How The Mayor Of Palos Verdes Faced A Tough Reelection

The election campaign was ugly, as so many U.S. campaigns are, as the Mayor's opponent had vastly outspent him running a series of negative ads, claims which were now repeated at a town hall meeting shortly before the election.

At this point the Mayor's opponent was a heavy favorite to win the election.

"He's soft on crime," the Mayor's opponent declared in front of many Palos Verdes citizens. "And he looks the other way on illegal immigrant issues which allows them to work in our city."

"You are right when it comes to undocumented immigrants," the Mayor calmly replied. "They are men and women with families just like the rest of us and they need jobs. And our citizens wouldn't hire them if they didn't need their services.

"As for being soft on crime, we have one of the best little police forces in California," said the Mayor. "I guess by 'soft' you mean we treat alleged criminals with courtesy and respect after we arrest them, which is true.

"We do this because they too are human and worthy of our courtesy and respect. But also because at some point if convicted, they will serve their time and be released. We would like to do whatever we can to encourage them to make better life choices and not commit more crimes."

At first the crowd had cheered the Mayor's opponent. But after listening to the Mayor's reply, cheered for him.

"You waste the taxpayer's money on unnecessary expenditures," the Mayor's exasperated opponent declared while pointing a finger at the Mayor. "If by wasting money, you mean I invest it in parks and summertime entertainment you are right.

"But our parks are important to our citizens and the weekly summertime concert series we host brings everyone together as we rejoice in the music."

"You support abortion rights," the desperate opponent hollered. "That's true" answered the Mayor, I do support a woman's right to choose. But that's irrelevant in Palos Verdes. We have no clinics or hospitals."

"You support legalizing Marijuana," the opponent called out in a last ditch attempt to attack the Mayor. "I do," replied the Mayor.

"You made a very good point about wisely using taxpayer money. I do not want our police officers spending their time arresting our local citizens who have small amounts of Marijuana for personal use. And I do want our citizens including our schools to receive the tax revenue taxing Marijuana will bring."

The Mayor then reached out to his opponent and shook this person's hand and said, "No matter how this election turns out, I wish you and your family good health and happiness.".

And then turned to the crowd. "Thank you for taking your precious time to attend this town hall meeting. If you elect my opponent, a very capable person, I would still thank you for allowing me to have served you as your Mayor.

A day later the people voted, and the day after that it was announced the Mayor had been re-elected.

When a local newspaper reporter asked him the key to his reelection, the Mayor replied, "I just spoke from the heart. There are good reasons why I do what I do and I would never mislead anyone in order to win an election.

"I sincerely want to do whatever I can to serve the needs of others for that is one of our greatest callings. I have the honor of doing it in Palos Verdes and my door is open to everyone who would like to speak with me."

Dick