Wikileaks links versus transparency -- and the local angle

     Transparency in the government is the ideal. As is the Barbie Doll.
     The ideal, but not the real.
     Wiki leaks publishes candid correspondence between individuals who are working through a process that will eventually evolve into a policy. How soon do we have a right to know what is being said, and by whom? How accurate are those first remarks? Are there new facts and changes in perspective that come later, but do not have the sensational appeal of the early assessments? Which is more accurate, and is the public really served by total, absolute transparency?
     As a life-long newsman, I have always heal that virtually everything that happens is a process, and too much information before it's an action is not really of any value.
     When I was an editor for newspapers, I wanted my reporters to know what was going on, even if they could not report anything because when the time came, time was of the essence. I encouraged reporters to develop sources who could tell them background before an action was taken, so they'd have the context when they had action to report on deadline.
      Decision makers in any venue -- business, politics, the family, even the newsroom -- like to have their ducks in a row before they let anyone else know what's going on. It makes dealing with the pressures of feedback, or blow back, easier. In some cases, keeping the cards close to the vest makes it easier to accomplish the mission, achieve the goals.
     Dad knows they can't afford a trip to Disney World this year, so he's thinking about Ocean City again. But there's a chance that a bonus later in the month will change that, so don't make any announcements just yet, and avoid unnecessary drama.
     A business plans a new product, but the timing is crucial, and you don't want the competition to come out a day before you do, so you choose the time and place to hold the grand announcement.
     The newsroom has a story idea, but it does not want to be wrong, so it waits. But the competition might have a source, too, so -- put pressure on the reporters to dig and get someone to talk before the deeds are done.
     The point of this is, speculation makes for busy work, but it can be a disservice to a lot of people. So you use discretion, move carefully, even at the risk of appearing circumspect.
     So much for transparency? Perhaps, but there is something to be said for what my father always said: Be sure you're right, then go ahead.

Political leadership and the three rules of plumbing

     One more week, and I will be just another civilian, no longer a county commissioner.
When people ask me if I find the transition difficult, I say no, because serving as a commissioner is what I have done for eight years. I was a civilian before, and considered myself a civilian during, the tenure. So I'm still a civilian.
     The only difference between a commissioner and anyone else, as far as I am concerned, is that voters go to the polls to choose commissioners to make policy based on the wants and needs of the general population -- ALL the people in the county, not just the people who voted for them, or members of their party, or sect or whatever.
     Commissioners do not, and should not, run the daily operations of the government all by themselves. That's why campaign promises should be modest, and expectations by the public realistic. Those who think commissioners or town council members or delegates to Annapolis or Washington should take charge are missing the point: No one is smart enough, or versed enough in all of the complexities of governing, to be successful without the collaboration of others, both professionals and volunteers.
     Okay, I know some of my more conservative friends are saying that's just the problem with government -- it has become too complex. It should be simple, as is in, cut spending and cut taxes. I have held the same opinions myself, in less enlightened days. People with leanings to the right of center, politically, like to use bumper stickers to map out an action plan. You can get elected to public office by playing to that theory, but you can't sustain any effort to reach success with such a simplistic approach.
     Let's use plumbing as an analogy. I heard a joke once that anyone can be a plumber if they remember three rules: One, (sewage) flows downhill, two, payday is on Friday, and, three, the boss is an ass.
     A lot of us look at politics the same way.
    Those of us who like to play do-it-yourself soon learn that plumbing is not that easy at all. You have to have a basic knowledge of the system, first of all, and then you have to have the right tools to work on it. You have to make investments in time, materials and talent, and you will always, always, make at least four trips to the hardware store before you bring home the right parts. You live with skinned knuckles, sore knees, a bad back, and little respect. It's a complete and apt analogy with holding public office.
     In theory, our system is the best on earth, despite the assertions of a copy desk editor I once knew who had come to believe that what America really needed was a benevolent dictator. The hole in the idea is, who gets to define benevolent? The people who want to cut programs, or the people whose programs are cut?
     So I believe that our best leaders have vision and the ability to communicate them to the population. They win the job then of moving inside a system that is already prescribed by law, regulation, custom, and the constraints of time and money, which is almost always completely different than what they told the people who voted for them. And always, there are people who do the actual work, and they have skills (or not) and habits and knowledge that requires that they, too, are communicating well with the elected official who has been chosen to represent the people.
     Again, when I say The People, I mean ALL the people, not just the ones who might share a bus to a rally or the six or eight words on a poster that sum up just about everything they know.
     Time and again, I have publicly recognized the contributions of paid county staff, from the directors of the departments to the men and women on the roads crew and the maintenance facilities, who make government come into focus as a plan and then become action.  Then there are the hundreds of citizens who serve on myriad commissions, committees and boards, advising the leadership on everything from parks and recreation to fire and emergency services to economic development to planning and zoning to ethics to senior citizens and social services to courts and law enforcement ....
No one person, no group of three, no board of five can do it by themselves.
     I have the feeling that the incoming board of commissioners believe they have the skills and the knowledge and the experience to run things. Maybe they think some paid positions can be replaced with volunteers. 
     My best wishes for them would be that their education is swift and well taken, with the least possible damage to the system they do not now fully understand. My hopes for the rest of us civilians is that they learn quickly that they are just like us, but with more responsibility for the moment.  Because the first rule of plumbing does apply.

