Sure, James Bush has faith in God.

After all, he’s the senior pastor at Law-rence’s First Southern Baptist Church. He’s also one of nine candidates seeking a seat on the Lawrence City Commission.

But don’t expect a campaign season full of sermons. Bush is quick to tell folks he’s not a “protest candidate.” That’s what he calls fellow ministers who have run for state or national office primarily because they want to promote or oppose a particular social or family-value issue.

When it comes to issues, Bush speaks much the same language as many other traditional City Commission candidates.

He cites the need for better jobs, better infrastructure and fiscal responsibility.

But nudge him a little, and he’ll tell you a story about faith. It just doesn’t happen to come from the Bible. Instead, it is courtesy of what he saw growing up in Clinton, N.J., his boyhood home.

“My father died right after I was born,” said Bush, the youngest of three children. “First we relied on family, then my mother went to work. We never went on welfare. We never had to rely on the government.

“My childhood certainly gave me a lot of pride in what a person can do, what a single mother can do, a lot of respect for what a single parent has to do.

“But it also gave me an in-house knowledge to know that most people don’t want a handout. They want life, liberty and the opportunity to pursue happiness. They want the opportunity.”

What’s not said

Although Bush said he intends to downplay his profession in the campaign – he’s asked people not to use the title pastor when referring to him in campaign settings – he did say that he thought his work would help him be a good city commissioner.

“My profession has taught me the need for good listening skills,” Bush said. “I think I have an ability to listen to people and to hear what they are not saying. I think that is a skill that comes from my profession, and I think it would be useful on the City Commission.”

But Bush, 41, also thinks he brings some political skills to the table. Bush got into politics before he entered the ministry. As a student at the University of South Carolina, Bush served as assistant to the majority leader in the South Carolina Legislature.

And he openly admits he’s one of those people who enjoys following national politics.

“When we have a national election, I’m sitting at home singing, ‘It’s the most wonderful time of the year,'” he said.

But he said he thought his desire to serve started back in Clinton – which is about 60 miles west of New York City. In high school, he volunteered for the city’s rescue squad.

“All the paramedics in the town were volunteers,” Bush remembers. “At some point, I realized that this is how community works. Everyone does his or her part, and that’s what makes community happen.”

The issues

Bush – who came to Lawrence in 2003 with his wife and three children to take the pastor job – said he believes government’s role is to do for the community what the community cannot do for itself.

“I think we’re doing that fairly well in Lawrence,” Bush said. “But I am concerned because I think government can go overboard by thinking that it is protecting when really it is infringing on the rights of an individual.”

He said he was most concerned over property rights being infringed upon. He pointed to the debate over whether to build a new Wal-Mart at Sixth Street and Wakarusa Drive as an example.

“I’m implying that the Wal-Mart issue isn’t about Wal-Mart,” Bush said. “It is about land use. It is about whether property owners have the right to develop their land within the established rules.

“We can all choose to say, ‘Let’s not let the evil empire in,’ but if the city says that, then they can say no to lots of other things too.”

On other issues, Bush said:

¢More growth needs to occur on the commercial and industrial sectors. He said he was concerned the city relied too heavily on residential taxpayers.

¢The decision over whether to build a new library was challenging. He said he recognized the need for a new building, but he said he had no clear solution to the best way to pay for the multimillion-dollar project. He said he would support putting the issue on the ballot to let voters decide whether property taxes or sales taxes should be used.

¢ The community needs to begin implementing plans it has created.

“We just seem to study and delay,” Bush said.

The primary election will be Feb. 27, when voters will narrow the field from nine candidates to six candidates. Voters will fill three at-large seats on the five-member City Commission when they go to the polls in the general election April 3.

Other candidates in the race are Rob Chestnut, chief financial officer of Allen Press; Jake Davis, a local musician and data entry operator; Mike Dever, owner of a Lawrence-based environmental consulting firm; Sam Fields, a Lawrence bail bondsman; Commissioner Boog Highberger, an attorney for the Kansas Department of Health and Environment; Michael Limburg, a Lawrence forklift operator; Carey Maynard-Moody, a retired school social worker; and Commissioner David Schauner, general counsel of the Kansas National Education Association.