Thank you, readers, for an amazing election season

A tumultuous election season is nearly over.

Not unlike the circus coming to town and leaving a trail of confetti to clean up, the only thing left to tie up now are the straggling ballots bearing Nov. 4 postmarks.

We should be seeing the final results of King County’s first mail-in general election by Nov. 24.

I am not certain if this year’s Iraqi elections have yielded quicker winners, but the mail-in route is the way we’re going to continue going, as frustrating as that is to cranky journalists who like a nice, tidy, single finish.

So we’ll keep running through the ink to give you the latest updates this month on our electoral process.

This year’s elections gave the Kent Reporter its first go at organizing a political debate, and we were gratified with the turnout we had; both from our local candidates, our volunteers, and the more than 300 people who filled the Kent Senior Activity Center, to hear what their candidates had to say.

I thought our participants did an excellent job – and after having tried standup comedy a few times, I can tell you that it’s no easy task to stand under a spotlight, thinking on your feet.

In my case, all I had to remember was a dumb series of punchlines: these folks had the daunting task of answering questions and engaging their opponents in an insightful manner, while a stopwatch clicked.

Yikes.

Thank you, Kent, for giving us that opportunity to be a part of the local political process. The debate is something we plan to continue doing in the years ahead.

And as far as journalism goes, one of the most challenging races this year to cover was the Kent mayor’s race. If you read our paper, or logged onto our Web site on a consistent basis, you would have noticed the quantity of ink we gave to this particular race.

There were many facets to it, and a certain amount of allegations that were raised, which we explored on our pages.

I am certain this was no easy task for any involved. Our staff made a lot of late-night phone calls, and there were some tough questions to be answered.

What I found interesting and at times troubling were the comments that readers posted on our Web site in regard to these stories.

While it’s always exciting to see passion when it comes to local politics, some writers did begin getting personal in their vitriol. I had to step in a couple of times, and at one point, removed a comment from the site.

I want to assure you that as an editor, I don’t relish resorting to the “nuclear option” and having to shut someone down on the site.

But I’ll do it when I have to – our primary responsibility is keeping the debate germaine to the story, as opposed to going off trail and engaging in personal attacks on deceased people, or private citizens who can’t defend themselves.

Now that our elections are behind us, I want to encourage all of you – regardless of what political camp you were in, or what was said, or left unsaid, to put the past behind us, and get back to the job at hand.

We need Kent strong, in order to handle the challenges ahead, whether it’s financial stormy weather, or the real kind that brings floods. The only way we’re going to have a strong Kent is by putting our differences away and working together.