LIKE IT IS

So Kitsap County may continue to have a party split on the board of county commissioners. Good for you, Kitsap County.

All the years I have been writing politics I have maintained that it does not bode well for the governed to have one party almost completely in control in the courthouse, whether it’s Democrats or the Republicans. We need a mix of both.

My mother voted that way, switching parties all the way down the ballot. “So they can check on each other,” she said.

I made fun of her for it, but I think she had something.

When it’s all one party, things happen that we don’t hear of until it’s too late to do anything about it. A hand in the cookie jar, a job left undone or done unwisely remains a secret because it’s all in the family.

Anyway, it was a surprise to me and to Monty Mahan that not only was he not in the top two, when fellow Democrat Charlotte Garrido exceeded his vote, but Republican Tim Matthes was No. 1. Voters understood his message and background that his chief concern was looking out for property owners who have few real champions.

Ms. Garrido is an ex-commissioner who failed in two previous tries to return and she was not the favorite of the Democratic party which did a double endorsement anyway of her and Mahan because it’s safer not to tick off her supporters. And she has them, greenies. So why did the voters toss Mahan aside?

Maybe they’d had enough of Mahans on the public payroll. Dad Bill was a county commissioner famed for switching from Republican to Democrat because, he said, he resented Republi-can Gov. Dan Evans’ actions on the Frances Haddon Morgan center for disabled children. Actually, he switched because he was taken aside by local Democratic leaders and persuaded that he’d be more likely to be reelected as a D.

Dad Bill is in deep doo-doo himself right now and very likely to be tossed out of his current position on the Bremerton Port Commission not only for his part in the Bremerton Marina redo that cost Mary Ann Huntington her spot, but his latest venture into political shenanigans. He negotiated a deal with the Suquamish Indians, which was another of those secret deals they’re so good at in this state whereby anything done involving the Indians is behind closed doors and we only hear about it after the ink dries. If then.

I’ll get into that shortly, my concern being how can these port people do these things when their lawyer is one of the savviest politicians around, Gordon Walgren? Isn’t it his job to keep them from sticking their necks out? If so, why hasn’t he done it?

Superintendent of Public Instruction Terry Bergeson looks safe for another term. She’s well known here. The first time she ran and lost, Central Kitsap School District created a new position for the former Washington Education Association president with a top salary so she could subsist comfortably until the next time when she ran and won. School districts seem to be able to find money when they need it.

Bergeson’s not one of my favorites, but at least she can talk. Randy Dorn, the service employees union head who seeks her job can say reading and writing, but anything else ending in “ing” stumps him. He says bein and sayin and goin and extendin. The SUPI should at least be able to speak the English language.

I thought longtime state economist ChangMook Sohn would be the next state treasurer, but he ran third. Beats me. He’s been a good revenue predictor. Maybe the voters blamed him for the anticipated $2.7 billion shortfall when they should blame the Legislature, and the current governor who I suspect will get that old Monty Mahan feeling Nov. 4.

Adele Ferguson can be reached at P.O. Box 69, Hansville, WA 98340.