By RICHARD SKOLNIK
White Rock

I thank Kevin Holsapple for his recent letter: “What I Wish For in Our County Councilors” (link).

All of the points Mr. Holsapple raised are fundamental.

However, they are not sufficient to ensure effective public service. For this, we need people who possess one additional trait:

The ability to focus unrelentingly on solving problems, in sustainable, cost-effective, and fair ways, despite the constraints to doing so.

This is in stark contrast, of course, to people who focus on telling us, often over and over again, “why problems can’t be solved”.

As someone who spent 40 years working on education and health in low- and middle-income countries, I continue to appreciate most those political leaders and elected officials who focus on “making the world as it should be,” despite the difficulties of doing so, rather than accepting the world “the way it is”.

At all levels, we need to elect people to serve us who have this kind of mindset. I encourage you to ask those running for election and those already serving in office what they would do about such matters as:

• Housing in Los Alamos
• Road safety in Los Alamos
• Attracting small businesses to Los Alamos
• New Mexico’s off the chart rate of alcohol-related deaths
• Healthcare worker shortages in New Mexico
• The low educational achievement of so many of New Mexico’s children
• New Mexico’s high murder rate

If a candidate or serving official acknowledges the challenges of an issue but then focuses  overwhelmingly on measures that can be taken to address the problem, despite the challenges, please vote for her. By contrast, if a candidate or elected official overwhelmingly speaks about the challenges to solving a problem rather than speaks about possible solutions, please don’t vote for her or re-elect her when she runs again.

We have too many people serving us now, I believe, who lack the solution-oriented mindset that we need. Continuing to elect such people is hurtful to New Mexico and to our community and leads to cumulative harm that becomes harder and harder to overcome.