Preliminary Thoughts on Leslie Jacobs for Mayor of New Orleans

It has been a week since I had the chance, along with a number of other NOLA bloggers, to meet with Leslie Jacobs, to hear her out on her vision for the City, and to offer some suggestions to her as she geared up for her campaign. I have pondered that meeting, have given it some measured consideration, and am now ready to offer up some commentary.

First, I should start by saying it's too early for me to declare any endorsement for any candidate. So, although I find Leslie Jacobs to be an appealing candidate at one level, she is only one of a number of candidates I find appealing for different reasons at this point.

Second, unlike fellow NOLA blogger Leigh C., I don't think Leslie Jacobs is at all scared of the enormity of the task facing the next Mayor. In fact, I thought Jacobs not only was confident and composed, but had faced the beast of the job that will oppress the next Mayor, and had come to peace with it and was ready to embrace the task. This is not to say that Jacobs did not acknowledge the challenges facing the next Mayor. She most certainly did and was realistic about it (which is refreshing, if you ask me); but she appeared comfortable facing the prospect of assuming that responsibility.

Third, along with being at peace with her decision to run for this thankless job and take up its difficult work, she was unhesitating (and I would even say aggressive) in declaring that she would spare no expense to run a full-throttle, all-out campaign. She clearly wants the job and is committed to the campaign.

Now, moving on to a bit of analysis of the content of the meeting, I would like to concentrate on two things in particular (and leave the rest of the evaluation of the meeting to others who were there). The first thing, which I consider something that quite impressed me positively, was her sincere and honest openness to the thoughts and ideas of those of us who were present. The nature of the event was less a Q&A session with a mayoral candidate (though she did, for the most part, answer questions when asked), and more of a collaborative conversation. She did not once come across, in my view, as that typical egotistical politician type who can talk your ear off with all the great ideas he or she has and how wonderful the future will be with him or her at the helm of government. And I felt comfortable enough to throw out a few of my own campaign platform ideas to her by way of some things to ponder and think about. And Jacobs really seemed genuinely interested in hearing such suggestions from all of us who were present. In short, she was real, approachable, collaborative, and engaged. And that is a far cry from our current Mayor, not to mention some of the other declared candidates in the race. So she has that going for her. I also think her progressive credentials are solid, and I am generally supportive of her work in the realm of educational policy and her involvement with the educational reform and charter school movement. So, she's an attractive candidate for me, and one that I will be following closely over the next weeks and months.

But I can't say that I was 100% satisfied and pleased with everything that took place at the meeting. And this leads me to my second focus area, which represents a criticism of sorts as much as a recommendation for conducting herself in the future of her campaign. When questioned about her positions on some of the hot button social issues of the day, such as the pro-life/pro-choice and gay marriage debates, she seemed reluctant to reveal herself and actually punted altogether on the gay marriage question. Her argument was that these issues are really beyond the scope of the job of Mayor and so she didn't see the need to complicate her campaign with stances on issues that were unrelated to the job. And at one level she's right on this point. However, what disappointed me is that she acted the politician when she didn't need to. Frankly, I have my own opinions on this subject and it would have been good, simply in order to know her better, to hear her opinions on them. Precisely because I know that her positions on these issues aren't directly pertinent to the job, makes her revealing them ultimately harmless -- at least when it comes to my vote. I would have no problems voting for a person for Mayor with whom I may have a disagreement on these particular social issues. And, likewise, I would have no problems rejecting a candidate for Mayor who agreed with me on these issues, but who also didn't pass muster on issues more clearly related to the running of the City. What her response to these questions did was to make her seem a bit uncomfortable in her own skin on sensitive social issues. And that's just not what a candidate should want to project to any audience at any time. My advice to Jacobs would be to answer such questions matter-of-factly and honestly, and then move casually on to local issues of substance that the Mayor can control and influence in the running of the City -- like repairing the streets, fighting crime, and improving the efficiency and honesty of municipal government. Outside of this lapse into "politician" mode, Jacobs came across well to me.

But I'm not sold. Yet. I'm open to her candidacy, as I remain open to other candidacies. I will be watching closely and will lay it all out when the time comes. I like her as a candidate and am glad she entered the race. I think she brings some good (even if controversial) experience in education, an area in which perhaps the next Mayor can attempt to exercise a bit more leadership. And all the other dudes in the race could use some competition from a strong, female voice.

UPDATE: Tuesday, November 24, 2009: 12:30PM -- Editilla is all over the Jacobs campaign for its seeming ambiguity regarding laying the blame for the "flood that destroyed the City" at the feet of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and instead seems to not want to disassociate itself from the common, but wrong, representation that the devastation wrought on the City was directly related to the natural phenomenon known as Hurricane Katrina. While I think Jacobs agrees with Editilla on the point, Editilla is correct to note that Jacobs has not corrected the record. Jacobs should fix this, and any delay is simply not good politics. Editilla will make sure of that!