I was planning this week to write another column on various perceived shenanigans going on within our state and national governments. But today I am going to write about something else: good people. This is in part because of the season, but more specifically because I learned just a couple of hours ago about the passing of a truly good person, Mr. L.

Several years ago I decided to take up a lifelong interest in refereeing high school football – I guess my congressional race hadn’t sated my need to be yelled at by strangers, so I wanted to put on the stripes and get out there on the field.

One of the very first people I met was a man who was already a legend – a 50-year official and member of the national hall of fame for such activities. I called him Mr. L. Out of respect I never used his first name. He was a retired special education teacher, and that alone tells you volumes about his character. He honored me with his mentorship and blessed me by also being a dear friend.

The news of his sudden passing, only hours after a group of officials had enjoyed another of  our weekly referee lunches with Mr. L, has both stunned and saddened me, but it also reminded me of something I’ve wanted to write about, dear readers: politics and goodness.

A 2014 poll suggested that 75% of Americans believe all politicians are corrupt. You need only run for Congress to get an earful. In 2008, when I took on Congressman Lamborn for the 5th Congressional District of Colorado, I suddenly had people bellow at me that I was both corrupt and un-American, because I wanted to run for office and become – gasp – a politician.

But over the course of my 25+ year military career, and in the dozen or so years since I retired, I’ve come to a very different view of being a politician than apparently three quarters of population. So let me state it as clearly as I can: while you may agree or disagree with the issue positions and policies of any elected official, I ask you to consider that the vast majority of them, on both sides of the aisle, might be good, honest, and honorable people. No, really. I’m serious.

And I want to be totally bipartisan here. I worked for Colorado U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet for four years. I got to know him both as a leader and as a person. He is a deeply honest and good man, doing what he hopes is the right thing for Colorado. He did very well in business; he’s not working as a senator to make ends meet. Rather, he is doing so to make a difference. And so too, I posit, is John McCain. Certainly with his life experience and character, Sen. McCain would be very successful in any line of work. Yet he chooses to serve. Lindsey Graham is another – retired Air Force colonel and honest fellow.

I’ve gotten to spend some time with several former Colorado governors. The Bills, Owens and Ritter, one a Republican and one a Democrat, were and are good, honest, and hardworking public servants. And what about U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn? While I disagree with Mr. Lamborn on, well,  just about everything, I have no reason to doubt that he is, as I said in nearly every speech I gave in my campaign, “… a good and decent man whom I believe to be wrong on every issue, and I hope he feels the same way about me.”

Hard fought and aggressive political campaigns are not necessarily signs of dishonesty and corruption. And while no one, most certainly to include myself, is free from sin or blemish, I do earnestly submit to you, dear reader, that the vast majority of your elected officials are, in fact, good people.

Of course our system is far from perfect. Attentive readers will note that I have not extended my good and honest people rhetoric to the White House. But I do truly feel that Capitol Hills, be they in DC or Denver, are populated by a huge majority of good people. If you think I’m wrong, you should run for office yourself! You have a duty to do so, but that is for another column.

And so, in this holiday season, I offer these words of hope. There are good people out there.

Rest in Peace, Mr. L, and thank you. Merry Christmas.