There are three motivations to get involved in politics: for a job, for power or for a reason.

I think professional career politicians start out for the latter, but while biding their time to move up the ladder, it becomes a means to a livelihood – a job – and with that power. By the time it takes to step into a position that can really affect a positive change in people’s lives, they have been co-opted by the mechanics of keeping that job and maintaining a livelihood. Most politicians are not wealthy people and their pensions are dependent upon their length of service. Most have started off as young men or women and have never done anything else but take, or run for, government jobs.

In 2004 I entered politics for the latter. Until then I was apolitical, knowing nothing of the political process. For a middle aged guy like me – I was born in 1950 – the motivation was our broken healthcare system (I’m a doctor) and a war that mirrored a war that my generation endured that we should never have gotten into and which we should never have escalated.

Our present leaders – my generation – including the congressman who was suppose to be representing me – didn’t learn and did not have the discernment of even the most recent lessons of history. Vietnam was so painful and tore our country apart because our leaders could not face reality and admit a mistake. I could not stand idly by and allow another black granite wall with 55,000 names to be erected on the national mall.

Combine that with the misery and suffering so many endure because they have little or no access to healthcare – particularly in the North Country because we are such an economically impoverished region – I finally got stood up and tried to do something.

So I ran for congress, not once, but twice. If the truth be known, the first run didn’t really count. I didn’t have a clue about what I was doing. By necessity, I developed a profound knowledge of our congressman’s record that is unrivaled but by a handful of his constituents. I would maintain that he does not represent the interests of the people of the North Country, but has successfully created the perception that he does. In politics, perception is reality.

Communicating that in five-second sound bites during a campaign is nearly impossible. Hence this Watch site. We will watch him in the present and analyze the past. I am an inveterate reader of the congressional record and will endeavor to point you to the “raw” information. Legislation is an outcome of arcane parliamentary procedure, much more involved than Robert’s Rules of order. In that parliamentary procedure you will find the deceptions in which our lawmakers indulge everyday.

Your comments are welcome, but they must civil. We will not allow this to degenerate into name calling or personal attacks. Critique, analyze, disparage or even ravage ideas and behavior – but not persons. We hope this will become a reference for our news organizations so that they can make reality of the perception.

– Bob Johnson