Mayor's race draws a field

We were a little worried that there wouldn't be any interesting local political races, and then suddenly on Monday the contest for mayor quadrupled.

This should be a good one.

Ray Masayko, the retired Sierra Pacific Power Co. manager who has held the seat for four years, looked like a shoo-in until the final day for filing, although there were rumors that opponents were lurking.

Still, it was a surprise that Tom Tatro, the supervisor who walked away from the board in 1998 after nine years, was among those who joined the fray.

Maybe we should have seen it coming when he announced two years ago that he wasn't seeking re-election. "Maybe in a couple of years I'll take a look at it, but not in this century," he said at the time.

Well, it's a new century, and Tatro's back.

Neil Weaver was not so surprising, as his 1998 race against Pete Livermore for a seat on the Board of Supervisors seemed at the time a way to test the waters for a future run for mayor.

Weaver will likely position himself again as a City Hall outsider, even though he has been active in the affairs of the Carson City Airport, where he owns a business and where his wife, Yvon, is manager.

Masayko and Tatro have to be considered strictly as City Hall insiders and will have to distinguish themselves for voters. That's going to involve some healthy debate over the direction of the city the last four years, and where it is headed in the next four years.

It will be interesting to hear Weaver's vision for the future, as well.

The wild-card in the race is Tom Keeton, a retiree and former advertising manager, who also has some ideas for what Carson City is doing right and wrong.

At the least, we're no longer worried about it being a snoozer of a mayoral election.