests of Montclair at heart and it will take all of us working together to put our town on a more sustainable path.
Meanwhile, New York Times writer and Montclair resident Kate Zernike updated her readers on the outcome of yesterday’s election in a story headlined “Montclair Rejects Candidate Seeking to Reduce Spending.” Her previous story about Turner, which hit the web late Monday, inflamed the rhetoric surrounding the election and infuriated the Turner campaign.
really?, to leave Bob Russo out, that is just petty, I did not vote for the guy but he got more votes then any of the RPM Candidates. A parting shot from Larry Kopp…
I have to believe that that was an inadvertent omission. Have to. No campaign could publicly be that petty (right?). I await an additional statement to that effect.
We need to heal as a town and move on. Graciousness from all of Tuesday’s winners and losers is what is called for now.
(fyi: I did not vote for Russo either).
Okay, Russo just popped up in the statement. When did that happen? Whatever. It’s a non-issue now. Phew. I’m glad I assumed it was an inadvertent omission. No good would have come from assuming otherwise.
Her statement shows a lot of class.
Let’s pretend it was an omission and let’s all move on
Why would they do that? Seriously, move on. I believe them.
I will look forward to seeing you in 2016, Karen.
… hearing commentors call out “rich whities” and paint a good portion of our residents as tea party zealots who cared more about the country club than the schools has given me pause. before the election I didn’t think anything of it… no matter how long I live here, how many kids I coach or schools i volunteer in, how much money i donate and raise for things like the pre-K or other worthwhile causes, I think that I will always be an outsider. So the Jackson win was not surprising in an of itself, it was how thorough and dominating the 2012 slate did it that is the surprise.
In the last day or so, in all the post-election shock and noise, the intelligent and heartfelt comments of cspn55 in the election night thread more than anything has stuck with me.
Montclair is a tough town to govern. We are at least two towns in one, maybe three. The thing that worries me the most is the divisiveness and nastiness of this campaign. I’m calling attention to it not to make any predictions about whether this is a turning point of some sort, but boy it sure seems like one to me. I wonder, with some trepidation and sadness, where things will go from here.
I agree with you ‘roo. The rhetoric has been incredibly nasty. I found the Times article to be particularly nasty and divisive, and I think much of what was on Patch and to a certain extent here, was the work of paid operatives fueling those flames. It’s not good any way you look at it. Regardless of who you voted for.
I also look forward to seeing Karen in 2016. Hopefully the town will not have formally declared bankruptcy by then.
Rhetoric has been nasty on both sides. People were passionate about their candidates and said things that were not very nice. Jerseygurl, for example, made some very nasty comments about Jackson calling him a failed businessman though I am sure she knows very little about his business record and insulted his character generally. But I suspect she is a good person as are both Turner and Jackson. Hopefully things will calm down generally. I do not think the comments on Baristanet & Patch generally are not representative of how the vast majority of the town feels. I think the division is sort of an internet construct. The majority of people who voted just chose the candidate the liked the most and the majority of people did not vote at all.
I would add that I hope folks like cspn55 do not feel like the majority in town consider them outsiders, especially based on the echo chambers that are Patch and Baristanet.
Don’t kid yourself Mari,the turnout for the Montclair2012 slate was due to the strong union and Essex county political support.
Kevin – I disagree that it was an issue of turnout especially since she lost in every ward (Jackson beat expectations in the 4th ward by about 400 voters but that would not have been enough to swing it anyway). I think Turner was successfully portrayed as being conservative or or whatever you want to call it. I am not saying that is true – but I think that made the difference. And to your point on Unions – NJEA members make up a significant portion of our town and they were clearly not going to go for Turner. I think her platform was honestly and straightforwardly rejected by the town. Whether that was wise is obviously a debatable point.
The first sign of nastiness was the hue and cry over “PTA gate” brought to the fore, in my opinion by “dherron” on patch, amplified by operatives online, and made quickly into a racial issue by Jackson.
Those were not random events In my opinion, that’s professional level political hay making the paid professionals use. It’s ugly, divisive and effective. It was no accident. And it’s an indication of the quality of our Mayor elect.
The bottom line for me is that we had the exact same 29% of the voter turnout as 2008.
We also had less voters placing their full four votes than in 2008.
This is not a mandate for change. The residents have spoken. It’s a simple as that.
