Elections getting more convoluted

Published 2:07 am Friday, October 3, 2008

I hate most election seasons and this year is no exception. First off is the presidential election, which is more than a year away, yet the air waves are filled with those delightful bombardments of who is

running for what. And monetary underdogs are already dropping out. I

agreed Sunday night with “60 Minutes” commentator Andy Rooney when he

suggested that there be a time limit on presidential campaigning _ one year

prior to the election.

But here at home things are just as confusing. Two Irons are better

than one…oops, my clichéd thinking overtook my common sense for a second.

So now we have to really concentrate on that ballot. Do we check D.

Irons or Di Irons as a write-in? The whole County Council race raises a lot of

other questions besides the politically obvious. Can two family members have

such widely opposing views? I know and respect Dave Irons Sr. very much,

but how can his not-so-quiet views on politics have so drastically been altered

in his children? Or does one child represent his views more than the other?

I’ll bet Thanksgiving at the Irons house is pretty interesting this year.

The fire commissioner race is another interesting one: former mayor

Darwin Sukut against North Bend resident and career firefighter Ron Pedee.

Interestingly enough this election will be the sleeper in my opinion. I would

bet that the majority of the Valley cares less about who our fire commissioner

is, as long as when their house is burning, the fire truck shows up promptly to

put it out, end of story.

I guess it will depend on whose signs annoy you more? Which ones

have thoroughly clouded the natural beauty of the area? Again, I would bet its

pretty even.

The school board race in the Upper Valley appears to be a done deal.

What that tells me is they must be doing a pretty good job since the candidates

ran unopposed. Or, if someone didn’t like the way things were going, they

failed to muster the courage to run.

But, increasingly, election candidates in all areas already tend to be part

of the decision making process. In some cases, our elected officials may be

employed by an agency doing business with the elected entity. Or maybe

the elected official, in another capacity, is part of the decision making

process with regards to budgets or services rendered to the organization for which

he was elected and represents. The whole thing reminds me of the movie

“Double Jeopardy” in some ways, or is it double dipping….hmmm, no, I like

double-jeopardy better.

Get out and vote on November 2.

Jim McKiernan