Wednesday, October 22, 2008

MH News Editorial Board Makes Endorsements

Thank You! MH News Editorial Board has given me their endorsement!

It's time for the annual "Kiss of Death" endorsement of candidates from the editorial board of the Mountain Home News.

The five-person board is composed of key staff members and is convened on occasion to present the paper's official view of candidates in the upcoming election....

Finally, the board took up the issue of the race between incumbent Mollie Marsh and challenger Leanna Whitney for the open board position on the Western Elmore County Recreation District, an election that may be drawing the most interest locally of any of the races. Both women are highly respected -- and honorable -- members of the community, but the board believed this race is not about personalities, but clearly is about the issue of the direction that WECRD should be taking. Marsh simply happens to be the board member whose term of office was up at a time when the WECRD board began facing a crisis of confidence among some members of the public due to changes in its taxing policy, a perceived lack of progress eight years after its creation, and concerns that its focus no longer represented both the economic and social realities of the community today.

The board members themselves simply did not believe the WECRD would be able to begin groundbreaking on a community center by this time next year and that its scaled back "Phase I" proposal to essentially build only a swimming pool would cost far more in operating costs alone than the public is willing to pay. The board believed it is time to re-evaluate the entire focus of the district, and therefore strongly endorses the candidacy of Whitney.

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