Hawker's behind-the-scenes contributions were valuable

Voters disenchanted with Mesa’s perennial financial and image problems were looking for something different in a mayor this spring, and are convinced they have found it in Scott Smith. What they may not realize is that one of Smith’s key campaign promises is to carry on what might be his predecessor’s chief legacy.

Smith says he will work to bring Mesa stakeholders together to tackle the city’s tough issues. He’s touted his experience serving on the Superstition Vistas steering committee, a Morrision Institute-organized group which drafted a land-use plan for the 275 square miles the State Land Department owns south and east of the Valley.

Over the past eight years Smith’s predecessor, Keno Hawker, worked behind the scenes to get some of the Valley’s brightest, most powerful minds around the same table, through the Maricopa Association of Governments, East Valley Partnership, League of Arizona Cities and Towns, and even national organizations such as the National League of Cities.

Hawker said as much in his remarks at the city’s farewell reception for outgoing City Council members May 29: “I enjoyed going out and meeting people from other communities, and stealing their best ideas and bringing them to Mesa.”

Of course, he came to the job with plenty of ideas of his own. A $50 annual fee Mesa charged to collect sales tax from his asphalt business was what originally sucked him into local politics. He always championed the cause of limited government, even as prevailing winds blew in big-government projects such as the Mesa Arts Center and light rail.

Purists may be disappointed Hawker rarely chose the “protest vote” route often taken by the “small-l libertarian” council members Tom Rawles and Janie Thom. but the fact remains Mesa is still a relatively low-cost city.

That fact was born largely out of necessity as the city lacks the comparatively stable financial base a property tax would provide, and one Hawker was willing to do without, since he never voted in favor of putting one on the ballot.

Hawker’s main concern never was micromanaging Mesa residents’ lives, but to do what he could to ensure them a productive future in an economically dynamic city. His dedication to the Gateway airport area extended far beyond protecting it from residential encroachment, and may well have laid the groundwork for Mesa to be an economic powerhouse.

He may never have been the public face of Mesa that Smith is prepared to be, but Hawker’s legacy is just as vital.