When I first ran for the South Dakota Legislature in 1988, at the age of 29, my electoral slogan was “Give Change A Chance”. I knocked on literally every door in the legislative district, rural and urban, which at that time was Davison and a major portion of Douglas County. Main Street in New Holland was the district dividing line in Douglas County, the north half and above was in my district and the south half of Main Street and below was in a different legislative district. I was running against George Shanard, a long time State Senator and the Majority Leader of the South Dakota Senate. He outspent me $10,000 to $2500 and beat me by about 500 votes out of 8500 total votes cast. Over and over at the doorstep I heard criticisms regarding my youth and inexperience, so I redoubled my efforts to be involved in the community, to gain name recognition and to get older. I ran again in a rematch against George Shanard in 1992, at the age of 33 and won.
I had my doubts about the candidacy of Jordan Hanson for Mayor. Other, relatively young, people have tried to go straight to the top without political experience and without success, like Steve Larson running for Mayor of Mitchell in 2018. I’m unaware of any “formal” community involvement of Mr. Hanson (for example, membership on community boards – Life Quest for instance or participation in community organizations like Exchange Club and so on). The path to political office is usually paved by previous community involvement and the road to the pinnacle of leadership is usually predicated on previous political experience. Some examples include Mayor Lou Sebert who had been a State Representative and active in several civic organizations before his election as mayor. Mayor Ken Tracy had previously served on the City Council prior to his elevation to the office of mayor. Mayor Bob Everson had long service on the Park Board and Planning Commission, in addition to his civic community commitments before his election to the mayor’s office. Jordan Hanson had no such political experience, no civic involvement to speak of and is young. That’s usually a trifecta for defeat, at least in an initial run for “high” public office. I realize that there are higher offices than mayor, but you take my point.
Jordan Hanson is enthusiastic. He is sincere, He is committed. Mr. Hanson is also energetic. He, along with Nancy Conzemius and others have revived Arts in the Park which, to judge from word of mouth on the street, many people are excited to see come back. Hanson started that effort prior to, and perhaps because of, his run for mayor. Folks appreciated the initiative and the cause. Hanson had his political finger on the pulse of the public. There is a lot of anger in the community against the City, which predates the problems that the recent flooding has brought on.
Citizens are angered by nuisance properties most of which, if truth be told, belong to one particular slum lord. It seems as if the City does nothing to enforce their nuisance ordinance. People are upset at constantly rising water and other service rates. To be fair, those rising rates have brought improved infrastructure, a secondary water source and other essentials to providing efficient, effective city services but they are largely “unseen” by the public. The pipes are in the ground and the water comes out of the faucet while most folks have no idea of what goes into the provision of those services in terms of cost and effort. Sidewalks are a perennial thorn in the side of citizens and the City. They are a federal mandate under the Americans With Disabilities Act, although that makes no difference to those required to install them. The list of irritants goes on…
Jordan Hanson pointed out the obsession of City leaders and other candidates running for office with the lake and the Corn Palace. While acknowledging those are important issues, Hanson said rightly that they weren’t the main concern of the vast majority of the citizenry. There are empty properties all over the City of Mitchell. There are crumbling buildings. Main Street is well over 100 years old, with all of the attendant problems and costs that come with aging buildings. Store fronts are empty. Population is stagnant. Young people come to town to attend Mitchell Technical College or Dakota Wesleyan University, spend their time here to get their degree and then leave for greener pastures. That’s an issue. Almost half of the homes in Mitchell are merely rentals and there isn’t enough housing for current employees never mind housing for growth. That’s a problem.
There doesn’t seem to be much to do in town. Sure, there are the one offs – Rodeo Week, and coming up the Corn Palace Festival etc. – and then there are high school and DWU sports in season as well as a great City park system, but it can be thin entertainment gruel for much of the year. Attracting new business and people involves more than TIF districts and tax incentives. Jordan Hanson seemed to be the only candidate talking about that.
Mayor Hanson had a somewhat rocky first meeting in office. A large part of that was because of the divisions among the City Council which became apparent in the fight over who would be President of the Council. The animosity was raw and on display in some of the exchanges between Council members. That will complicate Jordan Hanson’s job as mayor. He didn’t quite have a handle on parliamentary procedure, but he candidly acknowledged that, and he will get the hang of it as time rolls on.
I am concerned that Mayor Hanson doesn’t have a complete understanding of how cumbersome and unwieldy government truly is. He has a lot of great ideas and a true commitment of service to the community but my impression of him in the run up to his election was he thinks the mayor has more power than the office, at least in Mitchell, truly does have.
Politics can be rewarding. It certainly is frustrating. I spent 12 years in the Legislature and 9 years on the Mitchell City Council and if I got a nickel for every time someone said to me “You should…” in a political context, I’d be a rich man living on my own private island somewhere. There are no magic wands in politics, as Mayor Hanson is about to find out.
Thirty-six is old for professional sports athletes and young for those in political office. Jordan Hanson has been elected mayor on a “Broken Windows” campaign. Criminologist James Q. Wilson introduced the concept of the “broken windows theory” to crime in 1982. The idea was that if little things, like attending to broken windows in empty buildings, were seen to then neighborhoods would get the idea that someone cared and authorities were watching and so other, more serious, crime rates would drop. The theory has been proved a tremendous success in major cities all across the world. Mayor Hanson is adopting the same theory and applying it to City government, although I doubt he knows the etymology of his electoral philosophy. I think it is a winning strategy and one that will be appreciated by the citizens of Mitchell.
Jordan Hanson has been elected Mayor of Mitchell. It is up to all of us – City employees and civic leaders of all types as well as ordinary citizens – to do what we can to make him a success. In other words, give change a chance.