Promise Keeper

Sometimes it is a pleasure to admit a misjudgment.

When Kate McCaslin ran for Spokane County Commissioner, she took money from development interests but said in her speeches that she favored a fair balance between environmental considerations and growth. Some of us focused on the money and her background, not the words, and worried that she would give the bulldozers free rein over county zoning policy.

It hasn’t turned out that way. McCaslin has developed into an excellent county commissioner, characterized by independence and hard work. She scrutinizes the budget in rigorous detail, saving taxpayers money. She studies development proposals with similar intensity, siding sometimes with builders and sometimes with their environmental and neighborhood critics. If a development would be a bad deal, flooding neighbors with stormwater or nearby roads with traffic, she says no. McCaslin appears to be striving for balance, exactly as she said she would.

At a time when a few higher-profile politicians are training Americans to hold public service and political speeches in disdain, McCaslin is a leader whose word and work are worthy of respect. , DataTimes The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = John Webster For the editorial board