ROC- I disagree with your allocation of “blame” but I suppose it is moot at this point. My only point is that I think the rhetoric was much more inflamed on these sites than what I witnessed around town and picked up conversing with people at various events.
Can we all stop arguing about who started the nastiness? I have my own opinions (which are not in line with others expressed here), but honestly, where will this get us? There was enough nastiness on both sides to continue to throw stones for months to come. What good will it do this town to continue to sling accusations back and forth?
Personally, I have ultimate respect for all of the candidates who ran. Some of their supporters, no. But the candidates, yes.
Well put pac2.
You can’t sling mug and demagogue through a campaign and expect everyone to let bygones be bygones. What’s to be gained? There are some real character issues here, in my opinion, we’d do well to remember what’s transpired as issues arise in the next 4 years.
RE: mari @ 11:22
Turner did not lose in every ward. She actually won the 1st Ward. As did Carlson and Zorich. (not surprising to those painting stereotypes).
What is a little more interesting is…
A. In the 2nd and 3rd Wards, Zorich or Carlson ran relatively close seconds to Russo.
B. the degree to which Jackson actually won the 4th Ward — with 82% of the vote. The 1,100 vote difference in the 4th ward is what makes this total as impressive as it is. The lack of votes there are what cost Zorich or Carlson the second seat, so his coattails likely carried McMahon into office.
Did Jackson win? Yes.
Was Turner rejected (as headlined in the NYT)? Not so much I would say, except in the 4th ward.
https://www.montclairnjusa.org/dmdocuments/Municipal-Election-2012.pdf
As long as everyone is spinning things, how about this factual observation: candidates representing the past two Township Councils won by huge margins; candidates representing the present Council got defeated by remarkable margins. Not so sure present officials should be “thrilled” by this.
sophmore, are you surprised about jackson’s overwhelming success in the 4th ward? His vote count is nearly identical to Renee Baskerville’s. The 4th ward swung the election, yet it is consistently treated like the stepchild of Montclair. Fascinating.
“The 4th ward swung the election”
Ummm, how do you explain then that if you back out ALL the fourth ward votes, Jackson would still have won? Please stop spinning. The election is over. The fourth ward did not swing the election but merely enhanced the margin.
Is Zernike even a Montclair taxpayer? Or does she rent?
Renters pay taxes.
“The fourth ward did not swing the election but merely enhanced the margin”
Understatement of the year. Don’t kid yourself – the 4th ward was THE difference for the Councillor at Large elections.
Is the 4th ward not part of Montclair?
You’re right, mari, about the town rejecting Turner’s platform, and about Turner’s shortcomings as a politician (which you point out on other threads). You have to be pretty charismatic to win people over with promises of austerity and good bookkeeping, and Turner wasn’t charistmatic. Jackson is, though, and he has no qualms about handing out goodies.
But to say the rhetoric has been nasty on both sides is too easy. Remember, Jackson was the one who made the racism charge.
Thinking, have you looked at the election numbers? Jackson won over Turner by about 1300 votes. Jackson also won over Turner in the 4th ward by 1100 votes. That’s what made the election – Turner only lost by 240 votes to Jackson in the other 3 wards combined. The only landslide victory he had over her was in the 4th ward.
Redrum, what is your point? Are you suggesting that the 4th Ward votes should not count?
Last election, when all the slates actually campaigned in the 4th, the vote for Mayor was more or less split 3 ways.
“Jackson also won over Turner in the 4th ward by 1100 votes. That’s what made the election – Turner only lost by 240 votes to Jackson in the other 3 wards combined….”
Yes, but to be fair and as you point out, Turner still lost to Jackson in the other three wards combined – the 4th ward was not THE difference in terms of spelling ultimate victory or defeat for Jackson.
Wow, the sour grapes on this board are incredible.
RPM lost. Get over it.
Hate to burst you bubble, but your voices on internet a blog comment section had little to nothing to do with the outcome of the election. Real Montclair voters rejected Turner’s agenda in every single ward by a wide margin.
You can have fever dreams all you want about union conspiracies and machine politics, but in the end, voters across town voted in the person they wanted to represent them as mayor.
It wasn’t Turner.
No, I’m saying the 4th ward does count – enough to make a victory a landslide. Karen Turner was only “rejected” by the rest of the town by 240 votes. Ironically, the 4th ward is nearly completely disregarded by the current council – and all three 2012 mayoral candidates – but it had the largest voting bloc in this election.
