Congratulations to Troy Mayor Dane Slater

Mayor Slater (via the City
of Troy website)

Congratulations to Dane Slater on his victory in today's special election for Mayor of Troy. While I supported Marty Knollenberg, I believe Dane will do a good job serving as our Mayor.

I'm not sure if I've ever posted the passage below from Romans 13 before. Regardless, here it is...

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath but also for the sake of conscience. For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.

While I'm disappointed that Marty lost, I'm even more disappointed by the Troy Citizens United campaign flyer that was mailed out last Friday attacking Dane Slater. You can see part of it below. I've edited out some of the offensive images on the flyer. I realize that many people inside and outside of Troy are claiming to be members of Troy Citizens United. It would be unfair to paint with a broad brush and point a finger figure at a group of people who didn't have anything to do with creating and mailing this flyer. But, hopefully someone will be courageous enough and step forward to claim responsibility.

Edited front page of "Troy Citizens United" campaign flyer

I'll close this local campaign commentary with an excerpt from a recent blog post by Pastor Todd Wilken...

...There are only two kinds of politics in the public square or in the Church: Dishonest and Honest. Honest politics requires, above all, NOT LYING. If you have a position, don’t say you don’t. If you’ve chosen a side, don’t say you’re neutral. If you support a candidate, do so without lying about the other candidates...