As long as there is a functioning government the Feds will always get their taxes.
One day I will die.
That’s about it as far as guarantees go.
But I can state with almost equal certainty that if an election were to be held to fill the empty fifth seat on the Chula Vista City Council, 44 people would not be applying for the job (and that’s all campaigns are — long, drawn out, expensive applications for employment and power). Running a successful campaign requires commitment and determination, two qualities you’d want in a leader. And while the logistics of publicly vetting 16 total candidates for all of the City Council candidates during the June election was vexing and problematic, the task was a necessary and worthwhile one.
But now that the council has chosen to appoint the city’s next representative rather than allow voters to decide, the public will have a limited glimpse of the candidates, who they are and what they offer.
Presumably not all of the 44 will make the round of interviews. Each council member is supposed to offer their top choices for consideration and next week the culled worthwhiles will be queried by the four-person council.
We don’t know the criteria Mayor Casillas Salas or Councilman John McCann, for example, will be using to decide who will lead the city for the next two years. One may decide to nominate someone because they like their work experience while the other might champion someone else because his or her name is fun to say underwater.
During typical campaigns there are public forums, interviews, meet-and-greets, and other opportunities for constituents and voters to get a sense of who will make decisions for them. But this time around, not so much. A select few will decide and their questions will be carefully worded and asked.
It’d be much more interesting — and revealing — to watch would-be council members handle themselves in public, interacting with their neighbors and fielding questions.
Just how will you bring jobs to Chula Vista? Why should I care about a university on the east side when I live on the west and the streets in my neighborhood are busted? So, what do you think of the what’s been happening in Ferguson and New York? Think that could happen here? What do you do? What does your spouse do? How much money do you make? Do you like “Real Housewives of Atlanta”? When was the last time you smoked marijuana?
Sure maybe some of the questions are oddball and intrusive, but watching how someone handles themselves in uncomfortable or stressful situations is just as important as their answers. It provides you with a complete picture.
Unfortunately, when the interviews start next week we’ll only be getting a thumbnail sketch.