Pushing back is politics; pulling together is public service

     I feel for President Obama. And for the American people, who deserve better than they're getting from the Republicans in Congress.
     The intransigence of the GOP on the START treaty is unconscionable. The new majority in the House and the conservatives in the Senate, playing to the extremists in their base, care more about numbers on their side of the aisle than they do about  national security, or the reputation of America in the world community.
     True, there are those who would like us to withdraw from membership in the world, but it isn't going to happen. Like it or not, America is going to continue to share the planet with Russia, North Korean, Iran, and every other nation, and the world population. So we can follow the leadership of our President, or we can work to make him fail, even if it hurts us and our children and grandchildren.
     If you want to be angry about something, you should be angry about that.
     Strength comes through relevance, and the GOP and conservative allies taking out their partisan rage on the President and the Democrats are only hurting the effort to remain relevant. Irrelevance on the world stage is dangerous.
     Pushing back is adolescent gamesmanship. We should all be pulling together, working as one nation, to remain one nation in a world of nations. We need to be recognized as a nation united on essential issues. It's far more important than any one politician, or party, or faction.
     The country needs leadership, not petty political pushback.
 

Sustainabillity report is a list of talking points, not a mandate

     Two of the three commissioners accepted a report on sustainability from staffer Neil Ridgely and McDaniel College student John Modica this past week. One commissioner -- Mike Zimmer -- chose not to endorse the report because he said it was calling for things that were never going to happen, like mandated recycling, among other things.
     I think Commissioner Zimmer has been keeping company with absolutists too much lately. Later in the week, he refused to accept a staff report on changes in the county's mineral overlay rules, claiming that he wanted to wait for the return of Commissioner Gouge. The delay conveniently puts the plan on hold long enough that it would need action by the next board of commissioners.
     I suspect that the delay is what the next board of commissioners would like. They have sent correspondence asking that this board essentially shut down and go home early, and let them take over from here. To me, that's like telling the driver of a bus to turn the wheel over before bringing the vehicle to a complete journey, because they plan to take over the driving next month.
     One hopeful -- unsuccessful candidate Michelle Jefferson, had a letter to the editor asserting, "we will take over from here". She seems to think she will be part of the new county leadership, even though she did not make it through the primary. Aside from her tendency to assume that she speaks for everyone whenever she has an opinion, she was pretty close with District Four commissioner-elect Richard Rothschild, so perhaps she hopes to be his special assistant. But wait, didn't she call for the elimination of those jobs when she was running for office?
     Never mind: Inconsistency is a given in politics. Zimmer, as a candidate for office four years ago, said he would not hire a special assistant, but once elected, he hired Amanda Boyd Miller, close associate of then-aspiring and now state senator-elect Joseph Getty, who has been waiting for years, paying his dues, for Sen. Larry Haines to retire. Getty has close ties with commissioner-elect Robin Frazier, who has exhibited an uncanny understanding of what goes on in the current administration -- almost as if she has access to the mail and staff reports -- that goes beyond the fact that she was a one-term commissioner eight years ago.
      There was a report that someone allowed her to enter the county office building after hours recently.
     That could have been at the invitation of Mr. Zimmer; he has made himself available to the incoming board, which should be a good thing, assuming it is for the purpose of helping them get up to speed on issues and assure a smooth transition.
     My guess it's not quite all that altruistic, judging by the back-channel comments and occasional emails from the victors in the election to some in the building who have served the county under the current -- but outgoing -- commissioners. Terms like, "You can clean out your desk now because I'm coming to clean house" lead a reasonable person to think that the new commissioners are thinking more like taking scalps than taking care of the public business.
     Which leads me back to the sustainability report received last week, after a year of hashing it out by a broad spectrum of citizens. In my view, the report puts on the table ideas that belong in the public discussion and consideration as we attempt to ensure continuity of the good life -- clean water and land, good plans for economic health and reasonable rates of industrial and residential growth, containment of costs, and preservation of the right of all citizens, regardless of the connections to insider politicians, to participate in important decisions on public policy. Not MAKE policy, but at least deal with science and facts, not just political paradigms.
     To the absolutists of the New Right, language in the report is to be taken literally and absolutely as a plan to institute government control and rhetoric in public policy. That seemed to be Zimmer's take, but perhaps he wants to make a good impression on the team that seems likely to dominate the new board of commissioners -- Frazier, Rothschild and Haven Shoemaker. The tendency to want to leave unfinished business unfinished, and therefor up to the new board, seems to be consistent with revising strategies, rather than finishing the job at hand in the current term.
     Because even if you have never been a candidate, like Miller, you can play a role  in the larger arena of partisan politics, which has at least as much to do with The Party as it does representing the total population. And even if you have been an unsuccessful candidate, like Jefferson, you can hold out hope for a job in the new administration, or support for future political campaigns.
     Zimmer is precluded from any county employment for a few years, a policy that precludes former electeds from financial gain following policy decisions of which they were a part.
     But there is often room for a good party team player somewhere as the victors enjoy the spoils of winning elections.
    

