By Thomas Warren III, Editor-in-Chief

As those who read our publication may have noticed, we have two editorials in today’s edition. Typically, I only publish one editorial per edition, as needed, but the announcements over the past two days made both editorials two important to skip.

Yesterday, Mayor Ginger Nelson announced her campaign for re-election. As part of her announcement she outlined several promises for this year’s campaign, ranging from everything from internet access to COVID-19. I won’t recap the entire announcement, but if you are interested, you can read about it here.

Personally, I think it is wonderful that Mayor Nelson is running again, considering that voters now have the opportunity to hold her accountable for her disastrous policies over the past four years. From lying about not supporting longer terms to overseeing the largest crackdown on public engagement and transparency in our city’s history, Nelson has been all about less freedom and higher taxes in Amarillo, all while rewarding her establishment buddies.

But, looking at her campaign announcement, I couldn’t help but feel underwhelmed by her campaign promises this year. I mean, internet access and COVID-19 recovery? That’s great, but what about actually fulfilling your past campaign promises first?

As I recalled in a past editorial, Nelson has completely dropped the ball on her first term’s campaign promises. She said she would clean up I-40 and I-27, but she didn’t. She said she would establish a job creation task force, but she didn’t. She said she would cut the red tape, but she didn’t.

What did she do during her first term? Rewarded her campaign donors, shut down recording of public comments during City Council meetings, and oversaw a citizen being arrested for clapping in a City Council meeting.

Talk about results.

Nelson was then re-elected in 2019 with four more campaign promises, according to her website. She said she would prioritize money for road repair to avoid regular bond elections, but our streets are still littered with potholes. She said she would build new swimming pools “based on community needs and input,” but rammed through certificates of obligation for a water park project as businesses were suffering at the start of the pandemic. She said she would keep taxes low, but has voted for every tax increase possible and openly supported an item that would have provided Amarillo with one of the largest tax increases in our city’s history.

Nelson has left the vast majority of her campaign promises unfulfilled, but she keeps adding more. Maybe it makes her feel good to have more items on her to-do list, even though nothing ever gets marked off.

Before Ginger Nelson makes any new campaign promises for 2021, perhaps she should go back and start the process of fulfilling her old campaign promises. Amarillo needs a mayor who doesn’t just talk, but actually gets the job done, without rewarding every establishment crony and campaign donor possible along the way.

I’m still waiting to apply for the job creation task force after driving on a cleaned up Interstate 40. I guess as Amarillo waits for Nelson’s past campaign promises to be fulfilled, we can take comfort that in less than five months, we will have the opportunity to hand the incumbent her walking papers and pick someone new to represent us.

Election Day is May 1. Before buying into Nelson’s new promises, remember all of her broken promises and unfulfilled promises over the past four years. Amarillo deserves better.