Baristanet is really a virtual water cooler for people to kvetch about the political mele that is Montclair.
But …the 4th ward did make all of the difference for certain individuals running for Councilor At Large …coattails anyone ?
4th ward is disregarded? Have you even been to a council meeting? Renee Baskerville casts every issue through her only prism, the 4th ward. And most other members are cowed into submission, rather than risk charges of being elitist. Wait for the swearing in of this council and that “Kumbaya” thing she made everyone do after ’08 election.
redrum,
I understand your point now and I agree, None of the slates bothered to put a candidate for 4th Ward, I would call that disregarding the 4th Ward. 2 of the slates did little or any campaigning in the 4th and then they wonder why they lost. I am sure that either Carlson and Zorich could have found the 200 votes they were short in the 4th had they made a real effort to connect
btw, Did anyone notice that about 400 people out of the 1500 who voted in the 4th did not cast a vote for Baskerville
omg- there was no need to vote for Baskerville since she was probably going to win anyway.
btw, Did anyone notice that about 400 people out of the 1500 who voted in the 4th did not cast a vote for Baskerville
While we’re on the subject, did anyone notice that 33,791 people out of the 37,669 who live in Montclair did not cast a vote for Robert Jackson.
As you all go on and on, here is what I learned from the election. All of us that comment on this blog and any other blog need to vote and then become involved in our town. Not just bitch and moan but be active. Let your voice that most of you have no problem letting out in these blogs be heard in real time and at meetings of the TC, School Board and others. If we disagree then great but show up and tell people how you feel. Don’t just do it here, do it in person.
All of us that comment on this blog and any other blog need to vote and then become involved in our town.
I can only speak for myself, but on Tuesday I did in fact vote. Three times, to be exact. The only thing that kept me voting in all four Wards was the fact that the polls closed so early. 8 pm! They should really do something about that for next time.
On the strategy side:
The 4th Ward adding 1,200 (21%) more registered voters since the 2008 election. The other wards averaged 7-8% increases.
From December on, there were just 331 newly registered voters Town-wide. These increased registrations happened long before the campaign season got started.
Russo and KWD also had a strong existing base in this ward. If KWD people did a lot of bullet votes, it effectively a no vote to FM and RPM.
Even if the 4th Ward turnout dropped (it did, from 29% to 23%), every mayoral and at-large candidate must have known this ward meant. M12 saw the opportunity and did a great job campaigning here.
Interesting that 4th ward registration was up so sharply. That must be the result of a lot of organizing work, no?
Well Montclair, if this is what you want, then this is what you get.
The calculus is easy: our fiscal problems will not be solved, let alone attenuated. We will continue to borrow and spend until we can’t. For my money, that day can’t come soon enough. This town needs a grand reset. Will people suffer? Damn straight they will. Too bad. The public sector and the related spending has this town by the short-hairs. Fiscal control is a joke as evidenced by the inability to find out what is actually going on in our books. If you haven’t tried before to get accounting/spending data from our fearless leaders, good luck. What is the room number at 205 for the Office of Runaround?
Facing the true nature of the reality that Montclair faces, is simply too much for political discourse. The electorate rejected an end to what we cannot afford, but why let facts get in the way of reality. I would take the BK option (cuz we are already broke) and get on with it already. The public sector is hemorrhaging the town’s finances beyond cardiac arrest. But that doesn’t matter, because everyone wants to get their slice, even if it kills the patient. News flash, it will. We are still in denial that the patient is already dead.
Unions and retirees with generous benefits believe that they are entitled to the promises that were made them, in spite of the fact that those promises cannot be kept. Should those agreements be renegotiated? In the private sector, sometimes those promises disappear altogether.
That which cannot be paid, won’t.
Our day of reckoning is approaching and the medicine that we will need to take just becomes more bitter by the day. It appears that fantasy and wishful thinking have again won the day, and addressing the all to painful truth that Montclair has to come down fast from the rarefied air we continue to believe we are entitled to breathe, is lost once again.
Reality will be a cold mistress that demands arduous amounts pain to right these imbalances. The repudiation of common sense is a sure sign that Montclair’s best days are behind it. Can this change? It might, but the likelihood of realizing such good fortune is a best an afterthought lost in past glory days of yesteryear.
As a continued resident of the town that held such promise when I moved here, I wish us good luck, but I fail to see how it will materialize.
“Hope is not a strategy, it is a sure sign that you have lost control.”
