My Response to the Springfield Republican's Character Attack
July 2008

I was told years ago that the newspapers were written at a Junior High
reading level as to appeal to the widest possible audience. After
reading the last line of the piece on Mike Franco, it appears to me that
Junior High students write your paper.

Yes, Mike Franco has lost three elections, that is a fact that to me
seems irrelevant to the fact that he is having an issue with jury duty.
Even more irrelevant is the status of his child custody case, but the
paper manages to stretch the scope of the story to fit it in.

While your paper wishes for the world to see him as a loser, I see him
as someone who is willing to try to get into the system and make a
difference. To quote an advertisements for the CT state lottery “You
can’t win if you don’t play”, but the same can be said about losing. As
someone who knows Mike Franco personally, I admire him because he is
trying to make a difference.

Thousands of people run the Boston Marathon each year, but there is only
one winner. To me, the rest are not losers, as I am in no shape to even
try.. I have never lost a Boston Marathon, nor have I lost an election,
because I have never competed.

This November, when going to vote, remember that someone is going to win
and everyone else is going to lose. Rather than laugh at the losers, be
thankful for those who took the time to run and gave us all a choice.