The conspiracy theorists tell me they're watching me

      Recently, I was copied on an email sent out by those who suspect everyone of tyranny rallying the true believers to come out to the commissioner's meeting that week to "pack the room" and ''let the commissioners know we're watching them."
      The source of this angst was a report from a committee on sustainability, which, it seems, is some kind of code for a takeover by the United Nations.
     "Sustainability" it seems, is just one buzzword that the defenders of true liberty want everyone to see as a bad thing.  If you do not learn the vocabulary words, you are in danger of being "enslaved by the globalists". If you do not react negatively to terms like "social justice," or "environmental responsibility," you are at best a socialist sympathizer, and at worst, an enabler of an international cabal that will overturn the United States Constitution and destroy your liberties.
     I was just a child during the McCarthy era, but I learned even then that the real enemy of my family's way of life was the absolutist zealot who first changed the definition of words to instill fear, feed ignorance, and exploit divisiveness for the purpose of abusing power.
     Twist the truth, scare people, stir up controversy, and then proclaim yourself or your cult leader as the savior of the nation.
     The tactic is not new. It has been a tool for building empires and has led to wars and terrorism. It counts on people getting only part of the story, or a certain twisted interpretation of the story, and not the whole truth. One weapon they use is the claim that they, alone, know the truth and they are here to share it with those who will join them. And if you don't join them, well, then they will be watching YOU.
     The Scare of the Moment is something called Agenda 21, and it's right at the top of a long list of out-there postings that can be found on Google. If you fall for the absolutists' line, then you should mistrust any attempt at cleaning up the planet, working collaboratively with anyone who is not a True American. Put up walls, put 'gators in the moat around America, get your gun and defend us against the rest of the world, or those within our Fortress America who would engage in dialog with other nations or cultures on issues that might affect all of us.
     This was the kind of rhetoric that led to the enclaves of "patriots" who blew up the Murrah Building in Oklahoma City.
     This is a big, diverse (another bad word) collection of cultures in America, and I feel safe with the majority of my fellow citizens. You'll have to forgive me if I object to attempts at intimidation from people who call themselves patriots right here in the nation that allows them -- and me -- to have differences of opinion on how to keep the best of what we have and participate as a free American in the continued prosperity and health of my community and my country.
     That effort is worth sustaining.

