MOHAVE COUNTY – Two retiring veterans of public service in Mohave County who’ve ran for office 10 times over the last 24 years are happy to have been on the sidelines during this 2024 primary election cycle.
District 4 Supervisor Jean Bishop and County School Superintendent Mike File say they are proud of their separate records of service as they complete their careers at the end of this year. While both were captivated years ago by the charm of democracy, running for office and the political process, neither at all regrets not seeking re-election this year as divisiveness permeates the landscape at all levels.
“With all the hate and discontent, the politics has gone downhill rapidly and now we have kind of a cesspool of misinformation, outright lies, people trying to hurt people for unknown reasons,” Bishop said. “I don’t know what people get out of all of this angry posting on social media and in the newspapers. The letters to the editor are so close to defamatory. What gives people the inner courage to say such mean and ugly things about other people that they’ve probably never met before?.’’
Bishop first worked as a dispatcher for the Kingman Police Department in 1977, before serving a number of years as a reserve officer and later becoming a county sheriff’s deputy in 1988. Bishop subsequently served two terms as constable and is completing her 10th year on the Board of Supervisors.
Education was File’s professional pathway starting as a teacher in 1984 before promotion to Principal and later Superintendent of the Dolan Springs-based Chloride School District. Beginning in 1999, File won six four-year terms at the ballot box for the County School Superintendent’s post he’ll exit in about 5 months.
“I always looked at education as being a non-partisan arena,” File reflected. He said that all changed back in 1992 when the government started pressuring and mandating schools to help raise, rather than just teach kids.
File watched governing boards of school districts all across the nation, Arizona and Mohave County engage in growingly hostile debate through the pandemic to today. He remembers once being fond of the process of political engagement before negativity grew roots and civil discourse was lost.
“I loved every aspect. The dialogue, the discussion. We could say one was right, one was wrong. Maybe we don’t agree on that topic,” File said. “You can’t do that anymore. You’re absolutely a piece of you know what if you don’t agree with the person you’re talking too. All that dialogue. All that ability to discuss issues is gone.”
File and Bishop believe that the best and the brightest in the potential public service pool are steering clear because of the contentious environment.
“Absolutely. We’re not getting the best candidates because it’s just so uncivil,” File said. “After 28 years of doing this, I would never speak to people or about people the way that these people are.”
Bishop thinks the decline of America will continue until the political climate returns to some semblance of normalcy to eliminate the current chilling effect upon public participation.
“If you look at the vitriol and the meanness. If you have a family, you want to protect that family. Nobody lives a perfect life, so everybody has things in their history that they don’t particularly want out in the public that they may not be proud of. Or it may just be a private issue, but once you become elected you are the people’s person and everything is open to their discovery,” Bishop said.
Despite disappointment with current political rancor, Bishop said she values public service and would repeat her personal history had she to do it all over again. And Bishop holds out hope that the youth of the nation can turn things around.
“It has to start in our schools and it may take to a couple of generations to weed through this mentality, but we’ll make it. America is a great place,” said Bishop, while calling for a return to a commitment to goodness, community and family. “We need more front porches. We need more family dinners and family reunions and gatherings. We need to get back to our roots.”
Dave Hawkins
