A surprise endorsement

For the 2011 municipal elections, our editorial board has come to unanimous agreement on its endorsements.

We endorse you.

That's right. Your name doesn't appear on the ballot for Coeur d'Alene, Post Falls, Hayden or any of the other cities or fire districts in our fine county. We're still penciling you in, because we want you to lead your community to greatness. We want you to lead by first exercising your right to vote, and then by committing yourself to becoming as involved in local civic issues as you possibly can.

We're convinced that when a community is passionately and constructively involved in its governing, it will generally select the very best leaders. Even when it makes an electoral mistake, the community can mitigate the impact of the error through activism. The weaknesses of your elected officials are only magnified when you're more engaged in "Dancing with the Stars" than with providing elected officials feedback and holding them accountable for their decisions.

Throughout Kootenai County, you're lucky. You've got choices. Despite warnings that nobody wants to serve in public office anymore, there's hardly a race in any of our cities that hasn't drawn stiff competition and broad interest.

Just don't lay the biggest burdens at the feet of the people who will be selected sometime late Tuesday night. The burden is yours, citizen. And we believe you're up to the task.