For hundreds of years in our form of government, the leaders of elected legislative bodies such as town councils have been members of the political party which controls the majority of the seats, so it came as no surprise when the conservatives who comprise the majority of the Bristol Town Council recently elected two of their own party members as chairman and vice chairman.

What’s a little bit different in Bristol is the fact that the traditional Democrat vs. Republican parties have been replaced with conservatives vs. liberals, and unfortunately in last month’s election, the conservatives defeated the liberals, and took control of the council.

While myself and many of my fellow liberal progressives were disappointed that the conservatives now control the two top seats on the council, they were well within their rights to choose fellow conservatives for leadership positions.

As the saying goes, “to the victors go the spoils,” and that is exactly what recently took place. And to be fair, I’m sure if the liberals had taken control of the council at last month’s election, they would have voted two fellow liberals to the two leadership positions.

Now that the dust has settled and the conservative control of the council has been cemented, I want to congratulate both the liberals and conservatives for running clean campaigns. I witnessed no mudslinging, personal attacks, and other unpleasant tactics, which we see all too often in today’s hyper-partisan political climate.

The conservatives did not gloat and rub it in the nose of the liberals after their victory, and the liberals did not pout and whine about their loss. That type of civil behavior should be emulated by any candidate running for political office in the future.

Mike Proto
Bristol