“Dwight Sutton’s announcement last week that he would not seek re-election as mayor marks, as much as anything could, the beginning of the political season.And while that season can’t compete with this year’s Mariners for sheer entertainment value, there’s something special about local politics, particularly in what is still a reasonably small community.We may feel like we know our baseball heroes. We do – or could, with a minimum of effort – know our mayoral and council candidates. And while there’s nothing like a sports team to give us a vicarious sense of satisfaction, local politics is where the rubber really meets the road in terms of the real satisfaction we hope to derive from our community.As the candidates begin to declare, we think it’s worthwhile to give some thought to the job requirements.Historically, the lion’s share of candidate interest has been devoted to the mayoral race. In 1997, six ran for mayor – the same number as the total who ran for three council seats.The mayor’s job, we suspect, appeals to those who really want to make their mark on the island. Although we commend the motivation – we far prefer people who run for office to people who only complain – we would suggest that the firebrand types might want to take a hard look at which office they are seeking.The biggest components of the mayor’s job are 1), listening to constituents (including annoying reporters) and 2), being an administrator. A third component is what might be called extramural activities – representing the city on regional boards, in front of the Legislature, and so forth.The glamour job of policy-making belongs principally to the city council, not to the mayor. While the mayor can introduce ordinances, he or she doesn’t vote, except to break ties. And with a seven-member council, a tie can arise only in the relatively uncommon situation in which a council member sits out a vote or is gone. And while the mayor has veto power, a veto can be overridden with only one extra council vote.Formally, then, the mayor’s role in setting policy is limited. While the mayor can exercise informal powers of persuasion and debate, there’s a real danger in carrying that too far, as the recent power struggle between the Bremerton mayor and council has demonstrated.Far more important than establishing policy is the mayor’s role in administering the policies articulated by the council. That has to be done conscientiously, whether the mayor agrees with the policy or not.The real direction of the city is up to the council, Sutton said recently. The mayor can’t wave a magic wand.Asked to list what he thought were the qualities a mayor needed, Sutton said, an openness to everyone in the sense of feeling all citizens and ideas are worth listening to, and an even enough temperament not to react in unproductive ways to criticism.We think those observations are sound. The mayor’s job is part administrator over the staff, part carrier-outer of other people’s plans, part flak-catcher from the public, part ambassador and part advocate for the city.We need candidates with agendas for how the island ought to be run. But we would suggest that those candidates might take a hard look at a council position, rather than at the mayor’s office. “