It is not one of my favorite words and understanding it is key to knowing why I support Jennifer Robinson in her re-election efforts for Cary's District A seat.

When Mike Joyce suddenly resigned his At-Large Council position, he left behind a Council split right down the middle.

After struggling for months to agree on someone to fill the vacancy, my name arose.

I found myself unexpectedly close to getting the honor that was eventually handed to Mr. Portman.

As it turns out, Ms. Robinson didn't like me a whole lot then and more importantly, didn't trust me.

She allowed herself to be quoted saying I was a detestable choice for Joyce's seat.

She had reasonable cause as I had singled her out on a public Web site for a couple of issues that were actually pretty lame for me to focus on. In that sense, I kind of had it coming and it plays right into the reason I support her now.

Passionate.

I like that word, especially when used to describe someone who has the skills, tenacity, and wherewithal to affect public policy for the better.

Sometimes passion is hard to control and results in utterances best forgotten.

Yet passion is also what helps elected officials like Jennifer Robinson make difficult decisions in the face of public opposition.

Most others just blather on with incomprehensible platitudes that at the end of the day say nothing and mean even less.

As a public servant in a very demanding town, Jennifer Robinson has a track record to be proud of.

I thank her for her efforts in making Cary a positive national example for storm water management policies.

I thank her for her leadership in forging the difficult path to getting schools, libraries, parks and greenways built in West Cary.

I thank her for the more mundane but critical jobs of ensuring adequate roads, water and sewer infrastructure are in place.

I thank her for fighting hard to get the developers of the Cornerstone project at Davis Drive and High House Road to scale back their plans by a full 35 percent, preserving open space and improving traffic flow in the process.

That's hard work, folks.

I thank her the most for saying I was detestable.

That shocking statement forced me to take a more objective and less sound bite driven look at myself and at Jennifer Robinson's record.

What I found was that I needed to be a bit more appreciative of what a great place Cary really is.

And to give my strongest support to those that helped shape where my family calls home.