Politics in our tiny, pristine Summit County community and  in our country is not an easy business. The Democratic primary concluded with an up-and-coming local candidate, Megan McKenna, defeating longtime Planning Commissioner Thomas Cooke by over 10 points, 55+%  to 45-%. Mr. Cooke is a good man and a long-term public servant with similar views to Ms. McKenna on the issues of runaway growth, affordable employee and senior housing, open space and environmental accountability.Though it was a contested race, the two candidates were civil and have come together since the primary to agree to keep an open dialogue with input flowing back and forth between them.Megan McKenna is truly a Summit County woman who was educated here and taught school for 11 years in the Park City School District. She was mentored here by many of the great teachers that helped build Park City School District into a top school district in the state and in the nation in environmental and scientific thought. She now works at Mountainlands Housing Trust, a job she was selected for from several hundred applicants. Megan has thrived as a champion of workforce housing. She entered the Democratic primary as a first-time political candidate and earned the support of the local working public, teachers, firefighters, police, ski patrollers, resort and restaurant workers as a representative of the people as well as many charitable and government employees. She is truly a gem of a person and hopefully the future of our leadership on the Summit County Council.There’s an old guard political structure in Summit County that’s overseen our growing problems with real estate development, affordable housing, traffic, etc. The old guard hasn’t caused these problems, but neither has it solved them.  One of Megan’s many appealing attributes is her non-membership in the old guard. It’s time to shake up the political structure of Summit County and try to get better results.  Megan’s lived here since childhood. She’s not a carpetbagger or a transplant. No one has a stronger connection to the community. It’s to the community’s advantage that she is not super rich. She understands what it’s like to live in Summit County without an income that’s in the upper 0.1%. Megan is one of us. She’s devoted to all residents of Summit County, smart, well educated, young, energetic and charismatic. She’s exactly what Summit County needs.   Let’s do what’s best for Summit County and vote for one of our own, Megan McKenna for Summit County Council.Tommy Tanzer Park CityThe post One of us appeared first on Park Record.