Mayoral, not mayorial. I had a few searches on “Burlington Mayorial Race” turn up here. I hope I never said that.
Okay, okay, so here’s where you get to hear my take on who won the debate.
No one! Ha! How do you like that cop out?
Seriously, I do not think there was a winner in the debate. I think there is one candidate who is very hard to listen to for long periods of time because he is supremely boring, but there was no clear winner.
What we have are four very different ideas of what the mayor should be, and who you vote for will depend on whose definition you agree with.
If you think the mayor should quietly maintain the city in a reasonably responsible manner, while making steps toward the future without much fanfare, Bob Kiss is probably your man. He has managed the city well these past years, or as an acquaintance of mine said, he kept the trains running on time.
There were no major catastrophes under Mayor Kiss and he took steps to make some progress, such as the Moran Plant proposal, which I thought was a fantastic use of public/private partnership. (Now, let’s break ground, already.)
I like to call Kiss the tortoise candidate. Slow and steady wins the race is his mantra.
He’s not looking to hog the spotlight and gain praise from his subjects. He quietly does what needs to be done to keep the city moving in the right direction.
If you think the mayor should be a consensus builder, who works across party lines to arrive at the proper course of action, perhaps Kurt Wright is your man. Despite being a Republican, Wright is not a party-first kind of man. He has a track record of working with other parties to get things done. This is not just a campaign slogan. I really think this is a true reflection of how Wright would govern, not from an ideology set in stone, but from a consensus of what people – at least the politically active people – want.
The real question the voters should be asking themselves is whether or not that is a good way to govern.
If you want a mayor who is new to the political scene, a breath of fresh air amongst the same old faces, Dan Smith is it. Smith comes in with a new set of eyes and fresh ideas, with no political baggage or allegiances to serve. At the same time, it is clear that he wants to shake up the city and get some new things done. Change!
Change would be good for the city, but it also brings with it uncertainty. Smith is not the candidate for the faint-hearted.
Finally, we have a candidate who has the experience in city government to know how it operates and the capability to run the city. He has a vision. He has kids. When pressed, it turns out his vision is to make Burlington the kind of city he wants for his kids. If you want the kind of city that Andy Montroll wants for his kids, then he is just the man to deliver it.
I think that the difficult thing about this race is that all four candidates possess unique strengths. All four are affable guys. All four have the aptitude to handle the job of mayor.
The choice the Burlington voters face, in this blogger’s opinion, is what kind of mayor this city should have.
So, what do you think?
