Ken Graham: From the Editor

So here's a question to ponder over your morning coffee: If you had to run for re-election in order to keep your job, do you think you'd win? Would you even run?

Rocky Miller and John Turner have to. Chris Miller and Debra Antes have to. Scott Marinella and John Knowlton have to. (The first two are sheriffs, the second two are assessors and the third two are judges.) And the list is much longer (see Page 2).

Such is the life of the elected county official.

Next week, seven county officials in Columbia County and eight in Walla Walla County, will have to decide if they want to keep their jobs, and if so, stand for re-election. They include the positions listed above, plus the auditor, clerk, prosecutor, treasurer and, in Walla Walla County, the coroner. Each will be running for a four-year term.

These aren't legislative positions. They are actual career jobs in which the officeholders work full time and make an honest living. (Just kidding commissioners and state representatives. We know you work hard too.)

Most people, with normal jobs, have just one boss, who can fire them anytime they want. But at least you only have one boss to make happy.

If you're like me and you own your own business, you don't have to please a boss, but you still have to please your customers. (I like to think that you, the reader, are my boss. But no, you can't fire me, even though a few of you might like to.)

It's likely that, in most cases, the incumbents currently holding the offices listed will file for re-election, and they will run unopposed. And in most of those cases, that's a good thing. The person most qualified for the job is probably going to be the one who has already been doing it for at least four years.

But elected county officials are our employees - they don't report to anybody other than the citizens who elect them. And, as voters, we only get one chance every four years to fire them. (Yes, there's a recall process, but we'd have to be desperate.)

So now's the time for voters to think hard about whether the people in these jobs ought to keep them. And for those positions in which the incumbents choose not to run for re-election, we must decide who the best new person for the job will be.

In a couple of weeks, we'll report the list of candidates for office this year. And we urge our readers to pay attention and make sure they're happy with the employees they're stuck with for the next four years.

And be happy you don't have to run for election to keep your job!