I know anything I say now will probably be viewed by some as sour grapes … but you only live once and I’m trying to live with as few regrets as possible … so here goes.

We ran a great race for Congress against an entrenched incumbent in a gerrymandered district that favored him and we almost won, but in politics second is the first loser, we still lost.

Some people told me we had sent a strong message to Sanford Bishop and he was going to straighten up when he got back to Washington. I had my doubts.

Well, he has been back in Washington for only a few days and he is the same ole Sanford. He says one thing at home and votes another way in Washington, and he thinks nobody will notice. In his own words just a few days after the election, he thinks the people of Southwest Georgia are “ignorant”!

So he tells us he will not vote to raise taxes and turns around and does exactly that, voting to extend the Bush tax cuts to only those making below $250,000 a year, and effectively raising them on everyone else.

Do you remember a few years ago when a lot of people thought Gov. Sonny Perdue lied about a vote on the Georgia flag. “Sonny Lied” signs appeared all over the state! Maybe we need to have a few thousand printed and dot the 2nd Congressional District with “Sanford Lied.”

He continues to be an embarrassment to the common folk of Southwest Georgia, voting against the censure of Charlie Rangel and instead giving the guy a standing ovation! After hearing the Rangel story who in their right mind would excuse this guy, except someone who does business the same way. As long as we let the Rangels and the Bishops in Washington get away with things like this, nothing in our government is going to change!

After a tough election loss and a grueling 18-month campaign, I could easily go off into the background and lick my wounds and feel sorry for myself, but this race was never about me in the first place. It was and is about the future of my children and grandchildren; the kind of country we are going to leave them and those issues have not changed, and even though we now have a Republican majority in the House we are still poorly represented here in the 2nd Congressional district.

Face it folks, he eked out another win but it was all about getting re-elected. He doesn’t care anymore about me and you than he did before the election. He hasn’t changed a bit!

Mike Keown
Coolidge, Ga.