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DEL.ICIO.USOn Lisa Borders and her exit from the Atlanta mayor’s race
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
When politicians depart the arena, sometimes it is not by their own choosing.
Perhaps they have paid too much attention to their neighbor in the next stall. Or have gotten too cozy with the campaign videographer.
An aide then trots out the hoary chestnut about the office-holder’s need to spend more time with his or her family, and the offender melts away.
This is an unfortunate disservice to the chestnut, which is often true.
The hundreds of people who put their names on ballots in Georgia are more like us than we care to admit. They have their bankruptcies and foreclosures. They have unruly teenagers and toilets that back up. But voters demand perfection, and so real life is kept under wraps.
Last week, City Council President Lisa Borders announced she would bow out of the ’09 race for mayor of Atlanta in order to spend more time with her family.
Borders, 50, is attractive and driven. Her family name is a byword in the city’s African-American community. She had raised significant funds for the contest, and had already been dubbed the candidate favored by the business community. Her career trajectory had been compared to that of Shirley Franklin.
Suspicion, therefore, was immediate. She’s speaking in code, they said. “Folks have said to me, ‘What’s the back story?’” Borders said. “There’s not a back story. I made a choice. Every day we make choices.”
And sometimes choices are thrust upon us. Borders, you see, has been drafted into the Sandwich Generation. Having launched a son into grad school, she — and her three siblings — must now manage the downward trajectory of her parents.
“I started out like any child, just managing financial affairs, paying bills, making sure they were okay,” Borders said.
Both parents are 75, divorced and living in separate households. But Gloria T. Borders, an activist who gave her daughter a taste for politics, doesn’t remember things like she used to.
William Holmes Borders Jr., a retired physician, is a brittle diabetic and double amputee. His kidneys have shut down, and he requires eight hours of dialysis, three days a week. The doctor’s oldest daughter calls his disease “Pac-Man,” because of the way it nibbles away at him.
The Border siblings have divvied up the chores. One brother manages parental properties. Another brother handles the father’s personal care. A sister is in charge of logistics — shuttling both parents from one doctor’s appointment to another.
Even so, throw in the consulting firm she’s started up, and a City Hall job that is part-time only in theory, and Lisa Borders found herself down to three or four hours sleep a night. “It’s more than an ocean,” she said.
Borders remains convinced she’s the better candidate, and is what the city needs. But a mayor’s race would have forced her to give up her job or her parents. One choice was fiscally impossible. The other was emotionally unsound.
“It’s a quality of life issue,” she said. “And the time I get to spend with them — it’s not infinite. It’s finite. I can run for mayor again.”
We are in a season in which we demand that our leaders feel our pain. The irony is that once they do, the pain consumes them — just as it consumes us.
Photo credit: Nick Arroyo/AJC
Comments
By MaxieGrrrl
August 17, 2008 1:56 PM | Link to this
Good story, but who can buy it? All of these things were true before she got into the race.
By RJ
August 17, 2008 7:05 PM | Link to this
This post puts things in perspective as it relates to Lis Borders decision not to run for Mayor of Atlanta. I thought the challenge may have been too great.
Thanks to Shirly Franklin the next Mayor will be in handcuffs. She/He won’t be physically manacled but will be fiscally handcuffed from Day One as a result of ineffective management. How can a city accumulate a 140 million deficit and no staff is held accountable?
By S. Dekalb Voter
August 17, 2008 8:50 PM | Link to this
I agree - good story, but it’s probably not the truth.
RJ, the deficit isn’t Shirley’s fault just like it’s not Arnold, Bloomberg, or Daley’s fault in their cities. The economy is in the tank because of the president you probably voted for - Bush! Actually, the new accoutning software and accrual accounting system Shirley put in place will make sure this will never happen again. Atlanta mayors have been playing budget games for years, Shirley was the first one with the guts to fix the system.
By RJ
August 17, 2008 11:34 PM | Link to this
By S. Dekalb Voter, Your comment indicates some level of understanding of budgeting. Please enlighten our understanding of how Atlanta’s 140 million deficit came about.
As I understand it, there are revenue estimates based upon prior years and then there are fixed and sometimes unanticipated expenditures against those estimates. When revenue estimates drop budget adjustments are made. Is that what happened here?
By DCS
August 18, 2008 12:22 AM | Link to this
Soul, spouse, parent, offspring, sibling, citizen: Seems as if Borders’ priorities are reasonable.
By lucylou
August 18, 2008 10:31 AM | Link to this
Being a child that has some of the same issues that Ms. Borders faces with her parents, makes it simpler to understand her decision not to run for Mayor. Having to care for your parents, or even one parent, is a full time job. Even if the parent(s) had to be placed in a “home” where they are cared for 24/7 is still a full-time job. Not to mention the coordinating efforts that must be handled between you and your siblings to make sure all appointments, and needs for each respective parent is met is overwhelming. Unfortunately for Ms. Borders and the citizens of Atlanta this dilema manifested during this political season; however, there will be other political seasons - not so of your parents. So, I applaud her choice and admire her dedication to her parents their well being, and being a good child.
By S. Dekalb Voter
August 18, 2008 10:43 AM | Link to this
RJ, all sarcasm aside - here is a link to a good article about the budget shortfall.
http://atlanta.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/thechinksinshirleys_armor/Content?oid=489552
By Mr. T
August 18, 2008 2:53 PM | Link to this
It’s completely understandable that folks approach this with cynicism. But I know Lisa and her family, and this is no “story” created to cover another more salacious reason to drop out. She loves her family and made an exceptionally difficult decision to stop chasing the one job she’s always wanted so she can focus on the twilight of her parents’ lives. It’s an admirable thing and I’m proud she made this choice.
By Mr. T
August 18, 2008 2:58 PM | Link to this
It’s completely understandable that folks approach this with cynicism. But I know Lisa and her family, and this is no “story” created to cover another more salacious reason to drop out. She loves her family and made an exceptionally difficult decision to stop chasing the one job she’s always wanted so she can focus on the twilight of her parents’ lives. It’s an admirable thing and I’m proud she made this choice.
By Jason Thomas
August 18, 2008 5:41 PM | Link to this
Boo hoo. Come on, that is all we need is another Shirley Franklin Clone. She was an ineffective Council President as well. Also let us not look to Kasim “Kwame Kilpatrick” Reed as the next best thing. Come on Atlanta, wake up. Oh by the way, how much did Lisa Borders have to pay to get this article printed. I mean I know the AJC is suffering from financial issues, but the AJC is treating her with kid gloves.
By v racer
August 18, 2008 6:00 PM | Link to this
I liked the comment that said that all ofthese personal issues were in place before she decided to run. There is more to it. AJC where is the journalism?