It has been my observation that you can tell much more about people when they lose an election than when they win.
When you win it is easy to be involved in the community. Showing up at public events is a source of pride. You won. "Look at me. I’m cool. The others just could not compare to me."
When a candidate loses they often take it very personally. Some tend to hide. The good people do a complete self and organizational evaluation. From that they find some other way to contribute to the community. Most of the time there are some harsh feelings. Sometimes they go away with time. Sometimes the grudge lasts a life time.
I’m certainly not going to ever argue that a candidate or former candidate should ever give up the fight for what they think is right. However, at some point the election is over and you just need to move on.
My most recent reminder of this comes from former Hesperia School Board Trustee Nellie Gogley.
After she lost her re-election bid (came in last) in November 2006 by 1537 votes she almost immediately started to mobilize a recall effort against the majority of the board. Recalls can be a good thing you might say. Paul Horcher, Doris Allen,….Gray Davis. Yes. I know.
What makes those recall efforts legitimate is that a ground swell of grassroots support rose up and threw them out of office.
Gogley (seen left in all her glory with the Micky Mouse umbrella) has no groundswell. She has people dressed as clowns standing on the streets of Hesperia trying to gather signatures. She has no groundswell. She has no community support.
She has exactly two clown outfits, a mickey mouse umbrella, and a ton of hatred toward the people the electorate selected to replace her. That’s not good enough.
Not only will she not gather the signatures necessary, she has made herself look like a fool failing to gather the signatures necessary. Get over it.
Get on with your life and use your time and energy to help some local kids improve their place in life. This woman is making herself look foolish, wasting her time, and causing problems in a community unnecessarily.