Friday, May 29, 2015

Devastated!

We lost the election...

Have you ever taken a test and thought you did really well only to get your results back and discover you totally bombed! 

That's how I, Craig Bickley, Michele Von Luckner, and our election team felt after the TRWD election on May 9th. 

We lost by 10,000 mail-in votes....smh!  How could it be?  We worked so hard!

Naturally, foul play is suspected but proving foul play is another thing. Maybe there were actually 10,000 people so interested in the TRWD election they took the initiative to request a ballot and mail it in.  

The fact of the matter is we lost and we lost big; but you know what.....we have another shot at it again in 2017, then 2019, then again in 2021.  The TRWD is no longer the best-kept secret in town.

The current TRWD administration has a very loyal, vast, established voter base of people who either are "strongly" encouraged by their employers to vote for TRWD incumbents out of fear of losing their jobs or out of greed for maintaining the status quo, comfort, and ease of no bid contracts.

But there's a new TRWD voter in town! 7,000 new voters.....people who now know what TRWD is supposed to do but isn't doing, how much power they have and how badly that power is misused, and how much money is at stake. These people want change and aren't going to quit until we get change! 

Unfortunately, less than 5% of the people who could vote did, and this is what we must change if we want change at TRWD.  

The overwhelming response I received from you after you received my letter telling you what it's like to be a Director on the TRWD Board has encouraged me to keep fighting for what's right, despite the odds.  I thought I was a loner in my opinion about the difference between politicians and public servants but I now know I am not. 

I have 2 more years on the TRWD Board and it's been made very clear to me that my election in 2013 was simply a miscalculation and won't happen again in 2017.  

I'm insulted some think my election to the TRWD Board was simply a mistake. This thinking is disrespectful to the people who voted me onto the Board and to God who does everything for a reason.  

Why I am blogging? For a couple of reasons. First and foremost, you asked me to keep you updated on what's going on at TRWD and I want to show you there are still some elected officials that do what they say. Second, there's so much more you need to know about our scandalous local politics; which I commonly refer to as the "Fort Worth Way". Third, I hope to increase our voter base for the 2017 TRWD election as there is no way way we can win if we can't get enough people to vote. 

I'm interested in your thoughts and ideas on how we can defeat the good ol' boys and girls and change the Fort Worth Way of doing business.  

I'm proud to serve you!


Mary Kelleher