90 percent of life is showing up, unless you're a politician?

David Friess was apparently energized about being a Red Bud alderman back in 2015. He missed only two meetings all year.

But the next year he missed 18. And last year he missed more than half of the meetings — 28.

"I had a number of unavoidable family and business commitments in 2017 that conflicted with council meetings," Friess said.

Anybody gets that. Life gets complicated.

But those of us facing complex family and business lives aren't asking voters to send them to Springfield. And we aren't asking them to replace a guy with a near-perfect attendance record and values that seem in-sync with the community.

"Unlike with Jerry Costello, politics isn't part of my family business," Friess said.

Arrogance aside, maybe Friess should rethink why he wants to be a state representative. If he's too busy to go across town to be a public servant, is he really ready to go across the state for higher office?

Candidates should think of the campaign and election as a job interview. They are asking voters to hire them.

Who would hire a guy who sees no problem with being absent half of the time?

This story was originally published June 29, 2018 at 4:15 PM.