Late news, as in, too late

    Carroll County Times editor Jim Lee had another insightful column in Sunday's edition, adding to a list of good analytical pieces in the past few months.
     But as I have mumbled about a few of them in recent months, I heard someone else say, "Where was this information when it mattered?" As, for instance, during the campaigns and before the primary elections. Or why were these questions left unanswered, for the most part, in the mainstream press prior to now?
     Dig out your Sunday Times editorial page and read the column, and then go on line and find past cautionary columns by Lee in the archives. He raises many of the same red flags that I have raised over two terms in public office. To get to the point, we are about to return to the days of unbridled residential growth and unplanned zoning that the libertarians love, even if it is at the expense of the average citizen. Lee sees it, I see it, and anyone with a memory of the history of the past 30 years can see it. but the voters got stars in their eyes when candidates used words like liberty and freedom and property rights.  Sure, those words imply shared values, but what is missing is the fact that not everyone gets to benefit.
     If you live in Carroll County, you will love the majority members of the new board of commissioners if you:
     ....Own property that you want to develop into residential building lots...
     ....Sell real estate, or practice real estate or property management law....
     ....Have land that could be used for junk, storage, noisy commerce or other odious uses if the zoning were eased up . . . .
     ....Love the sight of billboards ....
     ....Do not care about the quality of water that drains into Liberty reservoir or the Chesapeake Bay.....
     ....Think it's no body's business if groundwaters are polluted by industrial negligence combined with a lack of governmental regulation .....
     ....Do not use and do not care if others value recreational facilities, trails, fields .....
     ....Do not use and do not care if senior centers or libraries are not funded as they have been ....
     ....Oppose or are indifferent to the preservation of farms so they can remain a viable industry in a county becoming more and more a dormitory, with amenities, to urban jobholders.
     I'm glad to see the Times and other media raising the issues again, but where were they when the information might have given people something to think about?

Reality check on deficits came a few months too late

     Maybe I'm in the minority again, but why is everyone so shocked at the draconian requirements for reducing the deficit, as floated by the bipartisan Bowles/Simpson commission?
     My only complaint about the report is that it should have been out there for both sides of the political aisles to debate long BEFORE the elections -- before the primaries -- when the effect might have been to soften some of the rhetoric, especially from the Rabid Right.
     You want cuts in spending? Great; here's how it will affect you, and you, and you -- all of us, because everyone will have to give up something.
     We learn at the age of three that you can't have your cake and eat it, too, and yet we continue to fall for the sales pitches at election time.
     You can't cut taxes when you've already made the commitment to certain spending, any more than you can send the check back in the restaurant for a lower total after you've had your dinner.
      We can order less for the next meal. We can set lower limits on future choices, and reduce expectations. We can go on a diet, but everybody has to get enough to eat.
     The first time I ran for office, I was asked time and again if I would cut taxes. I said that I did not know enough about why we spent as much as we did, but it was obvious to me that we could not spend much less on education or emergency services, two of the most expensive items on the list. Prior to my second term, I said cutting taxes required less spending, and we were required to spend close to 85 percent of the budget, and that did not leave much room for cuts, especially as costs and needs and expectations continue to rise. The goal should be to know the difference between needs and wants, and then to manage resources wisely.
     I'm sure that answer did not please dyed-in-the-wool fiscal conservatives, but I was being realistic. Voters appreciated a straight answer.
     Too many candidates promise more than they can deliver.  People want to believe that they can get more for less, and they are too willing to hear only what they want to hear. And there are always those who have no qualms about telling anybody what they want to hear if it means sealing the deal.
     Politicians like Palin and, yes, President Obama, are marketed like star quarterbacks or world series heroes, but the reality of serving in public office is that you are not the star player; your job is to be the referee, the umpire, or the ground crew ensuring a level playing field and safe conditions for the game.
     But enough of that kind of analogy; too many consider politics a game already.
     You get what you are willing to pay for. In a free election, all of us get what the majority agrees to pay for -- or we sacrifice what the majority is willing to give up. If there is no total agreement -- and there never is -- then you cannot have absolute representation, but you can have leadership.
     You still can't have your cake and eat it, too.

