It’s not too early to think about the 2018 mayor’s race

Recent events have people thinking about the March mayoral election. And most people want to say, “No. It’s too early. I can’t think about that now. We’re still getting over the special election.”

However, it’s not too early to be thinking about what might happen in that election next year.

For one thing, potential candidates and their campaign advisers are already planning for it. One candidate has already announced, and others are soon to follow.

But more importantly, next year will be the first year we elect a mayor under the new “strong mayor” charter provision.

In many ways, Santa Fe has had a de facto “strong mayor” for a long time. Although the city manager was supposed to be in charge of city government, if the mayor and the manager were at odds, the manager was soon gone.

Many of the “new duties” in the charter are things mayors have been involved in already: preparing a budget or proposing policies and programs. The biggest change is that the mayor will now be able to fire the city manager, city attorney or city clerk without council approval.

This charter change is supposed to make it clear that the mayor is in charge and accountable for how city government functions. If we are going to hold the mayor accountable for that, we need to be much more thoughtful in the upcoming election and demand more accountability from our mayoral candidates.

So, as people start to declare their candidacies, we need to ask them the following questions:

How do they view their role as mayor under this new system? What are the differences between the candidates?

How will they structure city government? Will there still be a city manager and deputy city manager, and what will their functions be?

What are their priorities and how do they intend to fund them? What do they really care about; what is important to them?

Who is advising them about what should occur at City Hall? What policies and programs do these advisers recommend?

Who will be financing their campaigns? Will they take public financing? If not, why not? (There may be good reasons.) And if they are taking public financing, what outside groups are running parallel campaigns?

Can they work well with the governing body? With other local governments? Do they treat others (whether colleagues, city employees or constituents) fairly and courteously?

Do they communicate well? Do they listen well? Are they responsive to their constituents?

Now that’s a lot to ponder, but the voters have nine months in which to do this. Follow what’s going on at City Hall to help inform your vote in March.

Look for deeds, not words. Current political campaigns tend to poll the electorate to see what they want and then have the candidate parrot back those words during the campaign. We all know how easy it is for candidates to make promises. What will the candidates actually do if elected?

If they have a track record in elected or appointed positions, find out what they actually did or what they said before the glare of mayoral candidacy was upon them. Don’t just rely on the tons of campaign mailers that arrive in the weeks before the election.

Of course, this is harder to do with those who have not had such positions in the past. This should not necessarily disqualify anyone for office (recent federal officials notwithstanding), but does mean that such candidates will have to work harder to demonstrate their knowledge of, and competency for, the job of mayor.

The media, of course, can be a big help in this. But don’t give them a free pass, either. Verify what they tell you, especially if it is from social media where no editors are at work.

Democracy is sometimes hard to get right, but with a little time and effort, we can do it.