Service for People Who Do Not Agree With You

A public office serves people who bring different beliefs, histories, and expectations through the same door. The biography of a candidate is personal, but the obligation described by nonpartisan service extends beyond people who identify with that biography.

Jonathan Curtis's candidate statement expressly commits to nonpartisan service and clear, responsive communication to all residents (county voters' pamphlet, page 9-38). That language provides a useful starting point for understanding the standard he has placed before the public.

Curtis describes himself as a follower of Jesus Christ. He says faith is a big part of his life, and he wants that conviction included openly rather than hidden from his story.

Personal conviction and equal public service are different subjects. A person's religious identity does not establish how every administrative decision will be made, and residents should not have to share it to receive respectful treatment.

Curtis's housing account includes work around older adults and families. He says the job was about people, not only the number of units under management.

Different residents can encounter the Clerk's Office for very different reasons. The county lists elections, recording, marriage licensing, and passport applications among its services (Deschutes County Clerk). A commitment to responsive service therefore concersthe person seeking a particular service, not only people who share a candidate's views.

His experience leading a sales team introduces another kind of difference. He says he recruited beginners and recognized that people sometimes worked better with different teammates

That observation concerns adapting work arrangements instead of treating every person as interchangeable. It is not evidence of a particular public-office practice, but it is part of the leadership philosophy he has chosen to describe.

The county clerk's office has defined responsibilities involving elections, records, and licensing (Clerk's Office). Discussion of service should stay attached to those responsibilities rather than become a promise to resolve every community disagreement.

A useful standard is understandable treatment: clear explanations, consistent requirements, and honest answers about what an office can do. That is a general measure for evaluating public service, not a claim that Curtis has already achieved it in government.

Curtis's life includes family, faith, business, and an attachment to Bend. None requires the public to become a circle of people who think alike.

The most meaningful reading of his published nonpartisan commitment is therefore a broad one. It asks that the work of an office remain professional even when the people on either side of a conversation disagree.

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