Corrections & Acknowledgements

Chris Baker dropped in to make a few corrections to my perceptions of his campaign:

"I laud your efforts and courage to step up to the plate. However, I would like
to take a moment to clear the record. I did have a website for my campaign, I
did have a nominal amount of money (hence the website), and I did do some
campaigning. Your article paints me to be total ghost candidate. Admittedly, I
did not have the exposure which I wished to have, but money speaks louder than
words. Not having name recognition or the backing of a major party did not help
matters much. People are reluctant to donate to unknown candidates. In
hindsight, many things could have been done differently. Being the first time I
have ever ran for public office, I say I did well for myself. I'm sorry that my
message did not find you during this past election season. I have the letters
and emails of those persons who were able to find my information. Therefore I
can say with certainty that my message did reach voters from across the
district. Unfortunately, it was not enough. Good luck to you in your future
political aspirations. God bless and thank you for your service to our country. "

I would return his email personally but that does not seem to be an option. The comment was left on my introduction here at this website.

Let me apologize to Mr. Baker for any misperceptions that I or any of my contacts may have. I in no way wish to disparage him in his campaign. If there is anyone that understands the difficulty in running a campaign as an independent, I'm sure he does.

The fact that I was unable to find ANY real information on his positions highlights the realities of poor media coverage. I found more information on a write in candidate than did I on Chris Baker who was actually on the ballot.

It is my position that when a correction to the record is made that it be made with a minimum of the same level of exposure as was that which was incorrectly stated. And my apology to Mr. Baker for misperceptions of his exposure deserves a full article. Perhaps, if his positions had been more widely disseminated by the press, we would now be discussing Representative Baker rather than Candidate Baker or Representative Gordon.

Mr. Baker, I can tell you that I influenced at least 3 votes in your favor, if that is any consolation. Good Luck in all of your endeavors. Please accept my apologies for any misperceptions on my part.

Party Affiliation

The 6th District has a strong affiliation with the Democratic Party. While I could declare membership therein and would have the strongest potential for success or I could declare membership in the Republican Party and be nearly assured a place on the ballot in November 2010, neither would be fair to the Citizens of the 6th District.

For too long, our politicians have been beholden to their parties. Our Next Representative must place the people of this district ahead of the likes of Senator Harry Reid, Representive Nancy Pelosi, Representative Barney Frank as well as their sponsors such as Hollywood's Sean Penn and New York's George Soros.

Our Representatives should not feel that the letter behind their name assures them of their retention of power. Representative Bart Gordon ran an ad in the 2008 campaign season claiming his support from Republicans, Democrats, & Independents. I would hope that he will demonstrate his support for Common Sense and a true Representative of the District through an endorsement of this Independent.

I run as an Independent, because both parties have some positive and some negative positions on their platform. Neither party can fully represent my positions nor the Citizens of Our District.

The Representative of Woodbury should not feel compelled to vote for CEO bailouts of big NYC banks. The Representative of McMinnville should not be forced to support Barney Frank's call to cut the Military. The Representative of Murfreesboro should not sell us the partisanship of legislation because the party presented one while the opposition presented another. The Representative of Cookeville should be afforded the opportunity to truthfully tell us that each bill has positive and negative points and find a compromise between the parties that best serves Our Veterans and Our Troops.

When the Representative of Auburntown addresses the issues, he should be free from partisanship, explaining the reasons he opposed or supported legislation.

Does that make the campaign for office more difficult? Yes, many of our citizens have come to trust a particular party. It is easy to vote simply along the lines of a party rather than research the positions and the character of the candidates.

In the purest form of Democracy, every citizen would vote on every piece of legislation. In Our Democracy, a Republic, we choose Representatives to know, to research, to read and to understand the legislation which they are making into laws. Whether we realize it or not, we are placing a tremendous amount of trust in the man (or woman) we send to Washington.

That trust has been betrayed. Our Politicians have become more interested in retention of power and hence the attainment of campaign war chests and therefore the pandering to special interests, corporations, and Washington lobbyists.

As one family member told me, we haven't had true Representatives in Washington of our Citizens in Decades. Let's change that.