| Recently there have been a number of letter writers stating that they will not vote for the new Home Rule county charter government, regardless of the obvious improvements, if the commissioners are elected by district. It seems to us that these people, if they had their way, would take away our individual district officials for both the state legislature and the U.S House of Representatives and vote for them all state-wide. This of course would result in the City of Seattle and King County running our entire state. A frightening thought.
When we go back and examine the last few county elections we discover we would have had a number of different commissioners if we had voted by district. This fact is well understood by a large number of liberals, especially those on Bainbridge Island, who were instrumental in affecting these election results. Their orientation and allegiance, for the most part, is toward their brethren affluent liberals in Seattle, while the rest of us are considered rather parochial and lacking of a progressive thought.
Each one of us, regardless of political persuasion, truly need our own district county commissioner whose total allegiance is to his or her constituents. That is what representative government is all about. Don’t be misled by those people who want the status quo in our courthouse; all they are after is their retention of power and tax raising authority. We don’t think they have come across a tax or fee that they could not support.
Our freeholders are doing an excellent job examining all the governing alternatives that would work for our county. If they feel we should try individual district elections along with other changes such as the right to petition or initiative process, then our family is voting yes. As we all recognize the courthouse is in a state of turmoil and we need to make some major changes before it is too late.
Stanley and Mary Jones
Port Orchard. |
