Last week’s Enterprise was full of stories about who might run in the fall election.
With candidates lining up, we need to know how we’ll choose among them.
These candidates and potential candidates deserve to know whether they should prepare for a partisan primary, a non-partisan primary or no primary at all.
Yet. Gov. Gary Locke is taking the full 20 days to decide whether to accept, veto or partially veto the Legislature-passed “Bill to Establish a Qualifying Primary.”
Surely, Locke knows that any action will lead to further delay caused by lawsuits.
If he signs the bill as it is, he knows that the state’s political parties will sue to throw out the “top-two” system or to get control of who uses party names.
 If he vetoes the bill, he knows that someone will ask the U.S. District Court to set up some kind of primary. If the court doesn’t act, the state will end up with no primary and a crowded “jungle general” election in November.
 If he vetoes the main section, which establishes the “top two” primary, to replace it with a private-choice partisan primary listed as an alternative in case a court finds the top-two system unconstitutional, someone will sue him for ignoring the intent of the legislation.
 So, whatever happens, we face a spring and summer of litigation delaying any decision on what kind of primary we’ll have.
Balancing efficiency and input
Three members of the Shoreline City Council are working on recommendations about how long to allow citizens to speak during public-comment periods.
They have to balance the rights of citizens to make their voices heard with the need of their representatives to do public business and to do it so that the meeting is short enough for citizens to sit through.
Shoreline and Edmonds have three-minute limits on public comments. That should be enough for anyone. It’s certainly better than the two minutes allowed by the Shoreline School Board.
Mountlake Terrace allows anyone to speak for five minutes, and both Lynnwood and Mill Creek have no limits, but those cities don’t have as many potential speakers as Edmonds or Shoreline.
We need an understanding that our local government bodies will listen to as many voices as possible while people won’t take up their representatives’ and fellow citizens’ time by talking about the same issues over and over.
Evan Smith is the Enterprise Forum editor.
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