EH
frank,
I bet if you checked, alot of those new registrations were a result of the Obama 2008 Campaign
complainerpuss Were three of those 33,791 people you?
Between all the delicious free food and the beverages they were giving out at the various polling places around town, at a certain point I kinda lost count of how many times I didn’t vote for Jackson.Come to think of it, when all was said and done, I recall actually voting only once–and it was a write-in vote for Ted Mattox.
I’d love to see some of you commenting on this story. It’s about a Montclair resident who is trying to promote thoughtful dialogue between political adversaries. And tell me: Do you think it can work? And would it have elevated the debate in this election?
omg, I’ll take the bet if you are suggesting the majority of the registrations all happened in 2008. what are we betting?
Debbie,
No and No.
Debbie, I think what we had in the debates here around town are the equivalent of the table. People discussing issues. In our case, most of the candidates are probably about the same on the social issues which are usually the most divisive. (Abortion, religion, gay marriage, guns). This campaign had professional mud slingers using anonymous names who positioned this as a two way race – rich white folks who are closet Tea Partiers and want to shutter the public schools and fire all the sanitation workers against the African American liberal who is a true Montclarion, born and bred. Race and class were front and center. And it worked.
I think the table idea can perhaps lead to more civil discourse in one on one situations and perhaps have a very small impact on a small number of people who are already somewhat open to other ways of thinking. But I think the reach and power of TV and the internet, in the hands of wealthy and powerful professionals will keep the overall discourse filled with innuendo, smears, and nasty tactics until we change the way campaigns are funded and the way voters get their information. What’s real doesn’t matter. What’s perceived to be real is all that counts. That’s why smear campaigns are effective.
Perception is reality. ( I work in advertising).
…what Frank said.
With all the political misappropriation of the racial issue in this town, maybe we do need to bring back (take off “hiatus”) Conversations On Race.
Happy to have thrown a piece of raw meet to all you lions by giving you the detail voting statistics! 😉
@redrum I was not surprised that Mr. Jackson won the 4th Ward, but I was a little surprised by the degree to which he won. Some of the other comments here point out why it was significant. Not for the mayoralty, but for the At Large seats, which, in the end, are relatively equal to the mayor’s when it comes to voting.
My point was not to spin, but to point out the differences… and that correction that there are pockets of town where the RPM message did resonate.
Gurl calls it correctly. It was well constructed class warfare. I wonder if gurl will recognize it in November too?
Sure it’s class warfare. Can we all now finally admit Marx was right.
But the real news was the underwear bomber yet no thread on that.
If only an election could be held without mudslinging, race baiting and class warfare! Issues please, just the issues in November.
But the issues are about class and race. It’s the mostly white and middle/upper class who think it’s not.
The north/south divide in MTC is so obvious that to ignore it you have to be blind.
Bebop, really? Is it really north/south? I ride my bike around the estate section most weekends. With the exception of Upper Mountain Ave. for a half a mile stretch in the north part of town, I think that large western edge of the southern half has more than it’s share of estates and expensive homes. I live on a funny little street with funky little house close together on a very mixed block in Upper Montclair. Frankly, I like riding in the other part of town because I like to ogle the real estate. And it’s quieter and more pleasant.
If you took away the magnet schools, you’d have a pretty segregated elementary school system in Montclair. Some parts of MTC are mixed but not many. It was pretty clear to me when my family and I were looking for a place to live in Baristaville that there were white neighborhoods and then black neighborhoods.
The estate section in S Montclair is just up the hill from a predominantly black neighborhood.
Now what all that has to do with the general mismanagement of the town’s finances are another story. However, politically speaking Mrs Turner had to be aware of the race & class issues in the town. Being late for an NAACP meeting? Not good. She kind of came off as politically naive.
The difference in the race was Susswein. He was the Ralph Nader of the campaign.
Jg- where have you and Kay been? The yard and guest room have been ready since Tuesday night!
I have never heard of a Statement of Congratulations, but how feckin’ appropriate for the Statement Machine Slate to issue one. Such warmth.
Funny how dull and factual the second day story is. What it boils down to is: d’oh! Never mind!
I say this out of admiration: The Montclair 2012 ticket didn’t just turn out voters in the Fourth Ward. What they did in the Third Ward was just as impressive.
In the Third Ward, the Montclair 2012 operation got more apartment-dwellers to vote than at any time in recent history. Sean Spiller won the Third Ward seat in those apartment buildings, and those were the voters who also put Rich McMahon over the top.
