I loathe politics and, by default, politicians. A year ago, I followed national politics with the typical ire of, probably, most folks – annoyance worthy of the occasional five-minute lamentation over a beer and not much else. I vote in the national elections but my busy schedule meant I didn’t always make it out for midterms or other elections. I didn’t see the direct correlation between my everyday life, or that of my children, with the local or state political mudslinging. To me, politicians, once elected, rest on their laurels and bide their time until the next cycle, avoiding news coverage but collecting soundbites and staged photos to roll out the next time their salary (or political stepping stone) was dependent on citizens like myself – ignorant and easily lured by flash-in-the-pan “leaders.”
In the last year, I’ve become intimately familiar with the local “leaders.” Today, my opinion of politicians and how they relate to being a leader is exponentially more nuanced than I would have ever imagined. I consider myself an analytical, perceptive person and yet paying close attention to local and state politicians in the last year has me even more confused than when I started.
I am confused still by the governor’s July visit to Las Cruces and a number of additional towns around our state, to discuss and make promises to rectify the public safety predicament New Mexico finds itself in. After an overwhelming show of local bipartisan support for her visit, it withered as quickly as it bloomed, despite a local campaign of repeat offender literature, emails, signs, photographs and other methods of support for her sudden interest in the problems that have plagued small business owners and residents for a number of years. No such drumbeat from the governor’s office has yet been published for similar public safety priorities in the upcoming 60-day legislative session that I am aware of, and I’ve been paying particular attention. Was it all just an egomaniacal temper tantrum for someone who didn’t get their way?
I don’t understand a local state representative telling a much smaller group of his constituents that he “can’t pass laws to get people off their ass” and do their jobs. Ah, the political finger pointing begins. “It’s her fault!” “He did (or didn’t) allow that critical piece of legislation to be heard!” “Your city council is the problem!”
What is a leader? The Las Cruces City Council has at its disposal arguably the best police chief in decades. He is engaged, intelligent and not afraid to research innovative policies and procedures that have (or have not) worked in other cities. And yet his specific requests for critical legislative priorities have fallen on nearly deaf ears. The council meeting on December 2 made me sick to my stomach: Citizen after citizen, business owner after business owner, took time out of their busy schedules to implore the council to add Chief Jeremy Story’s priorities to the official legislative priorities document. After the last citizen spoke, the council moved immediately to vote on the document as written, without the suggested amendments requested no less than a dozen times by their constituents. It passed unanimously. The segue, or lack thereof, appeared even more callous than usual; but this time, the council didn’t just dismiss their citizens, but also their stead-fast police chief.
Next week we will dive further into the question of what makes a leader in comparison to politicians and why this citizen is quickly becoming disillusioned by their intersection.
