3-IN-1 POLITICIAN, WITH ECONOMIC CHOPS

posted by Michael Chihak

In politics, plenty of people have charisma. Plenty of people have intelligence. Plenty of people have good ideas. Unfortunately, those are all different people.

Few in politics possess all those qualities. And even those who do possess them aren’t always able to make them work -- not only for themselves, but for the constituencies they represent.

Lo and behold, the Arizona Public Media TV crew I traveled the state with earlier this month found a politician who seems to be making things happen.

She’s Flagstaff Mayor Sara Presler. Presler is energetic, well spoken, obviously intelligent and in possession of basic economic know-how and an understanding of the public sector’s part in the economy.

Consider just one comment she made in our interview, about the status of Flagstaff’s city budget: “The only reason government does better is because business does better.”

We found out that Flagstaff is all about business -- the business of tourism. And thus Presler is all about the business of tourism. She fully recognizes that business leads, government facilitates and, as she said, does better if business does better.

The proof is that Flagstaff for the last several years of recession, with Presler as mayor, has led Arizona and the Western region in tourism growth. That’s been important in Flagstaff, as Presler pointed out. Half of the city’s sales tax revenues comes from tourism, so tourism deserves fostering.

Flagstaff does just that. During the recession, the city pumped $350,000 over two years into tourism marketing. It worked. The area saw a 3 percent decline in tourism spending over two years, while the rest of the state struggled with double-digit declines.

It was evidence that Presler could pull together business and government, still letting the private sector lead.

Only 31 years old and completing what she says will be her last term as mayor next year, she is someone to watch on Arizona’s political landscape.