Editor,

In response to the recent publisher’s column about candidates running unopposed, “Consider public office in Island County for Filing Week,” I came within a mouse click of running. Why? Voters are sick of the status quo politicians spouting the same old, same old. No candidate should run unopposed and should be present at voter forums. My mouse hovered but with minutes to go I saw some brave soul ran! My quiet, sane life was saved.

So why was there not a line out the door to run? There might be a very good reason — the cost. Positions with a salary indeed do cost, a lot. In Island County Commissioner Helen Price Johnson’s case, 1 percent of her salary or $784.96. Do the math. For a professional candidate with plenty of special interest money this is a drop in the proverbial “tips” bucket. Sadly there are many very well qualified concerned citizens who would love to run and actually work for a change, but can’t afford it. The average income here is half her salary. There is a little known state provision that if you can’t afford it you can submit a Filing Fee Petition that must contain at least one valid signature per dollar of the filing fee. So, if you have 784 friends, you too could have run; Facebook friends don’t count.

On some level I can see the reason for the fee, to keep troublemakers from clogging the system. But the troublemakers that have access to plenty of money keep getting elected. But is a local politician representing a semi-rural community worth this much money in the first place? I believe you should run out of civic commitment and should not be paid a cent more than the median income of the voters you serve, less than half of the current salary. A county commissioner should be a cheerleader for Whidbey. They should actually go off island to lobby businesses to move here bringing good jobs. School enrollment has declined for years. Why has our serial candidate done nothing to stop this? Let’s hope her lone opponent has a better vision?

They say we get the government we deserve. In this case it seems we get the government that is willing to panhandle for the money to run.

ED JENKINS

Clinton