
StepUp America Part 2: What’s it like to serve?
Part 2 in an ongoing series following a cohort of 16 potential candidates learning about what it’s like to run for and serve in local government.
Local elected office — city council, school board, park board and the like serves as the starting point for many of America’s elected leaders. A common progression is to win a city council seat, then state legislature, then Congress or governorship, etc. For candidates without the wealth, connections or fame to leap immediately to a higher level, local government service, is often a first step.
If Americans are unhappy with the people populating their political system (they generally are, regardless of party), then the question of what it’s like to run for and serve in local office is an important one. If the barriers to entry to our political system are such that good candidates don’t or can’t run, then we are left with not-good candidates locally and, eventually, throughout the system.
Our band of 16 potential candidates enrolled in StepUp Bend (for background, check out Part 1), heard directly from three local elected officials about what it’s really like to run and to serve. Several themes prevailed.
Campaigning can be intense, if you have an opponent.
Running for elected office was one of the most fun but also most terrifying experiences I’ve had. There is nothing quite like putting your name on the ballot and competing with one or more opponents to see who wins. Election day was the longest day of my life, waiting to see whether people liked me or one of my opponents better.
Having talked with many potential candidates over the years, there is no question in my mind that the campaign is the number one barrier to serving. That is why, when you have an appointment process to fill a vacancy, you might have dozens of applicants but for an open position which requires running a campaign, you might have a couple.
One of our panelists, Bend Mayor Casey Roats, observed that the campaign was “the most intense part of public service.” Mayor Roats, when running for Council in 2014, faced political attacks and was even sued personally over a residency issue. He prevailed in both the campaign and the litigation— at considerable personal expense in the latter case.
Roats’ experience is, fortunately, an outlier, but also demonstrates that there is a pecking order even among local elected office. In Bend, at least, City Council races tend to be more hotly contested, more expensive and more ideologically driven.
Our other two panelists, Brady Fuller of the Bend Park and Recreation District Board and Peggy Kinkade of the Bend-La Pine School District Board, reported more tame campaign experiences. Kinkade observed that, until recently, school board races were mostly uncontensted. Fuller, though running against an incumbent, raised only $300 (from himself).
Candidates for local office frequently don’t know who their opponent or opponents will be, unless they wait until the filing deadline to file as a candidate. This uncertainty, I think, contributes to the fear potential candidates have about the campaign.
Serving takes a lot of time and energy
Mayor Roats estimated that the amount of time he spends on city business on a weekly basis is around 20 hours. The day before the StepUp Bend session, he had spent all day in city meetings. His experience is consistent with my own.
If campaigning is the biggest barrier to entry for new candidates, then the time commitment of serving is probably the biggest barrier for people to continue to serve. If you have a business and a family, like Roats, the time spent on city affairs can be difficult. If you have a full-time job working for someone else, it can be nearly impossible.
Time is money, except in local government elected office. None of our panelists complained about what they’re paid for their hours of service. The mayor is paid a stipend of $200.00 per month, and school and park board members are paid nothing. The fact that we ask our local elected leaders to spend many hours away from their families and work for something for which we pay them essentially nothing is something all voters should keep in mind.
Personal notoriety
One of the concerns raised by StepUp Bend participants is, will the public accost me and my family when we’re in the community? The answer is, mostly no. I’ve seen enough polling to know that name identification for local elected officials, even relatively prominent ones, is below 20% in Bend. It’s probably similar in other communities of Bend’s size. The percentage of people who would actually recognize local elected officials by sight is even smaller.
This is one area in which our panelists put concerns to rest. The truth is, in many if not most local elected positions, folks are toiling in relative obscurity, for better or worse.
What’s the upside?
So, why does anyone run and serve? Our panelists described the satisfaction of seeing new programs they helped create improve the lives of their constituents, and having a hand in helping shape the future of the Bend community. Each of them expressed their love of what they do.
There is definitely an upside for the type of person we all want to serve — those who truly care about our community. However, two of the three panelists also observed that the divisive nature of our national politics has seeped into their respective roles. In our 24-hour news cycle national politics, what happens in Washington, D.C. can impact the minds of voters, and even local elected officials, far more than local issues, with divisive national debates being played out in proxy (and largely symbolically) at the local level.
To the degree that continues, we risk adding yet another barrier to attracting good people to serve at the local, and eventually national, level. Let us hope that our politics have not become a big negative feedback loop.
