“Success is not final; failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts.” -Winston Churchill
Despite the current defeat, my brother, Bob Tosi, has the courage and stamina to keep on keeping on. And we need to all partake of that courage because we fought the good fight.
It is unfortunate that Arlington residents lost their chance of getting an independent voice on the Select Board. They lost their chance for an independent voice, which represents residents without so much power — the young, old, and some of those who are outside the American dream. But again, we won, because we ran a thoughtful, well-coordinated campaign.
Bob ran for this office twice before. In this last campaign, we were organized, thought we had the tactics right, and had an outpouring of support. But, we did not get the needed votes. Very disappointing, but we put up a magnificent fight! Maybe we shouldn’t have tried a third time, but not taking risks may be the riskiest move of all.
We had a team of dedicated volunteers, who worked with high energy and efficiency. You know who you are. So, no matter what you did or how you participated, even if it was mentioning Bob Tosi to a friend, I want to say THANK YOU.
As Bob’s Campaign Manager for Select Board Member, I know we put up a good fight. No, we didn’t win, but the opponent, Stephen DeCourcey, had to work hard to get into office. He had a contender in Bob.
Many of you volunteered to help Bob, and you all deserve kudos. There were 125 different donors and over 100 volunteers. Without you, there wouldn’t have been a whisper of a chance. You did everything from holding signs, to writing letters to the editor, to writing dear friend cards, and to making calls to voters in each precinct, and we used Robo calls to compliment those initial calls. You did it all.
But the candidate at the center, Bob Tosi, was the man. He was also untiring in his efforts, with always a kind or humorous and encouraging word. We expected such a wonderful candidate to win. His credentials are many.
He has extensive experience helping Arlington residents and in Arlington government. He did very well in both debates, held a successful rally, and participated in multiple interviews. He had a very good candidate profile and an informative website. Bob had 22 letters of endorsement to the editor. In addition to sending 8 x 10 mailers, Bob visited all of the schools and took out photographed sticker adds on the front page of The Arlington Advocate.
All this was not enough. We missed the mark, but we engaged in the struggle with energy, honor, and courage.
Post analysis, so why did we lose? We can probably come up with many reasons. The salient ones are we were out spent, and we didn’t have the backing of several current and former Select Board Members which gave his opponent an advantage. Despite the nice weather, there was low voter turnout. This last point is very important to keep in mind for future elections this year and in the immediate future. We must encourage people to exercise their democratic right to VOTE.
We have all been disappointed in some of our goals and efforts. We’ve taken chances and didn’t achieve our dreams. But we can’t let that deter us from trying and trying again. Bob Tosi is a winner to me and to the 2,500 residents who voted for him. We all can continue to be winners by gathering the courage to carry on.
With gratitude and best wishes,
Lisa Sasso, Executive Coach & Motivational Speaker
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