After decades in politics, Dave Potter reflects and Mary Adams aims to lead.

Dave Potter’s political career, like a lot of his life, was unplanned.

He was a building contractor with no political experience (other than one anti-Vietnam War protest) when he had to go before the Monterey Architectural Review Committee. One committee member, in Potter’s recollection, had a thing against bay windows – just a matter of personal taste – and the ARC approved the house in question, as long as Potter agreed to take out the bay windows.

He found the experience to be so petty, and whined about it.

“My ex-wife said, ‘You can’t complain about it because you didn’t do anything about it,’” he says. So he did, and won a seat on the ARC himself.

From there, he served on the Planning Commission before being elected to Monterey City Council, then beat real estate scion Jeff Davi for a seat on the County Board of Supervisors in 1996. He’s won every election since – until June 7, when he lost by a 56-44 margin to Mary Adams, who retired last year from her position as CEO of United Way Monterey County to run against Potter. She’ll be sworn in when the Board of Supervisors meets Jan. 10.

I sat down to talk with Potter a few months back over a glass of Sauvignon Blanc in the lobby of the Hyatt Regency in Monterey, the spot that doubled as his office-away-from-the-office for years. He was reflective about losing, his career and what the future would hold.

(“My career is far from over,” he says.)

“My whole life’s an accident,” Potter says. “I’m adopted, I ran out of gas, and I got into politics by accident.”

All true. He was adopted, and he landed in Monterey County during a road trip when they ran out of gas on Carmel Hill in 1972.

Also an accident: losing his job as supervisor.

Potter’s not a regretful type, but he does wish he’d seen it coming.

“I would’ve rather had the good sense to say, ‘I’ve been here for a while,’” he says. “But an heir apparent didn’t seem to be there. I should’ve done better succession planning. Maybe I should’ve read the tea leaves better, and done it without blowing up my office.”

(As for his office staff, they’ve done just fine. Chief of staff Kathleen Lee manages the district office for newly minted Congressman Jimmy Panetta. Bryan Flores landed a job in the county Resource Management Agency. Jayne Mohammadi works in the Sheriff’s Office.)

Adams isn’t considering detonating the office, but she does plan to relocate the District 5 headquarters entirely. She’s temporarily keeping the current location, on the basement level of the Monterey County Superior Courthouse in Monterey, but hopes to find new digs come 2018. “I don’t think it’s very welcoming to have people go through a metal detector,” Adams says, “but it was simply too expensive to go someplace else.”

After her swearing-in ceremony, she’s hosting an open house from 3-5pm at the office, where she wants constituents to sign up for updates on which issues matter to them. Adams says the three chief issues are water, traffic and affordable housing.

In the six months since Adams won in the June primary, she says she and her Chief of Staff Kate Daniels have attended more than 120 meetings and driven more than 5,000 miles in Monterey County getting to know constituents and the district. “We just wanted to jumpstart,” Adams says. “It was a self-directed orientation program.”

Part of that jumpstart will be serving as chair of the board as soon as she’s sworn in, in keeping with the rotation schedule. Adams says she thought about taking on the leadership role right away, and decided that’s exactly what she was elected to do: “I better damn well be ready to do it.”

She’s right. She was elected on a platform of change, or at least as a non-Potter – even though on the campaign trail she sometimes struggled to distinguish herself from Potter on the issues. But even if voters want change, they also want and expect leadership. Adams may learn fast that it’s harder to finesses public opinion than it looks.

Potter’s advice to Adams: “Learn as much as you can as quick as you can. Learn to trust the right people. And don’t expect to be complimented a lot. Expect to be criticized.”

SARA RUBIN is editor of the Weekly. Reach her at sara@mcweekly.com.