Linda Gorton is the leader Lexington needs now
In the race for Lexington mayor, voters must choose between two good people who are delivering remarkably similar messages.
Consider, though, what they’ve done (not just what they say), and former Vice Mayor Linda Gorton stands out as the right person to succeed Jim Gray, as Gray himself said Friday when he endorsed her.
Gorton’s 16 years on council, including four years as vice mayor, sharpened not just her encyclopedic knowledge of Lexington, but also her ability to get things done. She’s proved herself a leader, on the most complex problems.
Ronnie Bastin, who finished 17 points behind Gorton in the May primary, served as Lexington’s police chief or public safety commissioner for 10 years beginning in 2008. Being top-ranked in a police agency is one thing. Enlisting other elected officials, as a mayor must, to accomplish anything significant, demands a very different set of skills. Gorton has demonstrated an extraordinary ability to build consensus among competing interests and on the council; she’s withstood the pressures of elected office, including pressures exerted by “friends.”
Gorton is, as she says, “mayor-ready.”
Bastin would be learning on the job.
There’s a reason that Gorton’s platform and plans offer more detail and depth than Bastin’s. A registered nurse, she’s been thinking about Lexington’s challenges and nourishing its aspirations for years.
Bastin is much more of an unknown quantity. This shows in the mixed signals he’s sent on developing more farmland by expanding Lexington’s anti-sprawl boundary. In 1958, Lexington became the first in the U.S. to draw a line on urban development, a decision that looks smarter with each passing year. In late 2017, the council, without warning, came very close to expanding the boundary.
In one of his first interviews as a candidate, Bastin told WKYT’s Bill Bryant, “I think we have to look at some of the agricultural land that we have that could be developed if we get the right opportunity....” But later, perhaps gauging public opinion, he spoke against urban expansion. Earlier this month before an agricultural audience, he said, “I support maintaining the boundary, working on infill development.” Yet he made no effort to distance himself from a pro-expansion group’s recent endorsement. After the National Association of Realtors Fund, a Chicago-based PAC, blanketed Lexington with pro-Bastin mailers, he could have renewed his commitment to our 60-year anti-sprawl plan. Instead he boasted he’d bring “fresh perspective” and change “the culture” of the debate. Bastin’s feel-good wiggle words should leave voters wondering.
Gorton, on the other hand, has a record, going back two decades. She supported the plan that stopped the gobbling up of farmland by 10-acre developments. She voted for the city’s infill and redevelopment ordinance. She has supported greenways and neighborhoods. She led the stakeholders who hammered out how to divvy up the $590 million cost of a court-ordered sewer upgrade. She convened the work group that recommended ways to allow more rural tourism and recreation. She understands the big picture and the nitty gritty of balancing development and agriculture, and, unless she undergoes a total personality reversal, won’t pull any fast ones.
Gorton has been in the trenches, if not the front lines, of almost every advance, large and small, that our nonpartisan city government has made this century. She helped clean up the air (smoking ban) and the streams (storm water improvements). She was an early advocate for affordable housing, gender equity on city boards and commissions, and fairness for LGBT citizens and city employees.
Bastin touts his law enforcement experience and promises to add at least 40 police officers over the next four years. We respect Bastin’s public service and his genuine compassion. But he’s had 10 years to make changes in policing and public safety, and the city already adds police officers as the budget and population grow.
New mayors seem to always inherit a budget crisis, and Lexington suffers all the woes of any city. But the Gray administration is leaving Lexington on the right track in important ways, including securing 250 acres near Interstates 64-75 for economic/industrial development. Construction crews are busy as investment flows into building and rebuilding inside the urban area. Despite an opioid crisis and too much gun violence, Lexington is one of the safest cities.
If you like the direction Lexington has been heading, and we do, make Linda Gorton mayor.
The unendorsed candidate may submit a 250-word response by noon Tuesday.
This story was originally published October 26, 2018 at 6:56 PM.