We have a new State Rep. in Juneau this session; a young guy, who really seems to be trying to juggle that tricky task of staying connected “back home” while he’s hundreds of miles away.

There has recently been a huge stink locally, about a former multi-term Mayor (current pastor) and his wife getting indited by a Grand Jury on a bunch of charges involving the miss-use of federal grants.

A number of people, University students clear up to the Governor herself, were calling for this guy to step-down from one of his remaining positions of influence. This he has refused to do.

Tongue-clicking and redoubled speculation ensued.

I wrote a Letter to the Editor (a local masochistic pastime) back at the beginning of February:

Regarding the many calls for the resignation of Regent {So’n’So},

please, lets all remember that “innocent until proven guilty” is still the rule, and a jury of one’s peers is not (or shouldn’t be) quite the same as the storm of public opinion. Let things lay where they’ve fallen and allow the proper time and procedure for picking them up.
Sincerely,
{etc.}

The two days before my letter ran, other, longer, letters with a similar message ran as well, only they were more along the lines of “they’re innocent until proven guilty, so I’m backing them.”

As I was careful to avoid any language of *support* (wanting only to encourage/remind people to wait on due process), I hoped my letter wouldn’t be mentally grouped with theirs.

My letter didn’t garner any response so I moved on.

Monday this week I received a hand-written note from my new Representative at the Capitol, agreeing with my choice of position as presented in the Letter to the Editor, and the invitation to write him if there were any issues on my mind, etc.

The guy seems to be following local news via the local paper (always a good idea), did his homework to know I was in his district, and chose to use that as a point of contact.

I was impressed at his initiative. It seemed a very creative idea.