In the 8 years I served (I've been off for a year, term limits) there was only one thing I did that was controversial. My one and only slick-politic moment.
The general market 's new owner wanted to reopen after being closed for a couple years. To reopen, they needed a conditional use permit. A couple people in town wanted to prohibit beer sales or at least prohibit Sunday beer sales.
The new owner said that he wouldn't be able to keep the store profitable without beer sales and wouldn't open it it he wasn't allowed to have beer sales.
I made the point that it was better to have the general store open with beer sales than closed and vacant.
The issue of beer sales was talked about for a while. I got tired of it and moved that the conditional permit be granted. It passed unanimously.
A month later, someone saw them selling beer at the market and reported it to the community council member that was against it. A big email chain went out and the County told us that they were going to revoke his permit.
When i got up to speed on the email chain, I pointed out to everyone that my motion to grant the permit did not prohibit beer sales. The county double checked the audio and agreed.
For the coup de grâce, I pointed out that the community council member that wanted to prohibit beer sales had recently sold his house in town. He was kicked off the council before the next meeting.
That was fun.
)
I suppose there are a couple neo-prohibitionists that could still be upset about that. But, the general market went out of business again. So, they'd have to be pretty damn petty to still be hanging onto it.