Throw Your Hat in the Ring

A haphazardly stapled stack of petitions bearing signatures of Iowa City electors with Laura Bergus’ affidavit for candidacy on top.

In odd calendar years, we elect local leaders. Now that it’s 2021, I hope we have all heard, and taken to heart, how important local elections can be. This past year, county boards of supervisors, city councils, and school boards faced unprecedented pressure to fill the void of federal and state leadership. The challenges of 2020 for local government are far from over. Whether you’ve been interested in politics your whole life, or are more recently feeling the urgency for engaged leadership, 2021 can be your year to step towards holding elected office.

This is your invitation. I am inviting you to run. Also, I’m inviting you to call or email or text me if you want to talk about running: 319-541-9677. I’ll sit down with anyone (virtually, duh) who wants to talk about the process or emotions or politics of a local campaign. I’m not a gossip, and I’ll let you decide if you don’t want me to tell others you’re considering a run.*

Lots of people will give you lots of advice, including directly telling you that you should or should not run; or that so-and-so is going for it this time, so you should sit out because you’d dilute the field; or that you should get more experience before you give it a try. (Yes, I heard all of these things.) My response: this town is too small and life is too short for that. You get to decide if you want to run, when you run, and how you get out there to cultivate your own support.

Once you seriously consider running, a reality of campaigning is that the rules are complicated and opaque. Where do you have live? What are the other eligibility requirements? How about campaign contribution limits? What paperwork do you have to submit, and when?? Where do you even find all the rules??? I had three lawyers (counting me) on my small campaign team, and still had a hard time navigating the process. That’s not right. Until those systems change, I’m happy to help direct anyone to answers where I can.

I do not plan to publicly endorse any city council candidates while I’m serving on city council, but I will commit to helping elevate the field. If you’re considering putting your name on the ballot, I would be glad to talk.

*Important confidentiality disclaimer! If you contact me on my city council email address (regardless of content), or if we correspond by any means about pending City of Iowa City business or my work on city council, you should assume that’s a public record.