Hypocrisy claims a 5-4 victory

A last minute defection drove a stake in the heart of the electorate last week.

Too dramatic for you? Then let’s try this:

When an appointed panel reversed course and voted 5-4 not to let residents decide on a proposed change in the form of Kootenai County government, the height of political hypocrisy was reached.

With one panel member turning her predecessor's “yes” vote to “no,” several things happened that led to a cold political corpse.

1) County commissioners’ pledged that if the panel did not support asking voters to decide on a structural change — in this case, from three elected full-time commissioners to five part-timers, plus a county manager or administrator — they wouldn't pursue it further. That promise must now be kept. Bill Brooks, Leslie Duncan and Chris Fillios cannot force that question onto the November general election ballot.

2) After this and similar proposals have arisen several times over the years, all to be beaten down in some form or another, any political will to bring it back would be best addressed on a therapist’s couch.

3) The democratic process — note the small “d,” please — suffered yet another devastating setback.

From the beginning, any public discussion of possibly adding commissioners has been met not just with disagreement, but with blatant abuse, threats and mockery. This is particularly troubling because the only reason someone could fear having greater representation at no additional cost to taxpayers is the fear of losing control.

With only three commissioners in charge, any lobbying group or representatives of a political ideology need convince only two to see things their way. The task becomes much harder when just one more person must be swayed.

In kneecapping the democratic process, foes of a public vote also built a 120-story monument to hypocrisy. These are the same people who screamed bloody murder when the discussion earlier involved possibly appointing rather than electing one or more of the following offices: sheriff, prosecutor, coroner, treasurer, assessor, and clerk.

The high-decibel rejoinder was basically, "Don’t you dare try to take away our right to vote!" But what they really meant was, "Don’t you dare try to take away our right to vote but it’s OK for us to take away your right to vote."

Chalk up another layer in the erosion of good governance.