Our Personal Election
This past election, while the rest of the country was pondering issues of health care and governors’ races in Virginia and New Jersey, and that whacky 23rd Congressional District race in upstate New York, my family and I were concerned about a more mundane race to fill the unexpired term on the Canfield Township Board of Trustees. My son was a candidate…and lost the race after a great campaign. I have been politically active my whole life, but always viewed local township politics, be it Boardman or Canfield, as somewhat of a yawn. When Alex and I decided last January that he should give this race a go, we knew nothing about the township political landscape or issues other than the sitting trustee, who was appointed after a cronyism scandal, told the local paper that he didn’t know what he wanted to do as trustee. He turned out to be a nice guy...but looked vulnerable. So Alex and I set out to learn what makes Canfield Township tick. What we found is the old adage “all politics is loca