Veterans' Day is for the survivors

     This Veterans' Day, I'm thinking about my comrades in arms who survived.
     Memorial Day is for those who are no longer here.
     Civilians seem to get the two confused. One day is as important as the other; yes, Veterans' Day is as important to remember as Memorial Day, because a lot of us who came home will live out our lives thinking every day of those who did not.
     Veterans who have come home to resume some kind of normalcy are taken for granted. What you may not understand, if you have never served in uniform, particularly in times of war, or overseas for months at a time, is that the time given to military service is an ever-present part of a person forever.
     Veterans don't go on forever talking about what they might have missed while they were away. They know they gained something, too. Most of it good, some of it very bad, but all of it -- well, the saying that what does not kill you makes you stronger was probably said first by a veteran.
     Veterans are patriots, no matter what their opinions on current politics. Not all who call themselves patriots are veterans, and they should mind their rhetoric when laying claim to special status.
     True veterans deserve respect, and in some cases, deferential treatment, but few will insist on it.
     The veterans I know drop the petty differences and ignore the political posturing. We had a job to do, and we did it, now all we ask is that those who make big decisions not mess things up too much.
     Differences of opinion are okay with us; the whole idea is to preserve a country where you can disagree without having a coup every four years, instead of an election.
     We tend to prefer to disagree among ourselves, with others who have spent the capital; time, loss or deferral  of personal or career advancement, damaged marriages, old wounds that ache in the night, and some bad dreams now and then. We know a clueless and privileged point of view when we hear one, but we're likely to keep our mouths shut in the presence of people who have not been there and done that to back up their theories.
     One way or another, we all have the T-shirt. We may join the Veterans of Foreign Wars post, or the Legion, and some of us are more active than others, but we all respect those who served.
     And we're not finished serving, although it is often without notice, or proper appreciation. That's okay, we're satisfied to give time and money to student scholarships, youth sports, veterans' hospital patients, widows and families. We go to funerals of men and women who served their country. We console and pay respects to the families, even though we often do not know the people personally.
     Maybe not personally, but we know them. And we salute.
     On Veteran's Day, we pause, salute our brothers and sisters, acknowledge the community expressions of gratitude, and keep the traditions as best we can.
     Not long ago, the image of the veteran was of some grizzled old man from a war before most were born. No longer.
     Now, veterans are women, too, and younger, some living with wounds that would have killed previous soldiers. The mental and emotional prices are going up, too, I would suspect. My father served for the duration of WW2 and came home to resume his life. I served a tour of duty during the Vietnam War; some of my comrades served two tours there, or more. Today's volunteer military may send men and women into harm's way three, four, five or more times.
     Salute.  

Will we see a return to the bad old days; looks like it

     Commissioner-elect Robin Frazier will have to wait another month before she and her back-room handlers can begin tampering with planning commissions and other processes.
      This is where I came in, and I am not finished yet. I step down the first week in December, but until then I will continue to do what I ran for commissioner to do back in 2002 -- protect the processes from the corruption of insider politicians and special interests, and open up the workings of local government to make them as transparent as possible.
     Frazier was a member of the board of commissioners in the late 1990s, a board which was allegedly run not from the third floor, but from the kitchen phone of an influential developer/investor. At least that's what the influential meddler said; he bragged as much to me and several others who have told me they were amazed at the lack of discretion.
     It was this developer, with the help of several other anti-planning, anti-zoning activists, who insinuated that a member of the planning commission at the time was guilty of conflict of interest and perhaps worse.
     The real story turned out to be that the gentleman was guilty of nothing more than refusing to be bullied by Frazier's friends. They put enough pressure on him that he eventually  resigned. I know, because I was duped into breaking the story about the controversy, and I am not proud of being used like that.
     In fact, when I realized that I had been lied to, I told my wife I thought I should run for public office to help clean up the mess. She agreed, and I served two terms in office in what might be called an attempt at redemption.
     During the past eight years, I have had a hand in an untold number of appointments of county citizens to various boards and commissions. I made a point of seeking balance, even to the point of placing people on the planning commission, the economic development commission and others that I knew had different opinions than my own. I did not care whether they were Republicans or Democrats, but I did value character, integrity, experience and ability.
     Based on the actions and words of Commissioner elect Frazier, and by their signature on the letter asking that the current board leave the job of filling any current vacancies to them, I assume they have different criteria in mind.
     I have no second thoughts about the quality of people who have been serving the county on the ethics commission, planning and zoning, economic development, industrial development authority, board of zoning appeals of the environmental affairs council. The latest appointments, made last week before we got the request from Frazier, et al, have impeccable reputations and years of service with parks and recreation at the county level, business, the Chamber of Commerce, hospital, library board and other volunteer work and community service.
     My only fear is that they will be subjected to the same intimidation and political and self-serving tactics of the land owners, speculators and realty interests who wanted clear sailing for their own agendas that we saw prior to the big clean-up that started eight years ago.
     A diligent and vigilant press and an informed public will make it tougher on the shady activities of the old guard, even though the majority of the incoming board seems to have ties to them.

