The recently concluded trustee elections for School District 271 and Kootenai County Hospital District illustrate several important and interconnected issues.

The voters of Kootenai County — and I imagine most everywhere else — prefer that local “nonpartisan” elections remain that way. Interjecting partisan issues and more specifically hostile partisan attitudes into nonpartisan races is not welcome.

Before in Idaho, in election after election there has been a long tradition of candidates offering their time and talents to nonpartisan elected office out of a sense of civic duty and the willingness to see to the efficient and beneficial operation of government. This mind-set is essentially a working definition of good local governance.

To my knowledge until just recently no locally elected nonpartisan official has sought political power for its own sake, and/or for the exercise and advancement of harsh and aggressive political agendas, hidden or otherwise. Candidates essentially ran on their resumes. This is not to say that opposing candidates did not have sharply-drawn differences, however those differences were discussed and dealt with well within the boundaries for the resolution of disagreements set by civil societies everywhere. This long and highly beneficial tradition has been severely challenged recently, but for now the challenge has been checked and hopefully is now receding.

The lion roared on election day, but practically no one was listening. Civility, courtesy and good order are on the way to restoration. The children and their parents won a huge victory at School District 271, as did the patients and staff at the hospital. I personally could not be happier.

NORMAN GISSEL

Coeur d’Alene