Say more than just, “I’m running!”

Winning office should be more than simply a process of self-nomination. Yet essentially this is what some candidates for Bothell City Council seem to be doing. In chess, in order for a pawn to earn promotion (change into a higher ranking piece) it has to make its way to the far end of the board, through the gauntlet of its opponent’s pieces, usually enduring a long game, sometimes lucky, but never hidden. Our current candidates seem to want to be promoted after just a few moves, as if by self-nominating loud enough – “I have the most signs!” – the right has been earned to move from mere pawn, to queen or rook. Others think that resting on their laurels earns them the spot, suggesting that previously being more than a simple pawn merits the right to prevail again. Still other candidates think they deserve the right to win by attacking the way their opponent operates – “My opponent shouldn’t win because he just copies others who are like-minded!” In politics, as in chess, the admirable strategy to win is to play the long game, maneuvering through the issues for all to see how each side responds so we, the voters, can safely predict how the elected official will respond when it isn’t a game anymore.

Adam Brauch

Bothell