It might be a little late in the game at this point but, a good friend of mine has been seriously considering running for the office of mayor of Moose Jaw. 

He'd be good.  He's well-connected and a good citizen in my opinion.  He talked to me about the pros and cons.  One of the things he likes is the fact the mayor's salary is increasing and the paycheque would be more than he's making now. 

On the weekend, he decided against it.  A good friend of his talked him out of it. 

That friend knows this guy doesn't do well with confrontation.  The friend wrote, and I quote, "...as mayor you get to deal with cranky people for whom nothing you do will ever be good enough.  People will constantly talk trash about you, demean you, and just generally be garbage human beings.  You have to deal with confrontation...So, it's a nice paycheque but, it also comes with a lot of negativity." 

His friend also wrote, "I don't want to destroy the idealism...I just don't want you to be miserable." 

And so it goes.