A poem, to take the edge off, and then a challenge

The Lemon Seed

I know the lemon seed must be
'else there'd be no lemon tree.
And lacking tree there'd be no fruit,
which, when you get right to it,
is all I really need, I think,
to make my tasty lemon drink.

So I seek to squeeze the pulp
and anticipate that first big gulp
that satisfies my thirst, you see,
with the nectar of the lemon tree,
leaving out what I do not need;
swallowing another lemon seed.

Joe the Public has some changes to make, too

    Okay, the anger of the public has been noted. Now someone has to tell the public the truth: People have some work to do, just as they have told politicians they need to clean up the act.
     Who will say it?  Okay, I will.
     All those who think Joe the Plumber is a hero, I have to tell you, Joe is a big part of the problem. Not THE Joe the Plumber, but the icon of Joe the Average Guy and Gal. Everyperson.
     The job is to get informed. Having an opinion is not good enough. If you really want to be taken seriously by anyone who is elected to public office, be it Republican, Democrat, Tea-Party person or Constitutionalists or Libertarian --- you'll have to learn to incorporate a certain level of trust and even civility when you challenge the leadership.
     The reason for that is already showing up in the wake of the big turnover in Congress. The Republicans and so-called tea party candidates,  who exploited
public anger very well, now are in the position where they will have to deliver. And the repeal of the "Obamacare" health plan will be less of a repeal than the kind of fine tuning and collaborative work with those across the aisle that should have been going on in the first place.
     Your job, Joe Public, is to understand that that you must demand more transparent processes, reject the spin and posturing, and accept the fact that the first ideas put on the table are just starting points for discussion on any issue worth taking to a vote for policy change. Express your thoughts, temper the anger, and listen more.
     And until the politicians learn that you are more patient, more informed, less exploitable and sincere in your desire to know what they're doing, and WHY, you must show that you are going to listen to both sides in any issue, and support good ideas, and reject bad ones, from any part of the political spectrum.  If you show that you are listening before you fly off the handle, they won't be able to spin facts to stir irrational rhetoric, and maybe, just maybe, they'll work together for YOU, and not for their party, or their faction, or their pals in the lobby.
     It's something to think about.

    

Now we'll see if the big change changes anything

    The votes are in, the people have spoken, and all those other cliche's that follow disputatious campaigns.
    Now we'll see if THIS vote for change really changes anything.
    We have five new commissioners who will hit the ground. The running part is over, now it's time to deliver.
     The result, on the face of it, is merely a return to where the county was eight years ago; more growth, less planning for growth, resulting in wild swings of adequacy and tax rates.
     But there they are, so it is up to those who would have had different results to serve as the loyal opposition -- or to merely capitulate and let it be. Give the new board some time to work things out, learn realities, and get on with representing -- or leading -- county residents.
     That's at the local level. Same rules should apply at the state level. O'Malley won, Ehrlich lost, get over it. But will we? Or will we push back again, mobilize the conservative interests in the overwhelming majority of counties to ensure that O'Malley and the Democrats fail, just as the Right continues to do all it can to ensure that O'Bama fails, and becomes a one-term President?
    Do we work collaboratively to make the adjustments to ideas and bring about some positive results, or will we see more gridlock, leading to dead in the water government, uncertainty, inconsistency?
    To be sure, there are and always have been elements in politics dedicated to their partisan mission, rather than the best interests for the public. That's why you have Tea Party types who are not sure what's wrong -- or what's going on -- but they know they don't like it. So change the channel again, and maybe there's a better show somewhere else.
    Nobody loves the guy who sits with the remote and keeps changing the channel, but we do it every four years -- getting to be every two years -- in our elections. It's time to settle down and give a real chance to people who get elected to bring about something better.
    Right, Left or whatever; if we want to march, we should get into step and stop changing direction willy-nilly. We are getting nowhere this way.

Reason or demagoguery: Your choice

    In the local elections (Carroll County) for commission, the first vote for a new format of five commissioners elected by district, rather than at large, it will be critical that reasonable people with open minds and the ability to work together share the responsibility of interpreting the wishes and the best interests of the electorate.
   The team that offers the best chance for cooperative and reasoned government -- in my opinion -- would be Roush, Reynolds, Johnson, McLaurin and Bevard.