So Long, Patti

A Q&A with Santa Fe's record-setting city councilor

Patti Bushee’s era as the longest-serving councilor in the city’s history is over. With a role so much greater than one declarative sentence can explain, she was first appointed to council in 1994 by firecracker Mayor Debbie Jaramillo, then elected five times, serving a total of 22 years on the council. Even as the task of cleaning out her office at City Hall still isn’t quite done, Bushee cast her final vote from the dais on Feb. 24. By the time you read this, voters will have picked a new representative for District 1. On the eve of the election, SFR caught up with Bushee over a glass of sangria to say goodbye.

SFR: Kim Jong-Il also took power in 1994; what was your strategy for hanging onto it?
Bushee:
Power! You use a very strong word. That's also the same year that Debbie came on [as mayor], if you want to keep it on the local level. What was the question?

What was your strategy for lasting so long?
Oh, my staying power? I guess I just forgot to look at the calendar and didn't realize that I had given up my mid-30s to my mid-50s to this little town. Honestly, I took every four-year term as if it were a new college degree for myself, you know, learning who I was within the context of my community, just different accomplishments that I wanted to achieve. … At a certain point, I believe I became more invested. I often thought, It doesn't have to be me to do this job; if there is somebody really good that wants to do this job and is very passionate about it, I want to relinquish this seat. I never really kind of encountered that. I didn't find people running for the right reasons very often. They were often just kind of like, I don't know, the same stuff we had forever, and I really wanted to effect change. So I guess the answer in the end would be that I think I see myself as an agent of change, and I saw things that really needed to be changed. I stuck with it.

What do you hope people remember about your service? What is your legacy?
As much as you guys like to sell papers and say OK, the council was at odds—we really, most of the time that I can remember, didn't take it personally, came back around and said, "All right, we have to get this done." I guess my legacy, if you have to point it, is that I hope that we put our water conservation in good stead, because we didn't have anything in place, and also civil rights of all kinds … and quality of life, like our trails.

Did you change your mind about anything? Had a major reversal?
I can remember when Café Estevan asked for a license on Agua Fría, and the neighbors were just against any commercial activity, and that Guadalupe neighborhood, it was tough. This is not a huge earth-shattering issue, but when I got to visit with Estevan and took my time and visited with the different groups of people … he convinced me that it was not going to be a problem, that it was good to have a business there. … I tried to do my research before I went in so that I had a solid basis for the decision. But sometimes you just kind of have to listen to your gut more than any other thing and just go with it.

What other advice do you have for the people who come after you, serving on the City Council?
You need to listen for your first year, at least, more than you talk. And really absorb. You still have to make decisions, and I hope that people grow into positions and really develop their strengths, and let's hope they develop a backbone, whatever that means to them.

Do you have any regrets?
I had no big ambitions. Honestly. The two shots at mayor, the first time I got in the race last and spent the least, and it was really to raise the issue about water. I don't know why I wanted to, at the time. In fact, I almost regret this last run, just timing-wise with everything, with my dad dying and everything. That was very hard. That was hard. I wish I could kind of have that time back.

Are the councilors today facing a different world than you were facing when you first came on the council?
The economic times have shifted. But that has been for the last seven years, so you should have had some time to adjust to that. In fact, I think we have not done as good of a job as we could have. We have not said no enough times. Really. I tried where I could … I spent a lot of time talking about the tale of two cities, and a lot of it was educating the northern part of my district about what was or was not happening on the Southside. I would love to see us come together around some of these really touchy issues, but with no money, there's not going to be a lot that gets done.

What needs to happen to have Santa Fe turn the corner and get on better economic footing?
The last two mayors, generally speaking, have had kind of a government bureaucrat mindset, and that is not reality. And so when it comes to balancing the budget or running an enterprise fund like the water company, you really have to approach it differently. It cannot be that it is just a slush fund. It is not sustainable. And that is what I mean about not saying no to some big things; systemically, I really wanted to change how we did business over there. And nobody wants to, nobody really wants to make change that way. … To some degree, people inherit jobs over there. I am not saying that is only the case, but that kind of system has to change. That old pattern of cronyism, that is also the not-saying-no.

So what is next for you? Are you thinking about retirement?
I am 56, so if you put "semi" in front of it, it sounds more like what I'm going to do.

You're not going to run for Phil Griego's seat?
No, I don't live in that district. Name one seat, and I will tell you no. I am running for the border. Literally, Mexico is on my list. I have a long list of places to go. I have friends with places in Nicaragua, and I'm gonna bring my Spanish back out and brush it up, and I've got two dogs, so if anybody is looking for two little dogs to take care of [over] the summer ...

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