Prosecuting attorney bid not a personal attack

To The Eagle:

In the phrase, the man who cried wolf, changing “man” to “boy” is also known at the “The Shepherd Boy and the Wolf,” a fable attributed to Aesop.

It was not until the mid-sixth decade of my life that I cried wolf. Crying wolf is different than asking for and receiving help from family, friends, neighbors, and teachers, and best of all the few great “mentors” we gain in our lives. But my periods of crying wolf were probably perceived by many as constant complaining. I will be forever remorseful if all I did was complain. Since my cries for help were ridiculed and subverted through legal deception, I decided and realized the only way to bring about needed change in our judicial and law enforcement systems is to run for public office. I am in the race for Prosecuting Attorney, Wahkiakum County. My candidacy is about the effective and prudent exercise of the law, not a personal attack on the current Prosecuting Attorney.

For various reasons, sometimes to our annoyance, we are faced with legal issues. We live in a country of laws and orders, and lawyers and judges can affect our daily lives. You look for and expect the public legal system to help, and at least to be honest. The help I sought through our courts might be best equated to drowning and the life-guard holds your head under water, but lets you up continually to tell you, “I am here to help you.”

Writing too many letters to editors can make one become a “gadfly.” In the next months until Election Day, I will become The Eagle's gadfly.

In the course of my life, I believe I voted in every election allowed since I turned 21. But I must admit I voted for some candidates on a ballot not knowing anything about their professional abilities and integrity. Some people, judges in particular, are recurring candidates, running unopposed, but we never hear from them. Are they doing a good job? In private life-business, everyone’s performance is reviewed. In public life, a person running for or in public office is only reviewed by being voted in or out of office. How do we vote a person out of office running unopposed? One uninformed vote and you win.

I have no illusions about overcoming insurmountable odds, nor am I brain dead as assumed by some lawyers and judges. It may seem hopeless in only receiving 13 votes in the primary election compared to my opponent's 1,039 votes. No, my candidacy is not hopeless. My candidacy will bring needed public discourse into an area few people attempt to enter, and even fewer attempt to discuss, to help bring needed change to our judicial and law enforcement system.

There is another historical story that my opponent and I need not forget, but this story is related from the Bible. One important lesson that Goliath failed to appreciate with David is to never understate your opponent.

Dennis T. Gordon

Puget Island