Sunday, October 29, 2006

Politically Incorrect in Astoria

Well, the elections are coming up soon here in Astoria, and a particular bone of contention seems to be the mayoral race. The incumbent mayor, Willis Van Dusen, had an embarrassing DUII around Labor Day, not his first offense of that nature, and all hell broke loose on the home front.

Ironically, he was actually the victim, as he was the one who was hit ... by an unlicensed driver who ran a stop sign in an unregistered, uninsured vehicle. But it was said that the mayor had a boozy smell about him, and he refused a test, so that made him automatically at fault.

Many townspeople are up in arms, and some pretty unpleasant moralizing has become the local sport. Should he resign? Should he pull out of the election? Blah, blah, and blah.

Okay, so driving around smelling of booze was stupid. I'll grant you that. Here's where the politically incorrect part comes in. I don't give a flying rat's ass what the mayor does in his personal life or on his own time. At all. Not even one teeny tiny little bit. I don't care if he stops drinking, or continues drinking, or if he swings from a chandlier in a lilac teddy in the privacy of his dining room. The only thing I care about is this: Is he a good mayor?

He's been a fabulous mayor, very approachable, and has done an incredible job keeping the peace at city hall and with the development and promotion of Astoria. I've only been here for two years, and I've never heard the citizens of a town praise a mayor as much as I've heard him praised. He's a bit of a legend, and probably one of the only mayors mentioned in the Internet Movie Database:

Willis Van Dusen

The city is a phoenix rising out of the doldrums into which it had fallen, and a lot of it has to do with Willis Van Dusen's enthusiastic promotional efforts. Even his worst critics will often begrudgingly admit he's done a good job. He's a natural at it.

So I'm sure you can guess where this is going. No, I don't know him personally. Yes, I'm voting to re-elect Willis Van Dusen. Without even a nanosecond's hesitation. He's been a damn good mayor.

Astoria Photografpix

1 comment:

West said...

You know who's never been to Astoria? This guy.