Staying ahead of any misunderstanding.

In the Transcript on Friday 4/25, our town reporter in her effort to abreviate our comments as candidates for selectman, stated my comment in a way that might be misinterpretted as suggesting that I felt I had more integrity than the other candidates which is certainly not how I feel. It takes a tremendous amount of effort to run for any town office and I don't beleive anyone does it for any other reason than to do what they feel is best for the town. Knowing the effort it takes better than anyone I can only applaud my opponents for stepping forward and getting involved. It's wonderful when the people of Westwood have choices especially with energetic, knowledgable and passionate candidates. Having said this, I thought it might be helpful if the full context of the question and answer were displayed for anyone interested.

The question that was posed was:

You are the most experienced politician in this race. How do you think this experience makes you the best candidate?

My exact answer was:

I would not label myself the most experienced “politician” in this race. Maybe the individual most experienced in running for public office, maybe the individual who has worked harder than anyone else to try and represent Westwood, but not a politician. If I were, I might have won one of my prior elections. Today’s perception of a politician is someone who does whatever is necessary to win regardless whether it’s ethical, or whether you have to make promises that you can’t keep, or whether you have to disparage your opponents or maybe run as an Independent and change affiliation after the fact. No, I’ve never acted like a “politician” and have always been honest and sincere when running for office even if my position wasn’t a popular one. I think it’s that integrity that makes me the best candidate.

I hope the full context helps provide clarity.

Doug Obey