Four years ago, I ran for mayor of DeKalb.

Among my concerns were the money being spent downtown and at the airport, the budgets and the city’s financial management in general.

Acting mayor Povlsen insisted in interviews and forums that DeKalb was in good financial shape, in fact once during a radio interview he angrily shook papers in my face when I suggested differently. Then, 10 months after he was elected, the city administration admitted DeKalb would be millions in the hole in short order if something drastic wasn’t done.

Twenty people were laid off that year. Twenty families had the rug pulled out from under them to build a General Fund reserve for the mayor to brag about upon his exit.

Well, $3 million was our reserve level before the budget crises began. It’s nothing special. And neither is a man who can’t conjure the slightest bit of sorrow for the suffering he caused.