The Renton Reporter is endorsing candidates in three City Council races and the race for a sole position on the Public Hospital District Board of Commissioners. The endorsements are made by our Editorial Board, comprised of Publisher Ellen Morrison, Editor Dean A. Radford and community members Jim Medzegian, Armondo Pavone and Pat Auten. The candidates in each race were interviewed, then the board deliberated before voting. The interviews are continuing through early October.

Without reservation, the Editorial Board endorses Don Persson in his bid for a fourth term on the Renton City Council.

Persson has devoted himself to the Renton community, as a police officer and later deputy police chief, as a founder of the Renton River Days and as an active member and supporter of numerous organizations and causes.

That experience and his 12 years already on the City Council make Persson one of the most valuable members of the council. His institutional knowledge is deep. His boss is the community, he says.

His top priority is the city’s financial stability. That’s most apparent when he warns of the negative financial impact annexing West Hill could have on current Renton residents.

Persson hasn’t had a challenger in his last two council elections for his Position 7 council seat. He beat Dan Clawson for the open council seat in 1999. Now, Phyllis Forister has stepped up to run against Persson. Forister is well-spoken and has done her research on important issues facing Renton.

But, despite her statements otherwise, the Editorial Board couldn’t shake its belief that Forister is a one-issue candidate. That issue is the location of the downtown Renton library, which the City Council has already decided. Now, Forister supports an initiative to overturn the City Council’s approval of its agreement with the King County Library System. That’s counterproductive and signals a potential unwillingness to accept votes that don’t go her way.

Forister simply hasn’t made the case that she should replace Persson.

In reality, as an Editorial Board member said, it would take a “rock star” to unseat Persson. He has yet to face such an opponent.