Photo by City of Amarillo
By Thomas Warren III, Editor-in-Chief
When voters head to the polls in Amarillo on May 1, they will be confronted with the difficult decision of who should lead this city for the next two years. While many candidates are making many promises, I would highly encourage voters to consider only those candidates who can not only making good promises, but also deliver on their promises.
After all, there is a big difference between results and rhetoric.
We all know the agenda of the Amarillo Matters incumbents. Spend, spend, spend, while taxes skyrocket. They want a less responsible government, so long as it benefits their business partners and campaign donors.
But what about the rest of the ballot? What do those challengers have to offer to Amarillo?
While you will hear some candidates offer up odd policies such as supporting non-citizens casting ballots in Amarillo elections, most candidates have been focused on the typical issues that come up in Amarillo elections, from taxes to sanitation. Each candidate is making promises, and for the most part, the candidates’ promises are pretty good. But, there is a big difference between making promises and delivering on those promises.
Amarillo voters have several candidates this year that have a road map for how to deliver on their promises, without spreading nonsensical messaging about city residency. For example, Michael Hunt has promised to keep taxes in check and has pointed to specific city expenditures, such as taxpayer-funded lobbying, as an expense that should be heavily scrutinized. Meanwhile, other candidates like Tom Scherlen have pointed out issues like single-member districts as things that need to be addressed immediately, with full knowledge of what would have to happen for such a promise to become a reality.
Some candidates like Hunt, Scherlen, Jason Foglesong, and others have pointed out key issues they want to address with real plans for how to get the job done.
Certain other candidates have simply bandied about promises they know they can never keep because it might get them a few additional likes on Facebook.
See the difference?
When voters vote on May 1, I strongly encourage them to look at the candidates’ platforms and truly scrutinize their campaign promises and messaging. When you do that, I believe you will see some candidates know the direction and have a plan, while others are simply all hat and no cattle.