Polls – here we go again

In the early spring of 2006 I was credited/accused (your choice of words) of being responsible for the first ever political poll taken during Leesburg Town elections. I only wish I had the talent and the money to put something that professional together. Now, more in keeping with my talent and pocket book, I have recently added a poll to Leadership Talk. You, the readers, get to be the professional pollsters. First vote and watch the results. (This not Chicago, so your vote will only be counted once.) Then comment here on the results (click on the comment link below), and send me ideas for future polls. If it proves popular, I will change the poll every few weeks.

A little history, when the polls of last spring began, many were amazed that something like this could happen in little old Leesburg. Never mind that polls are common in state-wide and national elections. Even some friends who suspected my hand in what they called mischievous doings called me names like Skunk. Even though I cannot take credit for the earlier polls, I do take credit or blame for this poll on Leadership Talk. But please, if you want to call me a name, I would prefer “Pole Cat”. Perhaps some might think of Leadership Talk as the “Skunk Works”.

A little history on that name; as an aviator it has a special meaning to me and others of this persuasion. The name has its genesis at Lockheed Aircraft. The story is told on the Lockheed Martin Website:

When Kelly Johnson, a Lockheed engineer, brought together a hand-picked team of Lockheed engineers and manufacturing people at Burbank in the wartime year of 1943, each team member was cautioned that design and production of the new P-80 Shooting Star jet fighter must be carried out in strict secrecy. No one was to discuss the project outside the small organization, and team members were even warned to be careful how they answered the telephones.

A team engineer named Irv Culver was a fan of Al Capp’s newspaper comic strip, "Li’l Abner," in which there was a running joke about a mysterious place deep in the forest called the "Skonk Works." There, a strong beverage was brewed from skunks, old shoes and other strange ingredients. Johnson’s organization operated out of a rented circus tent next to a plastic manufacturing plant that would produce a strong odor which permeated the tent.

One day, Culver’s phone rang and he answered it by saying "Skonk Works, inside man Culver speaking." Fellow employees quickly adopted the name for their mysterious part of Lockheed, where the new jet fighter program was brewing. "Skonk Works" became "Skunk Works." The once informal nickname is now the registered trademark of the company: Skunk Works®.