We thought the fireworks would remain unlit for this year’s general election. We were wrong.
The retirement of King Parker from the Renton City Council left in its wake one of the most personally charged elections in recent memory. The important issues of the day got lost in the race between Robin Jones and Ed Prince to replace Parker on the council.
The campaign went sideways when all perspective was lost in the intense debate over Prince’s personal and financial life. Prince was branded by rhetoric that while based on fact didn’t reflect the entire story. That branding never should have happened.
We would argue that part of what voters must consider in choosing their leaders is the relevancy of the information, good and bad, that they hear during the campaign. Rosemary Quesenberry, one of Jones’ campaign volunteers, dug deep in public records and found information about Prince’s personal finances and a traffic ticket. But documents don’t tell the whole story.
We believe Prince’s explanations. He lost his home because of a job loss; that has become a norm. Yes, he could have understood better how to obtain jobless benefits, but he didn’t intend to commit fraud and he relied on information from a state employee. He stuck up for himself.
Prince would bring the types of personal and financial challenges that no one else on the council has faced. That’s an everyman’s perspective.
But there was still room for doubt.
In our view the decision by the Renton Police Officers Guild to pull its endorsement of Prince carried some weight. But that was more than balanced out by the decision of two other unions representing city employees to stick by their endorsement of Prince.
Someone on our website in the midst of an ongoing online debate asked whether we would reconsider our endorsement of Jones. The answer is no. Jones, as we argued, would bring a fresh perspective to the City Council. That’s unquestioned.
So where does Jones stand in this controversy? He sidelined the mortgage default issue quickly, but still pointed to what he saw as a pattern in how Prince handled his family’s finances. Some say Quesenberry was throwing mud at Prince; Jones could have done more to wipe off some of that mud or at least help tone down the rhetoric coming from his volunteer.
Two other council races are contested. They’ve been overshadowed by the Prince-Jones race but are equally important to how the council votes on key city issues. The Renton Reporter endorsed incumbents Don Persson and Greg Taylor in those two races.
For the sake of the democratic process, we wish Denis Law would have had an opponent in his race for a second term as mayor. Good, honest – and clean – debate is the lifeblood of our democracy. A bye obviously limits that debate.
But, frankly, Law is pretty much unbeatable, as his leadership has brought the city through tough economic times. Those times aren’t over yet, so his vision and stewardship are very much needed.
He has also taken a measured approach on the annexation of West Hill, warning of its impacts on city finances and on Renton’s current residents. But he also honors the process the City Council set in motion when it decided to place the annexation on the February ballot.
Life will go on after the final vote is counted in Tuesday’s general election. There will be at least one new face on the City Council. But the election won’t change the difficult issues facing Renton. It could change the council’s dynamics.
We would expect that the new City Council member would join his fellow council members in a spirit of cooperation to immediately get down to the challenging business of running the city.
