Second of two parts
Re “Uniqueness of Murray May Have Made Voters Skeptical”
[img]2791|right|Stephen Murray||no_popup[/img]Upon reflection, the question posed to erstwhile West Basin Water Board candidate Stephen Murray may not have been astute:
Are you surprised or disappointed that you finished third in a three-way race?
The response should have been self-evident in a perhaps now-wiser or wounded man who had engaged in serious ruminating about values such as loyalty.
“Given that I didn’t bother to look up what the results were, somebody would have told me I had won, or would have told me that I lost, eventually,” Mr. Murray said laconically.
You really didn’t know the results until we talked?
“No, I didn’t. I was over at 10 o’clock Tuesday night. I was just done.”
Even before the counting started, Mr. Murray had a strong idea that Scott Houston (46 percent) and Jeff Ebenstein (33 percent) were going to finish ahead of him (22 percent).
“What I have learned from this campaign,” said Mr. Murray, “is that I have these things called ‘political friends.’
“They are different from real friends. They just blow however the wind blows. It was very disappointing to discover this.
“I wish I had known this before I started my campaign. I wouldn’t have started it at all.”
The hurt volleyed through unmistakably in Mr. Murray’s tones.
“I am talking about people who say they are with me but they really are not,” he said. “People I have interacted with in the past. They are even on my Facebook friends list. They have been to our house.
“They have chosen to go with somebody else for whatever reasons they have.”
