Virginia Beach Mayor Will Sessoms should be applauded for his decision to deny media requests about the SEAL Team 6, the team that was involved in the raid that killed Osama bin Laden. (Read the story in the Virginian-Pilot [1])
Turned down Fox. Turned down the BBC.
“I think this entire community, the entire country, is so proud of the crowd,” Sessoms said. “This is a wow factor. But you’ve got to hold back.”
Normally, politicians avoid the media for bad news. In fact, Sessoms hasn’t shied away from some of the tougher stories in local politics. Light Rail, public private partnerships, taxes – he’s made statements on all of them.
A Virginia Beach-based unit killing the most hated terrorist in world history would usually encourage a politician to grab every bit of TV he could.
Mayor Sessoms showed remarkable restraint and maturity in expressing the pride we all feel in our highly-trained military professionals, but not turning it into a political re-election ploy.
My highest kudos!