Reardon, with reservations

If your attention has been yanked away from productive pursuits in recent weeks by the frequently juvenile tone of the race for Snohomish County executive, you're not alone in asking, "Can't we do better than this?"

In 2011, the answer is no.

Voters must choose between a two-term incumbent, Democrat Aaron Reardon, 40, who deflects responsibility for serious management lapses in his office, and a challenger, Republican Mike Hope, 36, with zero administrative experience and just three years as a state legislator.

Reardon, at least, is seasoned, smart and competent on policy issues, with a decent record of encouraging local jobs. We endorse his bid for a third and, because of term limits, final four-year term.

Hope's campaign apparently made an early calculation that going after mismanagement and corruption on Reardon's watch was its clearest path to victory. Hope has hammered on what was weak oversight by Reardon's office of harassment claims that eventually led to the resignation of three officials, including Reardon's deputy executive, Mark Soine.

We think those points are valid, and are disappointed that Reardon has been unwilling to accept personal responsibility for allowing standards inside his own office to fall unacceptably low.

That said, things improved dramatically with last year's arrival of current Deputy Executive Gary Haakenson, who also has improved relationships with other elected officials, including the County Council.

Hope's other key criticism of Reardon -- that he's somehow responsible for rising unemployment in Snohomish County -- borders on the ridiculous.

The Great Recession spared few regions, including ours. And Reardon has had a positive impact on aerospace jobs. He played a key role in the establishment of the Washington Aerospace Training and Research Center at Paine Field, a partnership of the county, the Aerospace Futures Alliance and Edmonds Community College. The center is training workers who are being hired -- here.

Hope's own five-point plan for job growth is short of compelling, innovative ideas.

Beyond that, the campaigns have focused little on substance. In recent weeks, they've been an embarrassing display of mostly pointless dirt-digging, followed by scattershot charges and counter charges of inappropriate behavior. Voters deserve a far more intelligent, mature campaign for the highest office in the county.

We hope future candidates and party leaders will consider carefully the damage this race is doing to voters' confidence in their elected leaders, and resolve to treat voters with the respect they deserve.

Snohomish County can, indeed, do better than this.