I implore voters to be both principled and practical when they make their decisions for county-based candidates, and to ignore irrelevant and inflammatory rhetoric.
For those who live in Clark County District 2, I recommend Julie Olson. Here is a bright and well-educated woman, having a degree in microbiology, who has done both her homework and her doorbelling. She has taken time to consult with county staff, to get real detailed information about land-use planning, and other major issues. Julie is honest and direct.
Julie Olson has also served eight years on the Ridgefield School board, six of which were as president. Frankly, I think you have to be incredibly dedicated and courageous to even run for school board, as it can be one of the hardest and most demanding elective offices. But if you get to serve on a school board, as Julie did, it can give you a real grounding in practical government decision-making, where there are often far more constraints than resources.
My personal choice for Clark County chair is Jeanne E. Stewart.
I sincerely believe that Councilor Stewart is the best person for this job. She is experienced, having served on Vancouver City Council for many years. She is independent-minded and quietly courageous. She is moderate in temperament and circumspect. She thinks first, contemplates her words carefully, and then speaks. In less than a year on the county board, she is already known by citizens throughout this county for being the councilor who is most responsive to their questions and problems.
Jeanne Stewart is intelligent, methodical, fair-minded, and caring. She is also business-like, and as this county’s first elected chair, would not let crucial county work and issues be disrupted by heated ideological battles.
I also sincerely believe that Jeanne Stewart is electable.
Life is often not fair. The vast majority of us have done nothing wrong. We may well have been handed a charter that is far crueler, than it is reformative. At least for now, we must just muddle on, and make the best personal voting choices we can, as we see the world around us.
Good Luck with your voting decisions. All of mine have not been easy ones.
Marlene K. Adams
Hazel Dell
