It is rare for an editorial to be devoted to praising a politician, but Congressman Rick Allen has earned the esteem he enjoys from the community.
Allen proved himself to be a voice of reason in the ultimately successful coup to oust Speaker Kevin McCarthy, led by renegade Republican Matt Gaetz and seven others.
In the midst of the chaos, Allen urged his colleagues to stand behind the embattled speaker, knowing that momentum on several important, if not urgent, national issues should take priority over what was essentially a school yard brawl.
When not trying to be the adult in the room and help manage the brats in Washington D.C., Allen spends an enormous amount of time in his district, rather than wander the halls of the capital looking for new political opportunities.
Residents in and near the Bon Air Apartment complex look to Allen as their savior. He intervened over the squalid conditions, and it looks like his efforts are slowly moving a bureaucracy, HUD, which has a reputation of amassing piles of red tape, into action.
While the eventual fate of the New Savannah Lock and Dam remains in limbo, Allen continues to work behind the scenes and has made it clear that he will stand in front of the bulldozer itself, if the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers attempt to demolish the dam and lower the downtown pool.
We jest, we don’t expect Allen to go jousting with a Caterpillar any time soon, but he has spent his time in office doing the job of congressman and staying in touch with his constituents on important issues, and that is all the community can ask for.
We wish Congressman Allen continued success and we hope the legacy he is building inspires other people of good conscience and character to follow his lead and commit themselves to public service.
