Puttin' the smack down

It's been a long time coming, but Snohomish County's own Jeff Sax is finally getting the boot. I haven't been this happy about a political outcome in years.

Don't get me wrong. I don't dislike all Republicans. I think some are incredibly intelligent, respectful people who operate with as much integrity as politicans can, even though I may disagree with everything they do. Sax, however, has been the bane of many a Snohomish County resident for too long. He's made too many questionable moves, pushed too hard for special interests at the expense of his own constituents. He paid lip service to saving farmlands but always pushed for high-growth sprawl that threatened to shove local ways of life to the curb. You know it's bad when your own fairly conservative county paper endorses the liberal candidate. Now, we finally get a breath of (semi) fresh air from the man he once defeated.

Here's hoping Dave Somers' second round proves better than his first. He seems to have learned some lessons from the past, like being sure to balance the interests of local communities against environmental regulations. I may be as green as Kermit, but even I know that you can't enact major conservation efforts without getting citizens on board or compensating them for lost land. Fingers crossed...The people have spoken -- and the electoral process is alive and well!