Knowing your candidate

It's municipal election time in San Antonio. And, if you have not yet cast your early vote, you might want to get to know the candidates a little more. KSAT's here to help.

Several men running for several different municipal seats in San Antonio have criminal records, KSAT 12 News has learned.

(from KSAT-12)

You can get the details at the link; I won't reprint them here. But I will provide this quote from the news article from Antonio Diaz, who is running for the City Council seat in District 2, because I think this is the most important part of the story.

“I used to drink a lot in my life, and that led me to do many of those things,” said Diaz, who said he does not hide from his past. “But I’ve been sober for over 20 years and now I want to be a helpful, contributing member of society.”

Yes, it is a bit odd that so many people vying to run our city have criminal backgrounds, but, in all fairness, a lot of the charges listed in the article were dismissed or dropped. And the candidates who did have convictions served their time and/or fine, and they seemed to have learned from their mistakes. Let's hope they did. Let's also hope their victims were made whole or made to feel that justice was done.

And, if the candidates get elected, let's hope they serve as shining examples of what people can do to redeem themselves.