Hereditary executive

From Vardibidian: What do you think would be good qualifications (personal history, traits, skills, priorities, etc) for a mayor of a town like yours or mine: old, 50,000-75,000 or so residents, a suburb of a bigger town (the state capitol, actually), lots of retirees, lots of schoolkids, lots of single-family houses and triple-deckers? How could you tell if somebody in town would make a good mayor?

I have no idea. I used to think I knew, when the town government seemed more remote and monolithic. I’d want someone creative and curious, skilled in listening to people and talking to people, able to recognize expertise and accept advice, and able to inspire lots of people to contribute to the greater good. Pretty much what I’d want of a person in any leadership position.

The practical reality seems very different to me now, and I’m not sure what would be good qualifications. Our mayor brings in a tremendous amount of state and federal funding, but I’m not sure how he manages that. Other than bringing in outside money, I’m not sure exactly what his job entails, so I’m not sure how the job would be different if the characteristics of the town that you mention were different.

In a town like this one with hereditary job positions, the way I’d tell if somebody in town would make a good mayor is to check their family tree, on the assumption that a mayor wouldn’t be effective if he didn’t come from one of the political families because he’d obtain no cooperation from the other people in power.