Planning and the Presidency

By Elizabeth Wood, AICP

"New Hampshire is ground zero," said Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina (R) at a campaign event in Hollis, New Hampshire, in late August. There weren't more than 30 of us in the room — in this case a local pharmacy — but Graham and his strategists must have considered it a worthwhile stop. Although he would ultimately withdraw from the race in December, Graham was making sure he got in front of the voters in the Granite State — and all the national media outlets that report every step (and misstep) on the campaign trail.

After moving to New Hampshire in 2009 from Wyoming, I quickly realized that my new state of residence provided a unique avenue for public participation in the election process.

Face-to-face interaction with the candidates almost daily is sublime and exciting, and that's why I have been eager to spend evenings and weekends over the last several months hustling from one candidate's event to another. The New Hampshire Primary takes place February 9. Its first-in-the-nation status gives voters in my state rare access to each and every candidate running for president.

Roughly a year before any given primary, local coffee shops, school auditoriums, backyard BBQs, town festivals, church picnics — basically any place people can gather — are abuzz with presidential hopefuls. I've gotten the chance to talk to many of the candidates one-on-one in these small group settings. As of press time, I've attended roughly 30 campaign events for 16 of the current candidates. I've met with both Democrats and Republicans.

My mission is simple: I want to gauge each candidate's views on APA's advocacy points, observe first-hand the political process, and lobby each one to focus on the importance of our profession.

Elizabeth Wood (left) with Hillary Clinton and Kathleen DiFruscia, an alternate planning board member in Windham, New Hampshire. Right: The author with Jeb Bush, who told her that his gubernitorial tenure made him familiar with planning. Photos Courtesy Elizabeth Wood.

What they have to say

As of press time Donald Trump (R) and Hillary Clinton (D) were ranking first in the polls in their respective races.

Trump has personally indicated to me on four different occasions that he will speak to me regarding infrastructure and planning, but so far I have not caught up with him. I'll keep trying.

Clinton seemed the most enthusiastic about her support for planning. She spoke to more of APA's advocacy points than any of the other candidates in her speeches. When I spoke to her at a backyard speech in Windham, where I work as a planner, I pointed out that planners are experts in many of the topics that she brought up, including climate change, housing, transportation, education, and infrastructure. She smiled and said, "I love planners!" and gave me a thumbs-up.

As much as I can, I've been trying to ask the candidates the same questions. (I also try to give equal time to candidates from both parties). I start by inquiring whether they know what planning is and take the opportunity to tell them a little about the field and what planners do. Not all of these interviews are successful — or satisfying — but here is a bit of what I've learned.

At an event in Londonderry, I asked Ben Carson (R), the retired neurosurgeon: "If you are elected, what plans do you have to support planners and the mission of the American Planning Association?"

"This is an easy one," he said. "My plan is for the federal government to get out of these types of things and give it back to the states." When I asked about funding planning initiatives, he said that was what block grants were for.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's (R) reply about funding was nearly identical and a bit disappointing. "Community block grants," was all he said. I did find, however, that the candidates with gubernatorial experience — Christie, Jeb Bush (R), Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R), and Martin O'Malley (D) — were more versed in planning topics — or at least knew some of the lingo. Indeed, during a conversation at an elementary school in Salem, Bush mentioned to me that his tenure as governor gave him experience with community planning programs. But, when I dug a little deeper on planning issues with the candidates, there was often little meat.

In interviews I told candidates that APA's main goal is to build healthy communities, and asked what they would do to help with that. "I honestly think that what I want America to be is a place where people have the skills they need to get better paying jobs and we have policies that bring those better paying jobs here so that people can afford to live in these communities," said Marco Rubio (R), the U.S. Senator from Florida, at one event.

Bush had a different take. He emphasized the importance of first promoting strong households, telling me that "if people don't have a strong family unit, they aren't going to be thinking about making their community better."

Tools for planners

It was fascinating to watch the candidates present to audiences, answer difficult questions, and engage the public. After all, planners frequently perform the same tasks in our day-to-day work.

