Staying out of the mud

You were warned.

Last Friday in this space, the Press editorial board cautioned citizens to beware 11th hour campaign surprises. And sure enough, they materialized. A common, gut-wrenching thread between three highly dubious ads? All were delivered to mailboxes, proving once again that there is little transparency or accountability with such assaults.

Meanwhile, two proposed attack ads submitted late to The Press were rejected by newspaper managers because they made critical claims of an opponent without allowing the opponent time to respond in kind. That's simply not a function the U.S. Postal Service is equipped or qualified to provide.

Voters are the ultimate judge and jury in these shenanigans, and we offer this editorial in hopes that come November, you'll remember to completely disregard any political poison dumped in your mailbox close to election day. The only way to stifle poison-pen strategies is to punish them with your vote.

We also want to applaud the political activists who played fair - and smart. Because deadlines dictate that this editorial had to be written well before the polls closed Tuesday night, we didn't know yet which candidates would succeed and, by extension, which ad campaigns proved to be most effective. We do know several that focused on their candidates' strengths and exemplified the kind of character and leadership traits we expect of our elected representatives, and we salute them. Our community, county and state will benefit to the degree voters put these positive people to work on the citizens' behalf.