08/23/12: In Portsmouth, a break from the discord

This op-ed appeared in The Virginian-Pilot on the date shown.

DEMOCRACY was on display in Portsmouth on Tuesday evening.

A couple of hundred voters braved a little rain to hear from the candidates for mayor and the City Council. They didn’t just listen, though. All of the moderator’s questions for the candidates came from the audience.

Over the course of two hours, the candidates — two for mayor and five of the six running for three council seats — fielded 12 questions on a wide range of issues.

Sometimes, they were all in agreement — it became a bit of a running joke for one or more to answer “ditto” when that occurred. Other times, there were sharp disagreements, particularly between the mayoral candidates, who could barely conceal their dislike of each other.

Not once, though, were the candidates anything other than civil to one another. Refreshingly lacking at this forum was any of the discord that marks the national debate. Not even from the audience, who — in addition to providing excellent questions — appropriately rewarded the candidates with applause. No shouts of “You lie!” from this group.

Only once did I hear party affiliation mentioned — and that was to disavow membership in either. The candidates answered questions without relying on talking points. All drew on their understanding of how the city works and what they would like to do to make it better.

But it wasn’t just all rosy spin. The candidates were willing to speak harsh truths about what Portsmouth faces.

With about 50 percent of its real estate off the tax rolls, Portsmouth is revenue-challenged. City employees haven’t had a raise in five years.

Each candidate’s approach, though, was one that tried to look at the problems holistically. For example, most expressed concern that a casino, while bringing much needed revenue, may also bring crime.

This is what I love about local politics. Rarely is it about anything other than the issues. It feels like what I believe democracy should entail — an informed public questioning those who would represent them and getting honest answers in return.

With 62,704 registered voters as of June 30, the 200 or so in attendance were but a drop in the bucket at this first public forum. There will be other forums, and I hope the voters take the opportunity to attend. Perhaps forum organizers can arrange to use one of the free video-streaming services to broadcast and record them for those who can’t.

As important as the national and congressional contests are, the local ones are even more so. The closer government is to us, the more it affects us — and the more we can affect it. The candidates are our neighbors. We can corral them at the grocery store to ask them questions. They publish their cell phone numbers and email addresses in order to make themselves available to us.

Portsmouth joins Virginia Beach and Suffolk as part of the growing number of Virginia localities that have moved their municipal elections to November.

With all of the noise from the upticket races, the local candidates face tremendous difficulty in being heard. Most will not raise enough money to even send a piece of mail, much less put an ad on TV. They will rely on forums like the one Tuesday to get out their message. And they will rely on volunteers to help them knock on doors and distribute literature and all of the other shoe-leather politicking that local candidates employ.

Listening to the national debate can make us cynical about our political process. Listening to the local debate can restore our faith in it.