☆ Smith: when leaders can’t be trusted, they disorient San Jose voters
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Politicians should stand by their word like the solemn responsibility it is. So says Irene Smith of Path Seldom Traveled, who argues that politically expedient or otherwise tokenized, revocable endorsements do grave dishonor to the City of San Jose, and to the voters who look to leaders for guidance. Will politicians find integrity this year? An Opportunity Now exclusive 2026 prediction.
My hopes for San Jose are that we see evidence of our politicians learning from the past — as we all must.
Campaign attacks
With the upcoming 2026 election season, I long for campaigns marked not by mudslinging and manipulation, but by integrity, accuracy, and respect. Let the mailers we receive focus on real policy, on ideas that move our city forward, not on the cheap, divisive sound bites that poison open discourse.
Even in our most recent election for District 3, we witnessed baseless attacks — a candidate condemned for her supporters, smeared as if her integrity were for sale to the “oil industrial complex.” This kind of weak-willed, cynical distortion does not honor San Jose.
Endorsements of candidates and measures
I expect San Jose’s politicians to treat their endorsements like the solemn, entrusted responsibilities they are. When they recommend a measure, their support should have value and significance for us; not evaporate and back pedal, conveniently changing their minds when it's too late. And when they vouch for a candidate's character, they must be ready to stand by that judgment or offer explanations when that councilman goes to prison for 18 years.
Every endorsement carries a name, their name; not just a party logo. Their name, their word, should mean something.
And if it doesn’t?
Then perhaps this is the year in 2026 that San Jose learns from the misdirection of the past and rises above the mailbox clutter of other people's opinions to use their own judgment.
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