Schroeder's efforts praised

Dear editor:

Geoff Schroeder is a friend, but my admiration for him extends far beyond my personal connections to him. Though his work, when I first met him and for years afterward, was recruiting for the National Guard, his involvement and fascination with this community and its issues was always just as profound a focus for him.

The schools, housing and commercial development, politics from the city council to the White House and back again, have always intrigued him. He works through local issues, and the impact of national issues on our town, with a logic and sense of mission that he brought to his National Guard work.

It's a pleasure just to have him lay out his ideas, to watch him work out a solution.

As much as I am drawn to his political finesse and respect his service in the Guard and in Iraq, I'm taken even more with his independence from simple allegiance to political parties. It's always satisfying to discuss any election season with Geoff, knowing he's not selling a position but searching out the best choice.

There is no one I know in this community who talks with and absorbs from a wider variety of personalities and attitudes. He is a walking example of --not a politician -- but, frankly, democracy itself at work, at home among all of us other Republican and Democratic partisans.

Quite simply, I can't think of a candidate I'd rather have working for this community on the city council or at any level. It will be an honor to vote for Geoff Schroeder.

Jim Bird