Vote no on Prop 1 and 2 | Letter
Published 9:01 am Monday, August 6, 2012
There is time before the November ballot to really know how Proposition 1 and 2 will disrupt our county government.
Be careful! Be wary! Be informed! The Charter Review Commission has finished its findings and are presenting them as “fact.” I would have been one to say the commission must surely have done the due diligence to come up with their recommendations – and I likely would have accepted them. Except I was at two of their meetings where it was clear to me that the direction was not to find out what was not working with the government structure the majority of the citizens voted for. Instead I saw a goal to go backward to a three-member council with unequal representation. They say all past commissioners agreed that a three-member council was best. No surprise there!
What they ignored was that the majority of the county citizens passed the Home Rule Charter, which put SIX not THREE at the helm. The validity for that holds true today. I have been on Orcas more than 40 years and never has there been a perfect/everyone is happy time.
Over time, different departments have been under attack and issues debated, as they should be to ensure solutions were sought.
Why would we be better off changing the whole structure of our government versus fine tuning the one we adopted a few short years ago? Why does unequal representation better serve us? Why do we want to give to Lopez and San Juan the vote to decide who will represent Orcas? How do we really get the knowledge to help decide who represents the other islands?
We all turn to our own elected person or persons to best represent us and the rest of the county. The person willing and able to raise the most money will be able to run a campaign that most likely will secure the position – not necessarily the best for the job. Put the right people in office and we all get a fair shake.
I hope you will vote no on Proposition One and Two in November. I will.
Velma Doty
Eastsound
