To my Supporters and the Voting Public:
Throughout the spring of this year I had the unique opportunity to be on the campaign trail with both Mr. Toussaint Summers and Mr. Jeffrey Odham as we three appealed to you, the voters, in our bids to be the next mayor of New Bern. I knew these men by reputation only going into this campaign – but I have come out with a fuller and deeper sense of who each of these men are, I think, than most can ever hope to know about a candidate as we head into the ballot box on July 26th.
As I go to polls to vote in July, no longer on that ballot, I must take stock of these two eminently good men and make my own decision for whom to vote. In doing so I must measure each of them by what I know of them, and by the needs, concerns, and the future, of this city. Over the last number of years we have had notable successes in city government, and we have had notable failures. From which we can only hope we have learned the lessons needed and are able to move on.
But this election is not about our past. For the good of us all it must be about more than our growing partisan political divisions and rancorous infighting that have marked these last years in our City Hall and our public discourse. It is time to put those things aside. Time to look to the future. New Bern’s future will not, cannot, be at all like its past. Or its present. This is a simple reality. And at the ballot box we must look to our future and decide who is better suited to navigate those waters.
It is in this light that I announce my wholehearted endorsement of Mr. Toussaint E. Summers Jr for the office of Mayor of New Bern. His vision for this city and his dedication to the task of making government in New Bern one of inclusiveness, integrity, and transparency, are the very building blocks of a brighter future for all people in New Bern. He understands that management of a city is a constant conversation between those elected and those who vote. A conversation in which all people must have a seat at the table – in which all people must share the burden of being active, engaged, and listening to others. In which all people must share the rewards.
I urge you every one of you to vote on the 26th of July – events just in the last few days have reverberated throughout our nation and shown in stark relief how crucial elections decisions are at all levels and the importance of every single vote – and I urge you to join me in voting for Toussaint Summers for Mayor. Together we can keep the best of New Bern’s past while forging a brighter and more prosperous future for every single person in our great city.
By Tim Harris