Someone asked a few posts back about the C44 candidates and opinions one way or the other. I'm not trying to sway anyone's vote, but here's my personal take of the one's I know or have met, and am voting for:

HC: Pretty well aligned with the current MEC administration. He is all about communication (current P2P and DPN committee chairman), and I have seen through his actions that he believes in the bottom-up philosophy. He would make a good rep, with his major uphill battle in this election being the "vote out the establishment" crowd.

AG: The only incumbent running - everyone else is pretty burned out . Great guy. Nice job in this past term, but like HC will face the challenge of getting enough votes from guys that just want to clean house at any cost. I voted for him as FO rep BECAUSE of his current experience as a rep. I see it as a good thing to retain him to give the new LEC the ability to hit the ground running without having to reinvent the wheel.

KO: Has done a lot of work with Government Affairs and knows the political system (both ALPA and Capitol Hill) very well. To me this is an asset, especially from an FO rep, as he is very tuned into how the real world works. I will refrain from slamming any of the candidates I don't know, but KO's history and platform lead me to believe that he will be more grounded in reality when it comes time to make a tough decision.

It's very easy to talk about the grand changes that one intends to make. Unfortunately, that tends to convey to me a sense that a candidate doesn't fully understand the arena in which he will be operating. Change happens slowly over time. The deck (RLA, A4A, etc) is heavily stacked against us, and while I want a rep that will go out and fight for us, I also want one that sets realistic/achievable goals and then reaches them.

Again, this wasn't meant to campaign on behalf of anyone; simply my personal reasons for casting my vote the way I did.

I do encourage everyone to take a few minutes to read the candidates position papers and vote. All the guys running are well-intentioned and I really don't think we can lose, no matter which ones are elected.

GameDay's on, I'm out