In five days, Don Schmidt's record term of 36 years on Fort Wayne City Council officially comes to an end, after his defeat in November by challenger Karen Goldner in the Second Council District race.

Jeff Neumeyer sat down for a lengthy interview with Schmidt, to get his take on why he thinks he lost, and his view on what lies ahead for the council about to be sworn-in to service.

Jeff Neumeyer: " The Fort Wayne City Council Chambers has sort of been a second home for long-time City Council Member Don Schmidt. Don, has there been enough time passed that you realize now that you're not going to have to come down to council in January on those cold Tuesday nights?"

Don Schmidt/(R) 2nd District City Council: " I belong to a luncheon club that meets every Wednesday at the Fort Wayne Business Forum, and we stand up and go around the room and give our name and our employment and so forth, and give any business tips that we may have passed on during the week. So, when it came to my turn, I stood up and gave my name and I was able to say unemployed, so, that brought the house down a little bit and it began to sink in at that particular point, I am unemployed."

Neumeyer: " Political observers in this community I think had to be surprised by this outcome, your loss by 12 votes to Democrat challenger Karen Goldner. Two weeks ago, before the election, could you have imagined that this would have turned out as it did?

Schmidt: " There were several things that were working against us, uh, it was a bad year for Republicans at the national level, obviously. Secondly, the Mayoral situation was working against us. The smoking issue had riled a lot of people up, that was out there, and the Libertarian Party was coming after us. If I had known what was going to happen, you'd do a lot of things differently, I think, but you know, careers come to an end for a lot of reasons, and I was at the end of the string, I knew that. I had mentally prepared myself for whatever happened. That doesn't mean that I like it, but I was prepared."

Neumeyer: " John Crawford, Sam Talarico, and Dr. Tom Hayhurst are all leaving Council as well. Some would say that the boat might rock for awhile as this new council tries to get established. Do you think there will be a void in leadership and experience there to start with?"

Schmidt: " I think there will be a tremendous void, really."

Neumeyer: " But you have no doubt that they'll be able to carry on and get the job done?"

Schmidt: " They have to carry on. They have no choice."