As one of the applicants for the City Council position that did not make the short list I would like to make a few comments.

First I totally support this newspaper in seeking an open government. There are only a few reasonable exceptions to the open meetings statute. I, however, am glad that the full council did not follow your recommendation to hold public interviews with all of the applicants. It may have provided some entertainment, but I believe it would have been a lengthy, unnecessary, and tortuous exercise for the applicants and the City Council. The process was published and agreed to ahead of time. I thought the process was well designed to be fair and manageable.

The next step is to have the public interviews you called for in your editorial, but it will only be with the candidates who are being seriously considered. I have no problem with this, and feel it is efficient and a good process that demonstrates open government.

You have an opportunity to do in-depth interviews of the finalist and publish them in the paper. You also have the editorial license to endorse one of the candidates.

Pat Harman

Oak Harbor