Herb Carlson: Big mouth or on the money

Following Tuesday night's election mayoral candidate Herb Carlson told News-Review reporter Ryan Bentley "(Pall has) lost his power base (on council), and he's going to be nailed to the cross," Carlson said.

This is in stark contrast to the dripping sweet words of unseated East Jordan mayor Mark Postma.
"I would like to thank the citizens of East Jordan for having given me the honor of representing them on the city commission these last eight years," Postma said.

"It is now time for a new group of people to work at representing our citizens, businesses and organizations that make up our community. We should support their efforts, applaud the commitment they have made, and give them input as they set about the daunting tasks ahead of them."

The reaction to Carlson's quote has been strong. The majority are saying Carlson was out of line.

But was he really? Pall lost Dittmar, a councilman many would call his ally and is left with Ron Marshall. Johnson, who was reelected and Atkins, a newcomer would not be classified as Pall-thinking councilmen.

So Carlson could have candy coated his quote but what he said was this isn't going to be an easy year for Pall and he wasn't wrong. He just didn't take the politically correct road in crafting his quote.

I personally prefer honesty to fluffy when it comes to information coming from my politicians. Could he have said it with a pinch more PC? Sure. But come on public, buck up — this is a political arena, not a skip through a meadow.