I am not one to bite my tongue, but I have for the past six months. I placed second in a two horse race. (Which sounds better than I lost) in last year's City Council election. I have read articles from Bill Fisher who has contested the election due to city employees and the Gulf Breeze Sports Association involvement. I know Bill Fisher, not well, but I respect him. Our sons were once in Cub Scouts together. However, I applaud what he's doing. He's speaking out for what he believes in. I'm not happy the way things turned out either, but I reluctantly accept them.

I was naive when I ran for city council. I thought a regular citizen could run, work hard, get elected, and serve the people of our city. I almost made it with the help of some forward-thinking people who I met going door to door who believed in me not because they knew me, but because I was willing to ask them personally for their vote.

Then, I was exceptionally naive to have thought once our former City Councilman Clay Ford was elected to the Florida House of Representatives last month the council would listen to the 1,000 voters who voted for me and appoint me to the open seat. At least that's the impression I got when I spoke with Councilman Tim Hoffman one night in the parking lot of City Hall after a council meeting. No, they appointed someone who had been a city councilman in 1978 and was previously appointed to the discretely reported financial arm of the city the "Capital Trust Agency."

Henderson

I have had a real political education in the last few months. A few powerful individuals who control everything control even our small town. They are unwilling to allow someone a chance to serve who may ask questions about issues and expenditures and not just go along with their program. I am proud I served our country for 20 years to give them this opportunity.

I run into many people who have no idea what happened and ask me if I plan on running again in 2008. We don't have term limits for city councilman so unless a councilman decides to give it up their seat its tough around here to beat an incumbent so the incumbents can stay in office as long as they want. However, if you talk to professional politicians, we have term limits because we have the opportunity to vote someone out of office each election.

Good luck to you Bill, and all the citizens who want a change in our elected officials.