Editor,

I couldn’t believe my ears. Had I heard right? Glancing at the expressions on other people’s faces confirmed that I had. At Monday night’s League of Women Voters candidate forum, County Commissioner Rick Hannold, running for re-election, was asked why he and fellow Republican Jill Johnson turned down $1 million in federal grant funding for a trail to and from the Clinton Ferry dock. “It would run uphill,” Hannold said.

Now, I’ve walked a lot of trails in my life and they all went uphill — and downhill. Perhaps Hannold only wants one-way trails that only go downhill? Or vice-versa? Or maybe he thinks Whidbey should be leveled so its all at sea level and we won’t have to go up or down to the ferry? That could get very wet during high tides! Or maybe Hannold is simply out of touch with reality, a curious disease that seems to have severely infected the Republican Party.

Indeed, Hannold also offered that he wasn’t sure whether human burning of fossil fuels is causing climate change. Now, I get that Hannold is no scientist. But I expect my elected leaders to be reasonably well-informed about major issues that affect them and their constituents. And it really isn’t possible any longer for any reasonably well-informed person to not know that human burning of fossil fuels is causing climate change.

Personally, whether or not I agree with them about what should be done, I prefer county commissioners who are in touch with reality. No trail only runs uphill. And burning of fossil fuels is causing the climate to change, causing bad things to happen, like the fires that filled our lungs with smoke last summer.

So, I’ve made a pledge with myself to only vote for candidates who are not out of touch with reality. And that doesn’t include Rick Hannold.

Steve Erickson

Langley