I was asked to run for an open state representative seat back when I was very active in our neighborhood association . . . turned it down flat, remembering my daddy's good advice. Also, I am way too plain spoken to be a good politician, and I hate cold calls and asking people for money!!!!!!
Most likely Mr. Towery just got fed up with the whole charade. I'm always reminded of Stevenson's David Balfour (in the eponymous sequel to Kidnapped that nobody ever reads, but it's a better book) who said he was never tempted to go into politics, because "I had seen it from behind, where it is all bones and blackness."
I can relate. Honest people get the shaft too. I read that the campaign between Adams and Jefferson was rabid so I guess it’s always been that way. It’s just on a grander scale and “instant” mud nowadays. Daily.