CAMPBELL, CONSERVATIVES TURN DISTRICT FIVE RED!

People are asking me how I felt after I was informed that the initial election count, which held for three days, was incorrect to the point that I won rather than lost the election.

I can’t tell you. Words don’t describe. The implications for supporters — conservatives who hold their beliefs dearly — for Leelanau County, and for my family are immense and complicated.

But joy works as the first descriptive. I was just coming to grips with the thought that I was misguided in believing the path laid before me by God was to help form the future of Leelanau County from elected office. I even was feeling comfortable, as time will do, in the role of finding other venues for helping people and fulfilling civic responsibility.

And now that commissioner path we all worked so hard to clear has opened up. Holy cow.

First and foremost, thanks go to my wife, Debbie, and son Cody for putting up with all this running for office nonsense. Campaigning is a nonstop occupation. I relate it to running a business. You can work 24 hours in a day, then stop to rest with thoughts of all the things you could have done with more time. It’s exhausting, and a strain on the priorities of life.

Right behind my family appreciation goes to the army of supporters. People who drove me door-to-door, who pounded in signs, who spoke good words about me to neighbors, who wrote letters — and who dug into their checking accounts to help fund the whole effort. Much was made in a newspaper article about a handful of donations from people who have a closeness with Leelanau but whose addresses were out of state. Not one person asked for anything in return for a contribution (and in fact, I have never met many of you).. This might sound insincere but it’s not: Every contribution  from $5 on up is just as important to me as the next. Looking at it from the standpoint of the donor, the small contributions represent bigger sacrifices. Thank you to everyone who contributed.

And, of course, thank you to voters, many of whom took the effort to split their tickets, resulting in returning District 5 to Republican after five straight elections that went blue.

I’m proud that we ran on who we are — folks who put the rights of all people above the control of government, understand that government must not live above the means of constituents, and will stand up for government safeguards such as policies and laws controlling conflict of interest, open meetings and freedom to information,

Onward and upward.