Editor

Let me be clear, government employees and officials at any level have the right to fully participate in political discussion and elections. I would like to suggest however that sometimes it is neither wise nor appropriate to exercise that right.

All of the current Langley City government has both publicly and privately made their preference in the mayoral race abundantly clear. In so doing, they have made it equally clear that they can’t or don’t want to work with Ms. Emerson as mayor. Regardless of their past interactions with Ms. Emerson, the zealous campaigning for Mr. Callison by individuals in city government has made future cooperation in a government led by Ms. Emerson highly problematic.

The editor of The South Whidbey Record recently endorsed Mr. Callison because “four years of friction between a city council and mayor…is not in the best interest of Langley.” We are all tired of the acrimonious (non) functioning of our government at the congressional level. It does not follow that differences within a governing body are a bad thing. If everyone agrees and ideas are not questioned, dumb ideas (funicular) come to fruition. The right degree of “friction” within a governing body is healthy.

What if the citizens of Langley decided that despite the preferences of the current city government, a mayor who questions the council’s positions by asking hard questions might be good for Langley? What if they thought that someone with decades of personal contact with the people of Island County might understand their needs and wishes better than someone who has spent his career climbing the corporate ladder? If the citizens of Langley so decide, I can only hope that both Ms. Emerson and the council members are adult enough to work together for the good of the city.

BLAKE WILLEFORD

South Whidbey