Theirs was an incredibly effective GOTV operation, led by the candidates themselves. (See, for example, yesterday’s Montclair Times note about Sean’s personally driving Third Ward voters to the polls.) That effort delivered their team the victory, and I realy have to tip my hat to them.
complainerpuss,
Are these things true?
I can only speak for myself, but on Tuesday I did in fact vote. Three times, to be exact.
Between all the delicious free food and the beverages they were giving out at the various polling places around town
Cary,
While you’re here, is is true that the current council wants to turn the Hollow Day care property into a community center – even though it would actually make sense to let Home Corp review the property for potential affordable housing development? So they’ll sell Wildwood at a discount so 2 families can buy “affordable” housing, and allow a larger property to become a community center?
And then there’s the ALF in downtown. Are we really paying to beautify South Park, only to have a 5 story blocky structure built there, that will not do anything to revitalize the area? We’ll lose parking spaces and a great opportunity to have an attractive mixed use space there.
Is there any amount of public debate at the next meeting that will impact these decisions, or is this pretty much a done deal?
NJGator – ‘gurl doesn’t know it yet, but I am picking her up tonight on my way home from work. I hope she has her stuff packed and ready, ‘cuz I am not waiting!!
I had better get packin’! Honestly, I didn’t sign on for White Plains. A town, yes. Not a major urban center.
Cary…voting three times would be a felony. As for the food and drink, I did not arrive at my polling place until after 7 pm so if there was any food or beverage, I missed it. Though I recall the last election there were PTA bake sales at just about every school that voting machines.
We are the moms.
We make playdates. We love playdates. We avoid playdates. We beg for playdates. We drive carpools. We rely on carpools. We use carpools to find out who is dating. We wonder what is meant by “dating.”
We commute to the City. To Newark. To Trenton. By bus. By subway. By car. By foot. We drive suburbans. Minivans. Mini-SUVs. Hybrids. We hate to drive. We text and drive. We don’t drive.
Our kids are in college. In pre-school. In middle school. In day care. In high school. They are in the play. In the playoffs. In love. In a phase. In diapers. In cliques. In a funk. In a Big Boy Bed. Inconsolable. Indifferent. Incredible.
They are on the honor roll. On drugs. On the third Harry Potter book. On Facebook. On Travel. On to us.
We start mothers’ groups. Playgroups. Parenting groups. Support groups. We go to practice. To lessons. To recitals. To games. To matches. To meets. To rehearsals. To the dentist. To OT. To PT. To therapy. To the soup kitchen. To church. To synagogue. To mosque. To the market. To the pharmacy. To the cleaners. To the gym. To yoga. To their father’s house. To extremes.
We meet with our children’s teachers. We keep meaning to e-mail our children’s teachers. We pray for a good teacher.
We complain about a bad teacher. We defer to the teacher. We toast the teacher.
We volunteer in their classrooms. We wish we could volunteer in their classrooms. We wish our kids wanted us to volunteer in their classrooms.
We are the primary breadwinner. The only breadwinner. Barely making ends meet. The one who holds down the fort. The one who handles the finances. The General Contractor. The Calendar Queen. The one who opens the mail. The one who misses bedtime. The one who does bedtime. The one who packs the lunches. The one who leaves notes. The one who leaves first in the morning. The one who does pick-up. The one who meets the bus. The one who is late for the babysitter. Again.
We run bake sales. We bake for the bake sale. We forget about the bake sale. There was a bake sale??
We thank our partners. We forget to thank our partners. We talk to our sisters. We forget to call our mothers. We e-mail our mothers. We worry about our mothers. We try to remember what our mothers would have said. We try not to say it. We take care of our mothers. We miss our mothers.
We are Black. We are White. We are both. We are Latina. We are Chinese. We are Irish. We are Korean. We are Indian. We are Bengali. We are sick of talking about race. We think it’s all about race. We talk to our children about race. We aren’t sure how to talk about race.
We live in apartments. In condos. In houses. In mansions. We have three kids. One kid. Two kids. Four kids. We have the family we always wanted. We never imagined our family this way. We feel pressured to have another. We knew we were done. We wish we’d had a third. We tried to have a third.
