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Robert J. Thomas began working as a meter reader at the City of Westland, Michigan, in September of 1970. He continued working there for 20 years literally holding every position possible from being the dog warden to cleaning sanitary sewers. He was heavily involved in the union for the Department of Public Service. He started out as a Union Stewart and worked his way up to being President of A.F.S.C.M.E. Local 1602.
Robert represented employees in binding arbitration and negotiated contracts with the city administration. The employees that Robert represented were virtually located in every department within the city, which gave Robert an insight into every operation of the city. He steadily became disenchanted with the city and how it operated. That is when he began to think the impossible.
He decided that the only way to really make a change in the city's direction was to be at the top and that meant only one thing, he would have to run for the Office of Mayor. The day he announced his intentions to run for Mayor, he was a sanitary sewer worker with absolutely no political background or experience and no money or support from any group or organization in the city. Yet, there he was, standing in front of a few local news reporters announcing that he was going to run for the top political position in the city. Overnight, Robert literally went from holding a two-inch sanitary sewer hose during the day to handing out political flyers and knocking on doors in the evening, asking people to vote for him for mayor.
He was laughed at by the newspapers. He was laughed at by the political pundits who all supported the incumbent mayor. The incumbent mayor had over $100,000 to spend on the campaign and Robert had to sell a car to raise his first $5,000. For every volunteer Robert had, the incumbent mayor had ten. The incumbent mayor had the endorsement of every group and organization in the community except two. Robert had the endorsement of his local union as well as the Westland Police Union. This was surely a battle of David versus Goliath!
Robert is always a person who thinks outside the box. He put together a campaign strategy that no one thought could be won. On Primary Election Day, he won the second spot by a mere 26 votes! Robert received less than 20 percent of the overall vote count, but that did not deter him. He continued working tirelessly and using some strategies and techniques that no one had ever seen in Westland politics before.
When all the votes were counted on the day of the General Election, Robert had won the mayoral election by a mere 200 votes and everyone was shocked; except Robert. Four years later, Robert won his first reelection by a record landslide in the city, receiving over 66% of the vote. His third reelection campaign was another landslide and record breaker for the city. Robert was Mayor for twelve consecutive years and retired in 2002.
While he was Mayor he wrote his first book titled, "How to Run for Local Office," which has now sold over 20,000 copies worldwide. This book includes all the tips, techniques and strategies that Robert used to win that first campaign against all odds. Robert has since written five other books including a series of three western novels based on the character, Jess Williams. He has recently finished the new second edition of "How to Run for Local Office," and is currently working on the fourth book in the series of western novels. He has written a science fiction novel, which he has not yet published. He now lives in Michigan with his lovely wife, Jill.
