Imagine you’re applying for a job. You submit your resume; you get the interview. During said interview, you extol the values of listening and having good information to inform you as you go about your work; only, as the interview goes on, it becomes clear that you have neither listened nor gathered much information — either good or bad or neutral — to inform you during this interview.
You know you’re not going to get the job, right?
When it comes to the race for Bend mayor, we are on the side of Team Democracy, which posits that anyone can throw their hat in the ring to lead the government. We would relish some hearty debates between two well-prepared candidates for Bend mayor — but unfortunately, this race is not that.
In this race, Bernadette Strome wants the residents of Bend to support an unknown candidate who has very obviously not done her homework about what already exists within city government, and what specifically she can do to make it better. Strome talked at length during our interview about the importance of gathering “good data” to help us develop plans and pivot from those plans as needed. But in our conversation about homelessness, for example, Strome’s complete lack of preparation became apparent. There, she suggested the notion of having data to assess which programs were seeing the highest level of success — never mentioning and seeming not to know that the City of Bend maintains an entire dashboard, the Bend Housing Data Hub, that shows the number of people who have transitioned to housing, the utilization rate of shelters and much more. Perhaps it’s true that there’s more and better data to be gathered, but the way this candidate tells it, we as Bend residents should go back to square one — to the first steps of extensive data-collection, and then wait for the new mayor to develop some brilliant new plan based on that protracted process. Strome wants to be able to listen to constituents and help them engage with their city government, but we see no evidence that she’s done the same to prepare for this position.
Four years ago, Melanie Kebler became Bend’s first directly elected mayor in the modern age — an elevation in status from the former structure for Bend mayors, who were nominated by their fellow city councilors. She takes the job seriously, shows up professionally, always does her homework (and takes this newspaper to task when we get it wrong — as she should), and understands the needs, the opportunities and the limitations of Bend. We trust her to charge forward on improving our transportation system, managing growth responsibly, and seeing the city do its share in promoting economic development in Bend. With ongoing cuts at the federal level, Bend needs strategic leadership right now, not a gamble on someone who barely knows the job.
Vote Melanie Kebler for Bend mayor.
See the video of our interview with Strome and Kebler:
This article appears in the Source September 24, 2026.
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