Why I'm Running Now

COMMENTARY
Ed McKeon is one of the founders and editors of the Middletown Eye.  For more than ten years, he's closely watched the government, and the government leaders in Middletown.  He's convinced that the Middletown Eye has been helpful in informing voters and residents, and has been instrumental in creating better public policy.  In the past, Ed served on the Board of Education after writing about education issues in Middletown, and realizing that real change meant serving.  Now he seeks real change in making government more responsive and inclusive, and he's running again.

I got an interesting question from a voter after a long, hot afternoon of door-to-door canvassing yesterday with my Row A colleague Jeanette White, and my friend Stephen Devoto ahead of the Democratic primary on September 10.

"Ed, why are you running...now?"

It's not as if I haven't asked myself the same question, several times.

I'm running because I love living in Middletown.  It's a great city, but it's not without its challenges.  I own a home two blocks from Main Street, and my twin boys go to Middletown High School.

As someone who has watched Middletown's government closely for more than fifteen years (and published much of what I saw, here in the Middletown Eye), I don't think that our municipal government has done enough to move us forward.  Unfortunately, stuck-in-a-rut thinking, and a city infrastructure that's based on patronage, favoritism and nepotism has kept us from meeting our potential

We need new leadership.  We need new energy.  We need new ideas.  We need it now.

That's why I'm running.

The journey began in January 2018, when I was part of a movement to remake the Democratic Town Committee into a body that better reflected the voting population of Middletown.  Previously, it had been a body determined to protect the old guard and prevent new voices from gaining access.   It was a body where everyone was expected to toe the line drawn by the old boy network.  It was a body more concerned with sending delegates to state and national conventions than fostering inclusiveness and generating new ideas.

So, in what has been described several times as a "coup," a group of diverse, energetic, involved Middletown Democrats toppled the old leadership, invited new faces and voices to the DTC and set a new progressive path.

Not all Middletown Democratic veterans were ejected from the roll, but some were, and they haven't forgotten.  More on that in a moment.

This election is the true first reflection of presenting voters with an alternative.

True, the mayoral race is...interesting (BTW, I'm supporting Ben Florsheim).  But interesting in the way that several candidates, all seeking change, have stepped forward to express the need to make a difference.

The endorsed Row A, Common Council slate, of which I'm a part, is a diverse, cohesive, energetic and experienced group that includes familiar faces who serve and have served on the Council before (Gene Nocera, Grady Faulkner, Vinnie Loffredo), and new faces who have been deeply engaged in civic and community issues (Bobbye Knoll Peterson, Jeanette White, Darnell Ford, Anthony Mangifico and myself).  This slate was vetted by a nominating committee who spent dozens of hours interviewing and deliberating.  The slate was then approved by the entire Democratic Town Committee in an open, slightly tumultuous, process.

While we won't agree on every policy and issue (and that's normal), I can assure you we are an energized, cohesive, committed slate.

However, we are still running against the old-boy network.  A challenge slate of mayor and council candidates has been formed, in the old-fashioned, back-room-deal manner, to primary against the endorsed slate.  Two former council members who indicated they'd be retiring after 26 years each (yes, 26 years) on the council, got together with a lame-duck mayor and a sitting state representative and convinced a long-time city employee that he should be mayor. (He now seems to have convinced himself, though it's hard to confirm since he refuses to appear at open forums.) Then they selected a Council slate including themselves (surprise!), and a group of individuals who have had little to say about why they are determined to run.  The mayoral candidate raised a lot of money (much of it from city contractors and old school pols), and they are doing their best to preserve the same-old, same-old approach to city government.

And that's also why I'm running.

We can't afford to be stuck in the rut for another four years.

So, if you want to know what I'm up to in the three weeks, you can follow my progress on Ed McKeon, An Uncommon Common Council Candidate,  here.

And if you'd like to help out by making an online donation, you can make the donation here.

Thanks, take a look at my campaign video, and vote Common Council Row A on September 10.