There are disturbing signs that in Island County, the concept of free speech has had trouble sinking in.
Commissioner Kelly Emerson is suing her predecessor, John Dean, for mailing out a flyer claiming that she had started a construction project at her home without a permit. The flyer depicted a phony newspaper headline and a couple of bad actors looking extremely shocked by the accusation, which by the way was true. Emerson and her husband did start a project without a permit. Since the courts have held that politicians can go ahead and tell lies, Dean should have little trouble defending himself with the truth. This lawsuit is an extreme waste of time and money for both sides.
Meanwhile, former Island County Assessor Dave Mattens didn’t like some of the things his challenger said about him in election forums. Whatever she said was apparently effective because she beat her boss in the election. But Mattens was unwilling to chalk it up to the heat of the campaign and instead, after interrogating Mary Engle in person, he wrote a letter of reprimand that he placed in her employment file. Imagine that. If an employee in an elective office decides to challenge her boss, what she says at a political forum may end up in her personnel file and wreck her chances for promotion. That’s no way to encourage free speech and free and open elections. Fortunately, higher county officials had the letter pulled from her file after she hired an attorney.
Candidates for public office should remember that this is a free country, people enjoy free speech, and political speech is the most protected of all. Maybe you can’t yell “fire” in a theater, but you can yell “liar” at your opponent.
The public has an uncanny ability to separate the bombast from the truth and to judge candidates not only on what they say, but on what they do and how they act. So quit suing and reprimanding your opponents. As President Harry Truman said about politics, “If you can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen.” In Island County, there are a few too many people in the kitchen who don’t belong there.
