BOOZE AND POLITICS DON'T MIX? (Sheboygan Press/Frazer Chronicle)
Another recalled politician bit the dust Tuesday in an election at the Michigan lake-side community of Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Mayor Bob Ryan was defeated by Terry Van Akkeren in a special recall election by a count of 6,004 to 5,247, it was Van Akkeren's 4th. attempt at the mayor's seat.
I'm not sure why anybody would want to be the mayor of Sheboygan, but Van Akkeren sure seemed "hell bent for election" to get what he must have felt was an enviable position. I'm not saying anything against Sheboygan the city, or it's citizens, it just seems like a lot of headache for a job that can be symbolic much of the time at it's best.
It just seems to me as if indiscretions regarding the consumption of alcohol and how the wicked vapor helped make a fool out of the mayor had little to do with his job performance at city hall. I have never read anywhere that Ryan's job suffered because he came to work with a hangover, hell, if that was the case, most everybody would have faced a recall sometime in their lives.
I think again, what the Sheboygan recall vote illustrates is that people are their own worst enemy, and I'm not talking about Bob Ryan. People voted Ryan into office and discovered that he was, (1) an alcoholic, and (2) didn't have the good sense God gave a dog. The first can be corrected, the second is a character flaw that can't probably be changed. After the alcohol induced fracas became public, Bob Ryan the mayor should have had enough good sense to become just Bob Ryan the citizen and saved himself, the mayor's office and the city of Sheboygan the embarrassment that became a media circus throughout the entire nation.
The voters of Sheboygan spoke at the polls and voted Bob Ryan into office, apparently with little research into Bob Ryan the man, and for that they paid.....again and again, "the recall election isn't free." Bob Ryan is what he is, whatever that is, and the people of Sheboygan voted him into office for better, or worse and they simple should have excepted that, and learned, but I have a sneaky suspicion that nothing was learned, except by Terry Van Akkeren, "you know, the try, try again thing."
Most politicians, I have learned, have a major "bolt" loose and lust for public office and the power they perceive it brings with it. Bob Ryan is now a broken man, a disgraced man, a man with his sole laid bare for all to see.
Is Sheboygan any better after the change.....I doubt it, they now have a fella, Van Akkeren, who tried and failed 3 times to wrestle the mayor's office from somebody else. For me, that makes him a 3 time loser.....now, Sheboygan, belly up to the bar, how does that grab you?
Another recalled politician bit the dust Tuesday in an election at the Michigan lake-side community of Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Mayor Bob Ryan was defeated by Terry Van Akkeren in a special recall election by a count of 6,004 to 5,247, it was Van Akkeren's 4th. attempt at the mayor's seat.
I'm not sure why anybody would want to be the mayor of Sheboygan, but Van Akkeren sure seemed "hell bent for election" to get what he must have felt was an enviable position. I'm not saying anything against Sheboygan the city, or it's citizens, it just seems like a lot of headache for a job that can be symbolic much of the time at it's best.
It just seems to me as if indiscretions regarding the consumption of alcohol and how the wicked vapor helped make a fool out of the mayor had little to do with his job performance at city hall. I have never read anywhere that Ryan's job suffered because he came to work with a hangover, hell, if that was the case, most everybody would have faced a recall sometime in their lives.
I think again, what the Sheboygan recall vote illustrates is that people are their own worst enemy, and I'm not talking about Bob Ryan. People voted Ryan into office and discovered that he was, (1) an alcoholic, and (2) didn't have the good sense God gave a dog. The first can be corrected, the second is a character flaw that can't probably be changed. After the alcohol induced fracas became public, Bob Ryan the mayor should have had enough good sense to become just Bob Ryan the citizen and saved himself, the mayor's office and the city of Sheboygan the embarrassment that became a media circus throughout the entire nation.
The voters of Sheboygan spoke at the polls and voted Bob Ryan into office, apparently with little research into Bob Ryan the man, and for that they paid.....again and again, "the recall election isn't free." Bob Ryan is what he is, whatever that is, and the people of Sheboygan voted him into office for better, or worse and they simple should have excepted that, and learned, but I have a sneaky suspicion that nothing was learned, except by Terry Van Akkeren, "you know, the try, try again thing."
Most politicians, I have learned, have a major "bolt" loose and lust for public office and the power they perceive it brings with it. Bob Ryan is now a broken man, a disgraced man, a man with his sole laid bare for all to see.
Is Sheboygan any better after the change.....I doubt it, they now have a fella, Van Akkeren, who tried and failed 3 times to wrestle the mayor's office from somebody else. For me, that makes him a 3 time loser.....now, Sheboygan, belly up to the bar, how does that grab you?
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