Like anyone who presents in front of a crowd, candidates are not immune from meeting glitches. Carly Fiorina (R), former CEO of Hewlett-Packard, battled a squeaky microphone in a middle school auditorium. Rubio's question-and-answer period ran unexpectedly past sundown — and no nighttime lighting had been arranged. At a Christie event at a pub a column obscured people's view, and the fire marshal had to turn voters away from an auditorium that had exceeded capacity at a speech by Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders (D). Sound familiar?

And then there's the difference between what an attendee observes and how it's reported in the press. This happened more than once, but the most interesting situation was at a Trump town hall meeting in a high school gymnasium in Rochester. The press skewered Trump for not questioning a speaker's assertion, but what I saw was a bit more nuanced.

The first audience member to speak said: "We have a problem in this country. It's called Muslims. You know our current president is one. You know he's not even an American." Trump interrupted the man, chuckling, "We need this question. This is the first question." I got the sense he was trying to diffuse the situation. But then the man, wearing a Trump T-shirt, continued his tirade ending with, "When can we get rid of [the Muslims]?"

Clearly, there was no right answer. Agreeing with the questioner would have stirred up major controversy, but disagreeing could have ignited the already heated-up speaker and the whole audience. Trump responded this way: "We're going to be looking at a lot of different things. ... You know, a lot of people are saying that and a lot of people are saying that bad things are happening. We're going to be looking at that and many other things." Trump then turned away and extended his arm to the next questioner.

In my view, Trump handled the situation pretty well. He first tried to calm the situation by laughing a bit, and when he answered he was somewhat vague. But he paired it with body language that helped to show he was addressing the issue and then firmly moving on. I saw it as a pretty effective means of handling an emotional and irrational outburst at a meeting. The national media saw it very differently.

A planner in the cabinet?

I reminded several of the candidates that planners are skilled experts at tackling many of the problems facing our country. So I asked them point-blank if they'd be willing to put planners on staff, or better yet, put a planner in a cabinet seat. The responses were mostly positive, actually.

Clinton chuckled, patted me on the shoulder, and said "Well, I don't know about a cabinet seat, but we will definitely bring some planners on board." And then she gave me a huge smile and her patented thumbs-up. I asked Kasich, too. Here's what he said: "I don't think we have a cabinet position called planner, but we will try to include you. Come and bother me and we'll figure it out." Former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley reminded me that he had a planner on staff during his tenure as governor.

The Republican candidates were willing to entertain the notion, too. Carson said he would "certainly be [open to] hearing good arguments to this," and Christie said he'd consider hiring planners as staff members, as well. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz (R) and I didn't get a chance to speak on this issue, but he has stated at a national debate that he will be eliminating the Department of Housing and Urban Development in order to curb government spending. A planner on staff might not be likely.

So why do this? Why spend so many of my nights and weekends on this project? This is my chance, as a planner and a voter, to get in front of these candidates when they are on my own turf. I realize I'm in a special situation here in New Hampshire, but every community and every state has elections. So when election time rolls around, remember that candidates at every level will be coming around asking for your time — and your votes — and you will have their ear. You've got to take that opportunity.

Engaging the candidates in a discourse on planning is a worthwhile endeavor. Most of them will return to public service in some capacity. Maybe someday we will end up with a planner in the White House. I'd settle for a cabinet seat.

Elizabeth Wood is the community planner for the town of Windham, New Hampshire, and the New Hampshire state director for the Northern New England Chapter of the American Planning Association. Before that, she interned for former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, and in the Maryland and Wyoming state houses.

Resources

Talking shop with presidential hopefuls: Educating political candidates and elected officials at any level of government about planning issues can be a real challenge, especially with complex topics. But if you're looking to explain the importance of our nation's infrastructure and the challenges it faces, a new paper from the Brookings Institute called What the Presidential Candidates Need to Know about Infrastructure: Issues and Options has done the legwork for you.

Published as part of Brooking's Budgeting for National Priorities Project, the paper provides an overview of U.S. infrastructure, lays out the problem, discusses possible responses, and gives readers a bottom line — all in just under five pages. Presidential candidate or not, the paper makes for an interesting and informative read. You can download the PDF from the Brookings Institute website (http://tinyurl.com/j5mnmrf).