Why Would Anyone Run for Public Office?

Nov. 6, 2015

While having lunch with Traverse City mayoral candidate Jeanine Easterday last month, an acquaintance approached our table. “One more week until the election,” she said. And without indicating whether or not she supported Ms. Easterday, she added, “I think you're really brave.”

The candidate conceded, “It does take some courage.”

It has never been for the faint of heart, and that’s why it’s rare for anyone to actually choose public service. A recently released Pew Research study puts the total number of Americans who have run for office at a measly 2 percent.

Long hours, low compensation and intense scrutiny…my question is why would anyone run for public office? It seems to be one of the most thankless, demanding, and soulcrushing things you can do.

Our Traverse City commissioners review an average of 700 pages of briefing materials per month. They attend lengthy weekly commission meetings and serve on ad hoc committees and other city boards. In addition, they spend time doing independent research, meeting with concerned citizens and replying to media inquiries.

Commissioner Gary Howe recently shared with me that he spends an average of 12 hours a week on city-related business – sometimes as high as 30. Because of the sheer time commitment, most city commissioners have been retired, self- or part-time employed.

Everything — literally, everything — you do will be scrutinized. Everybody has a camera phone, every statement you make will be recorded, and if you step out of line, lose your temper in an email, or get tired and make a mistake, the chances of making the front page are pretty good.

All this for a whopping $4,876.58 per year; or something like $7.80 per hour.

While I was impressed with the level of civility that our Traverse City candidates displayed during this campaign season, I was again disappointed by the local online trolls — hiding behind their computer screens and demonstrating a disturbing lack of compassion.

The comment sections (and the media that host them) are constantly reinforcing messages that public office is not something that is important or noble. The overall opinion is that politicians are at a minimum dysfunctional, but probably power hungry and pushing their personal agendas, too.

If we believe that all politicians are idiots or shysters and we treat everybody who runs for office like an idiot or shyster, eventually, only idiots and shysters will choose to run for office.

In Running From Office, a new book based on their research, Jennifer Lawless and Richard Fox argue that the past two decades on the national front have seen increased partisanship, prolonged stalemates, and numerous scandals that have turned the next generation off politics altogether. They say that unless behaviors change, the country’s brightest stars are going to pursue just about anything but one of the 500,000 elected offices America needs to fill each year.

The Harvard Institute of Politics surveys young Americans about their attitudes on an annual basis and in their most recent survey, only 21 percent of respondents considered themselves “politically engaged.” Last year, only a third counted running for office “an honorable thing to do.”

Millennials aren’t just turned off by those who serve, but voter apathy is also very high. In the last Traverse City election, only 713 residents between the ages of 18 and 40 voted. Yes, you read that right — of registered voters under 40, only 14 percent turned out. This is compared to an overall turnout of 34 percent.

To fix this, it’s going to take each and every one of us stepping back, stopping the vitriol and putting ourselves in the shoes of the people we see on the news and read about online. It’s going to take us being willing to admit that candidates for office are just regular people like the rest of us, doing something that 98 percent of the population refuses to do. Instead of making that process harder, we should give these folks the respect they deserve.

Our system of government only works when the public is engaged, good people step up and serve, and the voters are given a choice among qualified people who all care, but simply have different philosophies or policy plans.

“All politics is local,” said former Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill. Let’s start by creating an environment where honorable folks enter politics at the local level, then hopefully move up through the state to national office.

Voters shouldn’t be forced to choose the lesser of evils. And candidates shouldn't have to be “really brave.”

Christie Minervini owns Gallery Fifty at The Village at Grand Traverse Commons, and is active in causes of education and homelessness in the Grand Traverse region.