Thanks. This is the first time in my life that I, Shawn Eckles, have to come up with ways to thank 22,151 Iredell County voters for supporting me in the voting booths in 2012. I am so glad I was able to meet probably most of you in these last few weeks and months. But your vote is one of your most precious possessions, and you saw fit to choose me. Thank you over and over.
Why did I lose my bid to be on the District Board of Supervisors for Iredell County Soil and Water?
I told my team, the day the early voting began: "Our only enemy and danger is the so called "conservative" list -- that skinny white sheet of paper all of you saw all over county, paid for and made by the Iredell County Republican Party.
"Whoa," we thought, "Hold it right there -- why is Shawn's rival's name on that list? If public records show him a registered Democrat, why has the other party locked him in on their all important list telling who to vote for?" Well, I refuse to say, much less think, that either my opponent or that dominant political party had something against me personally. However, I do know that nobody from either camp came to ask me whether I am conservative or whether I am more conservative than that Democrat the Republicans decided to help against me. And I, also, know that I lost my race by a similar margin as some of those Democrats who did not have their names on THE LIST.
THE LIST, in fact, was my opponent's total campaign. He didn't come out to shake your hand or talk with you. Before this year he had already "won your vote" in two or three previous elections -- when he did not even have an opponent or any other reason to come out and educate the voters about himself or anything he's done in all these years as an elected Supervisor.
That sort of trick move (THE LIST) against me is not the only lesson my first race taught me. Mostly I am very happy with politicking in general, and especially the real value of meeting folks by the hundreds and talking with them, learning from them, synthesizing our different views.
So you do not have to worry about me quitting the field. Shawn Eckles will have his name on your ballot in 2014, for sure. I cannot say and will not guess which public service office I will fight for in two years, but I will choose carefully and fight hard to be your representative at some level of government.
Back to the "conservative" topic associated with THE LIST that defeated me. Tell me this: Is the true conservative the man who opposes or permits fracking in North Carolina? I say that Shawn Eckles was, is and will be your conservative on matters of North Carolina soil and water, starting with the stands I have taken this year on fracking and defending and improving the environmental quality of our Lake Norman blessings, and every other acre of my home county and state.
As you know, I do not affiliate with either traditional political party, but I will share with you my concern about the North Carolina return to the 1800s by having Republicans control all three -- the N.C. Senate, N.C. House and our governor's mansion -- does this make anybody comfortable who looks our fields, hills, forests, beaches and mountains as blessings meant for something better than a quick natural gas or oil profit?
For now, my friends, I want you to stick with me and join my team as soon as we've chosen our next objective in the political arena. For the next two years, I will be organizing and uplifting our team. In January you will start to hear from me at ShawnEckles.com. Right now, you can Google me in several directions, active or historical. Along the lines of the Iredell County Talent Shows that I produced in May in Statesville and in November in Mooresville, you can count on me to bring people together at fun events in 2013 and 2014.
Once again, know my gratitude in my heart and my mind for your vote for Shawn Eckles this week.
