The Fat Lady Sang

Tuesday came. The fat lady sang. And it was over. Election season.

My friend, the former candidate, did not win. So ends my first and probably last foray into local politics. Yesterday we joined another friend in Spokane for a good old fashioned ladies lunch. A time to just unwind from the rigors of the past couple of months and to laugh again. Something we sorely needed.

In the meantime I've had a chance to reflect on the experience. I volunteered to help not so much because she is a friend but because I believed in what she felt were issues and the way she chose to handle them. I believed in her love for the community and her commitment to it. There were other positives. I met people who felt the same and were willing to put forth great effort in any way they could. I saw former adversaries put aside differences and work together.

I also saw the demise of what had been thought to be long time friendships. Betrayal. Untruths. Diatribes by self anointed arbiters of thought. Ambition and arrogance run amok. Politics. An unsavory business at best.

When I read the follow up in this morning's paper where the incumbents were asked their views I was astounded. Some thought the closeness of the races had put them on notice. I applaud them. Some thought there was no message. I question that. But when the mayor is quoted as saying "People need to be given more honest facts to make decisions", that pretty much sums it up.

Only in Coeur d'Alene would "honest facts" be an oxymoron rather than a redundancy!