I became particularly interested in this election after I served on the committee that prepared the draft view ordinance, which I supported.
Now, after watching this campaign unfold, I write to condemn the effort to polarize this election.
Two factions want us to limit choice in this election to the two “tickets.” They claim that their “tickets” represent the only viable candidates; that a vote for an independent candidate is a vote for the opposing ticket. The choice is boiled down to retaining the “status quo” or rejecting everything done in the past. The effort to narrow the field has been enhanced by this newspaper’s “Solomonesque” endorsement of one candidate from each ticket.
I believe that we are presented a false choice. There are other options. Voting for a person less qualified, or one who does not represent your views, because of an endorsement of his/her “ticket” or for that matter because he/she lives in a particular section of the city makes no sense. We must focus on candidates. Ideas not endorsements or tickets should decide elections.
I choose to vote for a qualified candidate and not for or against a ticket. I want someone who stands for a realistic community solution to our sewage problems; help for our schools; reasonable dialogue with the agencies we live with; and strong protection of our views. For me, that candidate is Mike Sidley. Rather than an impediment, I view Mike’s “independent” as a virtue.
Rodney Perlman