Making promises or commitments while campaigning for election can help candidates get elected, however those same promises and commitments can lead to defeat when running for re-election. Candidates try to navigate a thin line between saying too little and not getting elected, or saying too much and not getting re-elected.
The trick is either keeping campaign commitments or hoping the electorate has a short memory. Over the next two months Watchdog will remind council members and voters who said what. Some council members, (Patrick Kelly and Ian Holzhauer) kept it simple with just a few commitments, while others (Gustin, Hinterlong, Leong, and Sullivan) extended themselves with eight or nine each. One council member had almost as many commitments as fingers and toes combined. That leaves a lot of opportunity for saying one thing and doing another, or coming across as a hypocrite.
When a council-candidate runs a campaign stating that “every voice needs to be heard” and then after getting elected votes to have residents written comments entered into the minutes rather than being read for all to hear during a council meeting, that doesn’t square.
A voter’s trust needs to be earned by candidates. Trust is broken when council members don’t follow through with promises and commitments.