May 14, 2015 3 min read

When asked by members of the Observer-Reporter‘s editorial board if she had any regrets about her tenure as Washington’s mayor, Brenda Davis replied frankly that she did not have a council that supported her initiatives, and hoped, if elected to a second term, she will be backed by a council that is more amenable to her wishes.

Washington city government has long been fractious. Being a player in the city’s politics is not a recommended undertaking for the faint of heart. Tales have been told of fistfights breaking out among members of councils past. Though we’ve heard no recent rumors of fisticuffs, Davis has not succeeded in totally calming the waters. However, the reality is nine out of 10 of the city’s residents don’t care about the petty gamesmanship at city hall. To them, it’s so much inside baseball. What they care about is whether the city is safe, whether the streets are smooth and passable and what the likelihood is the commerce that cropped up on the southern reaches of Main Street can start to migrate up to the northern part of that boulevard and infuse Washington’s downtown with greater vitality.

During Davis’ tenure as mayor, which stretches to 2012, the city has managed to make halting progress on some fronts, including a budget that has been in the black. But we believe Washington could go even further with new leadership and fresh perspective. For that reason, we are endorsing Davis’ opponent, Scott Putnam, in the Democratic primary election Tuesday.

At the start of her term, Davis alienated members of the city’s police force who accused her of micromanaging the department. Davis countered she was merely seeking accountability. More recently, she was unable to get along with some members of city council and hopes there is a changing of the guard this year. But, for the most part, the best political practitioners are those who are able to work with opponents, or bring fence-sitters around to their point of view. From what we have seen, Davis is not interested in doing this. You could interpret this, on one hand, as feistiness, while, on the other, perceiving it as unnecessary stubbornness.

Democratic voters in the city have a promising alternative in Putnam. A political newcomer, he is chairman of the Citywide Development Corp. and pledged, if elected, he would bring comity to city government and make blight removal a priority. He also said he would like to streamline the approval process for developers who want to bring much-needed business to the city, and “start a conversation” with surrounding municipalities about shared services.

If city voters agree Putnam is the better choice and he goes on to win in November’s general election, Davis will be the third Washington mayor in a row to have been turned out of office, following Sonny Spossey and Kenneth Westcott. Our hope is the city settles on stable, level-headed leadership that can truly help revive its fortunes.