We are Christians. We are Jews. We are Catholics. We are Muslims. We are Hindus. We pray on Sunday. We pray every day. We pray on Saturday. We aren’t sure whether to pray or not. We find strength in faith. We believe but we don’t go. We go but we don’t believe. We aren’t sure what we believe.
Our children are Good in restaurants. Good at telling jokes. Good in the car. Good at Math. Good Kids. They struggle with reading. With Geometry. With spelling. With The Lattice Method. With Book Reports. With Science Fairs. They work hard to stay organized. To stay focused. To stay awake.
We buy books at Barnes & Noble. We buys books at Watchung Booksellers. We take books out of the library. We listen to books on the way to work. We live for our Book Groups. We hate our book groups. We never read anymore.
We garden. We compost. We rake. We weed. We hire landscapers. We plant vegetables. We wish we had a yard. We plant perennials. We seek out Indigenous plants. We kill house plants.
We shop at the Farmers’ Market. At Whole Foods. At A& P. At Kings. At Shop Rite. At Pathmark. At the Last minute. We buy On-Line. On Sale. On impulse. On Credit. We plan menus for the week. We wonder what’s for dinner. We throw something together after work. We trade recipes. We wonder whether there will be enough for everyone.
We have lost our baby weight. We are in the best shape of our lives. We never stop hating our bodies. We think everyone is looking at us. We think no one is looking at us. We have accepted our bodies.
We run the PTA. We are on the PTA. We are burnt out from the PTA. We made our best friends through the PTA. We feel excluded from the PTA. We owe everything to the PTA. We are afraid of the PTA.
We are on School Action. We go to School Action meetings. We forget when School Action meetings are. We are too tired to go to School Action meetings. We feel guilty about not going to School Action meetings. We appreciate School Action. We wonder what School action is. We speak at School Board meetings. We have never been to a School Board meeting. We sit on the School Board. We think the School Board should be elected. Appointed. Replaced. Sainted.
We cheer. We argue. We clap. We complain. We punish. We explain. We yell. We wait. We hug. We hold it together. We lose it. We snuggle. We try not to laugh. We laugh.
We wonder whether to call the pediatrician. We show up late for work to go to the pediatrician. We feel foreheads for fever. We use Neosporin. We overreact. We underreact. We say “You’re OK!” We hope we’re right.
We watch each other’s children. We teach other people’s children while someone else watches ours. We leave our children with Nannies. With Au Pairs. At Day Care. With Saturday night babysitters. With epipens. With tears in our eyes. With a sigh of relief. With a panic of guilt. With our husbands. With our partners. With our older children. With our cell phones fully charged.
We work from home. We work from home on Fridays. We dream about working from home. We get more work done at home. We get no work done at home. We work in suits. We work in scrubs. We work in sweatpants. We work on the train. We jockey for promotions. We give up promotions to achieve balance. We work part-time to achieve balance. We hate when people talk about balance.
We travel for business. We work two shifts. We feel ready to go back to work. We dread going back to work. We wonder whether to go back to work. We wish we had a choice. We are hard on each other. We are hardest on ourselves.
We have it all together. We think she has it all together. We wonder if anyone has it all together. We take it one year at a time. One day at a time. One text at a time.
We voted for our friends. We voted for the ones we believed in. We took the high road. We thought the other side behaved badly. We were shocked. We were right all along. We still think we got it right. We wonder whether we got it right. We wonder what was said by our opponents. By our supporters. By our friends.
We were treated badly by friends when we didn’t go their way. We treated others badly when they didn’t go our way.
We said things we shouldn’t have. We didn’t say things we should have. We didn’t know what to say. We said things on front of our children. We said things in front of other people’s children. We forgot they were in the room.
We believe others acted in ways that are unforgivable. We acted in ways that have been called unforgivable.
We did the best we could at the time. We should have known better. We wish we had known more. We wish others had known more. We thought we had the full story. We believed what we were told. We didn’t fall for anything. We repeated things we heard. We think the truth will come out. We think the truth came out. We blame the County. The 1%. The Machine. The Reporting. The Incumbents. The Posts. The PTA Moms. The Taxes. The Fourth Ward. The First Ward. The Progressives. The Conservatives. Each other. Ourselves.
We supported each other. We turned against each other. We gave each other the benefit of the doubt. We judged each other. We forgave each other.
In the end, we remembered that we are the moms.
In the end, we knew we needed each other.
In the end, we decided to move forward.
We remembered that we are the moms.
And the moms stick together.
Happy Mothers’ Day.