His Honor? Me?

For those of you that have known me for a long time, it might come as a surprise the have the term His Honor, or The Honorable put in front of my name. Over the years I had toyed with the idea of taking an active role in the political process. When I lived in South Williamsport I was approached to run for council, but at the time Dave Castlebury and I were in the process of planning the radio station in Canton. While being a stranger to serving in public office, over the years I had held positions such as President of a Jaycee chapter, Fire Department Secretary, Fire Department Line Officer, Lions Club Board Member, etc. In addition, during my radio career, I was involved in the coverage local government as the reporter governmental body meetings. I must admit I did have an interest in the political process and felt that I could do the job as well as those sitting around the table.

When we moved back to Canton, Pa in the early summer of 1992 I became active again with the Canton Business and Professional Association, (Chamber of Commerce) and Canton Fire Department. The Mayor of Canton at the time was James Arnold, I had known Jim for many years as he had been active in the fire department, Lion's Club, was a teacher at Canton High School, and had been Mayor when Dave and I built WKAD FM. As I spent more time in the community it became clear to me that a change was needed in Canton politics, so I made the decision to run for Mayor against Jim. The political process involves getting a nominating petition and obtaining signatures of registered voters in the party you belong to. Being a registered Republican, bye the way so was Jim Arnold, that was the party I had to seek the nomination in the Primary election. Pa law says that the candidate must be a resident of the community for one year prior to election. When the May Primary Election came, I had only been in Canton for 10 months. A call to the Bradford County Board Of Elections confirmed my interpretation of the Election Code, with the key words "at the time of election the candidate must have resided in the municipality for a period of one year." Since this was only a primary and the General Election did not take place until November, I could run in the Primary.

When I went seeking signatures on my Nominating Petition I found that several people were reluctant to sign as they felt if I lost the election there might be reprisals on them or their business. But I did manage to get the required 20 signatures and was certified as a candidate in the Primary Election of 1993, running against Jim Arnold for the Republican nomination. In the period leading up to the Primary Election I went to every open meeting, as I had been doing since my arrival back in Canton, and spoke to every group that wished an after lunch/dinner/supper speaker. My platform was pretty simple, the modernization of the Police Department, rebuilding of the Canton War Memorial Swimming Pool and the updating of the Borough Codes.

While the office of Mayor in a Borough was largely a figurehead position, having been stripped of its powers over the years, the Mayor was in charge of the Police Department, could perform civil weddings, also the Mayor was in complete charge in the event of a State of Emergency, which the Mayor could declare, and was required to sign all ordinances into law. The lack of the Mayors signature meant that Council had to approve the ordinance by a 2/3 rds majority, with the President of Council then signing the ordinance in place of the Mayor. One other interesting throw back to the days of old, was that the Mayor would open and conduct the re-organizational meeting, held ever two years, and preside over the election of a Council President. Once the Council President was elected the Mayor would administer the Oath Of Office (as he did for all employees, Borough officials, and fire officers) and then turn the gavel over to the newly elected Council President who ran the Council meetings.

A few weeks prior the the election I received a call from Chief Of Police Doug Seeley wanting to talk with me. I had known Doug since he went on the force, around the time Dave and I were building the radio station. When I went to see him the first words out of his mouth were, "I understand if you are elected you are going to get rid of me." I must say that caught me a bit by surprise as I had never stated that either publicly or privately. I assured Doug that firing him was not in my plans and that I would not make any staffing decisions, if elected, till I had time to study the operation of the department and form my own opinions firsthand. Doug was satisfied with my answer and we went about discussing what he felt were the needs of his department. I must say, I never envied the Chief's job in a small town police department, if you do it and make arrests you are a jerk, if you don't make arrests you are not doing your job. The police department at that time consisted of Doug and Sgt. Ed Larcom as the two full timers and several part time officers, many who had been with the department for 10 years or more. The Borough of Canton did not have 24 hour police coverage, with any after hours emergencies being handled by the Pennsylvania State Police from Towanda, 26 miles away, or by calling out one of the officers.

As time for the primary drew closer I had a feeling that I stood a very good chance of being elected. I might point out that there was no candidate on the Democratic side as that party had a very small enrolment in Canton. I also got the feeling that Jim was not taking my challenge too seriously, a pretty common mistake in politics.

Election day arrived, and I made it a point to be at the polls greeting the citizens when they arrived to vote, something that Jim chose not to do. When the polls closed and the ballots were counted I had won 78% of the votes on both the Republican and Democratic ballots, the Democratic was a write in, and had handed Jim his defeat after 16 years as Mayor.

The next time, I will look at the changing of the guard, my time as Mayor and my decision not to seek re-election.