What the...? I'll need a minute here.

Those of you who have followed my political career so far know that there's a guy who was on the Board before me who encouraged me to run, helped me campaign, and introduced me to politics. I sometimes call him "The Prez". For this post I'll just call him Derek.

Derek is a local millionaire, respected by some, hated by others. Has a reputation for finagling behind the scenes, although I didn't see TOO much of this when I was serving with him.

He was on the Board for two years when I ran for a seat. Those first two years we were definitely in the minority. It was bad. It was ugly. In 2005 he made noises that he wasn't going to run for re-election, but eventually he did, and got elected along with two other similar-minded people. We went from a 3-2 minority to a 4-1 majority overnight. It was cool for a while.

Then all hell started breaking loose. We had a fight with the Superintendent, and then I started fighting with other Board members, then the one Board member in the minority suddenly stepped down, leaving behind her a nasty letter to the papers. Derek and I started fighting a lot. We went from having lunch to being completely incommunicado in between meetings. Snarls. Glares. Uck.

This summer I decided not to run for re-election. My son was talking up all my energy, my daughters needed some attention, and the nastiness and disrespect from the Board and from the PUBLIC, who thought I wasn't fighting with Derek at all, just added up to a yucky mess.

The day after Christmas Derek suddenly stepped down. A quick note to the paper, a short meeting with the (new) Superintendent, and a refusal to answer all phone calls. Total surprise.

Today an article was published in the paper that he's plead guilty to tax evasion and under his plea agreement, will be serving five months in jail followed by house arrest.

Holy KEErist. Never saw THAT coming.

Guess that explains why he was distracted over the past year. Guess that might explain some of the nastiness, or eagerness to fight.

But jeez. Jail? Wait? What year did you screw up your taxes? Huh. Look at that.

You know what, counting on my fingers, and looking up the window of audits on corporations, I realize now that you were probably under investigation the whole damned time I knew you.

Wow. I'll need a week or so to put the last four years of my life into perspective.