Thompson confident of success in primary

Thomp­son

DUSTIN ENSINGER

Staff Writer

Even with­out the endorse­ment of his party, incum­bent Delaware County Com­mis­sioner Tommy Thomp­son feels as though his first term has been a suc­cess thus far, and that vot­ers will reward him for it.

Thomp­son faces a three-way pri­mary on March 6, in which he will square off against the GOP endorsed can­di­date, for­mer Delaware Gazette pub­lisher Gary Mer­rell, and Con­cord Town­ship Trustee Joe Gar­rett. The win­ner of the pri­mary will face Demo­c­rat John Hart­man in the Novem­ber gen­eral election.

Thomp­son said that his first term has been marked by a down­siz­ing of gov­ern­ment in the county, fis­cal respon­si­bil­ity and smart, tar­geted development.

“I think that we’ve been able to show a lot of progress in three years,” he said.

He points to the sale of of the build­ing across the street from the com­mis­sion­ers’ office that the county was rent­ing for $23,000 per month, the deci­sion to put on hold the planned con­struc­tion of a new county cour­t­house and the deci­sion to house fed­eral pris­on­ers in the county’s new jail as major accom­plish­ments dur­ing his first term.

“We’re try­ing to make sure that when we have peo­ple in a facil­ity, it’s a space that we own or that we are buy­ing, not rent­ing,” he said.

Another major accom­plish­ment, he said, is the addi­tion of a high-speed fiber optic cable that will span 16 miles, from the City of Delaware to Wor­thing­ton. The fiber optic cable will prove to be a major draw for prospec­tive busi­nesses, he believes.

“It’s going to be great for busi­nesses and indus­try,” he said. “Whether it’s put in for devel­op­ment or not. It will enhance development.”

Devel­op­ment will be Thompson’s main focus if re-elected to a sec­ond term. But he doesn’t just sim­ply want devel­op­ment, he wants smart, tar­geted devel­op­ment that will allow for job cre­ation but at the same time pre­serve the rural cul­ture so preva­lent in many parts of the county.

“If you just sat back and don’t do any­thing, things will still develop. But will it develop the way you want it to? The answer is prob­a­bly no,” he said. “I think we have to keep sight of the fact that agri­cul­ture is still huge in Delaware County. We have to under­stand the dif­fi­cul­ties and sit­u­a­tions that our agri­cul­ture pop­u­la­tion is encountering.”

Thomp­son has lived in Delaware County since 1986, minus a brief, two-year hia­tus when he moved to Cal­i­for­nia to be closer to his son and grand­child. He said his time out west was an eye-opener for him.

“One of the advan­tages that I have, is that I did spend two years in the Los Ange­les area,” he said. “I saw some of the mis­takes that they made with the rapid growth and hope­fully we can avoid those issues. Because we can’t stop growth. Growth is coming.”

Thomp­son, who spent more than 30 years in edu­ca­tion before get­ting into pol­i­tics, said that his time in the pub­lic school sys­tem is also an asset to his pub­lic ser­vice career.

“I think the thing that being a long-term edu­ca­tor has helped me with is the fact that I have dealt with a vari­ety of peo­ple at a vari­ety of age lev­els,” he said. “You learn a lot of peo­ple skills and man­age­ment skills. You learn to lis­ten to peo­ple. When mom comes through that door and she’s angry, you have to fig­ure out why she’s angry.”

Beyond being a good lis­tener, Thomp­son said that he has a num­ber of attrib­utes that make him a good pub­lic ser­vant and will pro­pel him to victory.

“I’m expe­ri­enced. I’m qual­i­fied. I’m hon­est. I’m grounded in eth­i­cal prin­ci­pals and I have been fis­cally respon­si­ble,” he said.

Posted by Dustin Ensinger on Feb 17 2012. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Comments can be made below.