Juneau’s municipal election is about a week away. It’s been an unusually sleepy campaign season, at least compared with past years. Maybe it’s the sluggish economy or just plain old political fatigue but not nearly as many people are as politically engaged as they were several years ago. In 1997 it took $33,000 and hundreds of hours of volunteer time to capture an open Juneau Assembly seat. This year, our one open seat will be won or lost for less than $15,000. The other contested race has generated no noticeable spending and the Mayor’s race is a yawn.

Bruce Botelho is running again for Mayor. Presuming he wins re-election and serves another term, he will be mayor of Juneau for 12 of 24 years and I’m not sure what that says about him or the community. Left-leaning demographics and the power of incumbency have deterred viable challengers and Bruce is known for running a good meeting. He’s also a big supporter of the arts and building a new Capitol and he even convened a scientific panel to advise the Assembly on the predicted impacts of climate change on Juneau. I’m not making that up. The panel published an 86-page report that recommended increasing the energy efficiency of our transportation systems. But Bruce still favors those old gas-guzzling ferries and hasn’t warmed to the idea of driving energy-efficient cars on a road north.

Municipal campaign season used to mean dozens of letters to the editor in support of one candidate or another, non-stop radio ads and mailboxes stuffed with candidate literature. So why the apathy this year? We have about 2,000 more people living in Juneau now than we did in 1997 and no shortage of agendas or opinions. One theory is that power has shifted from the people – voting in democratic elections – to special interest groups. When it comes to serious, big picture economic issues, these groups - specifically environmental groups, activist courts, labor unions and the sponsors of citizen initiatives - now exercise far greater control over our lives than local government does.

A democratically-elected Assembly can pass ordinances and resolutions all year long but it was the environmental groups and the courts that delayed the opening of our mine and are blocking our road. The same environmental groups and head tax initiative sponsors helped drive cruise ships out and union participation in last year’s District 4 House race (via independent expenditures) was unprecedented, nearly denying Juneau one lone Republican in the legislature.

So what seems to be happening is those who oppose mines, roads, ships and growth have figured out that filing lawsuits and passing initiatives gets them what they want so they don’t need a sympathetic Assembly. Pro-mining, pro-road and pro-tourism Assembly members do all they can to help our community grow and thrive. But it will take more than electoral victories to shift power back to the people.

It will take a collective awakening for the realization to hit that with fewer development projects, there's less need for environmental activism. With fewer employers, there's less need for employee unions. And with fewer defendants, there's less need for judges and lawyers. I really do wonder if that day, or that generation, will come too late or never come at all.