A few years ago, when I was running for City Council, we had six people competing for two seats. All six people professed to have a great and undying interest in serving the public, making Charlottesville a better place, etc., etc. Today, three of us serve a greater public good, in some capacity or another. The other three, I ain’t heard from since. Two of those three, I’d never heard of before. It’s like they popped into being to run for office and then disappeared again.
Kim Tingley, candidate for the 57th District House of Delegates seat, is surely going to be one of these disappearing candidates. David Toscano and Rich Collins, the other two candidates, have been known for years, and will continue to be known for years, but Tingley, nobody’s ever heard of before, and I’ve got a mighty strong feeling that, come June 15, nobody’s ever going to hear of him again.
I don’t know what makes people think that they can waltz into a town and get elected to office, but that’s only slightly less baffling than people who profess to have a fire in their belly to make the world a better place, only to promptly surrender when they lose one lousy election.