New governor deserves a brief honeymoon

If the difference between the vote totals of gubernatorial candidates Christine Gregoire and Dino Rossi remains as small as it now is, and if we view the outcome in the proper way, our new governor may enjoy a period of unprecedented goodwill.

The newly elected governor will be an accidental governor, and no one should be blamed for a genuine accident.

No large task can be accomplished by humans without error, and this is especially true of the casting and counting of almost 3 million votes.

The requirement in state law for an automatic recount takes into account the fact that errors do occur. If the difference between the two leading candidates' vote totals is sufficiently small, a recount is required for the simple reason that the inevitable errors may have affected the apparent outcome.

Even after a recount, a difference so small that it is within the range expected to result from human error isn't undoubtedly accurate — but must be accepted as the election’s outcome so the government can proceed.

Blaming some of our fellow citizens for an outcome that doesn’t square with our desires would be inappropriate, since the errors made in our preferred candidate’s favor are just as unknowable as those made in favor of the other.

Even the small number of people who voted for the Libertarian candidate rather than one of the major-party candidates shouldn’t be blamed. Among the voters who chose either Gregoire or Rossi, there surely were people who had no better reason for their decisions than the voters who chose the minor-party candidate.

No one can tell whether any particular ballots were completed by people who had really good reasons for their votes, and human error occurs in the casting of votes just as it occurs in counting them.

There are only a few of us who know with certainty that we had good reasons — and who aren’t mistaken despite our certainty.

Those who are certain should be magnanimous in victory or defeat, because they cannot know if they are among the mistaken.

Let goodwill reign — until the first boneheaded decision is made by the accidental governor.

Then you can shed that veneer of magnanimity and cut loose about a particular policy decision rather than the happenstance that put the governor in office.

While awaiting that first opportunity to disagree, be cheerful even if it hurts. If you must grumble about the election result, keep it lighthearted.

This writer, of course, may need to remain silent about the election’s result, since curmudgeons are by nature unable to engage in anything other than serious grumbling.

Fortunately for those of us who have a tendency to grumble, the election of Derek Kilmer and re-election of Patricia Lantz appear to have involved margins of victory larger than the margin of error.

Stand by to be blamed, those of you in the Kitsap county part of legislature’s District 26 who gave Kilmer and Lantz their margins of victory despite the best efforts of Pierce county voters.

Having acknowledged that Lantz is correct to oppose arbitrary limits on jury awards in negligence cases, this writer has had to wait for an opportunity to balance the scales by wholeheartedly criticizing Lantz about some other issue.

If Lantz follows her party's line and votes in favor of the interests of the Interstate 5 corridor and against the interests of residents of South Kitsap, it will be duly noted.

Kilmer’s election puts a new face in the legislature, which isn’t necessarily a good thing. Rookies often make rookie mistakes.

Perhaps the best thing Lantz can do for Kilmer is to describe to him what happened in her first term in office regarding the issue of raising the school levy lid.

Lantz didn’t think that raising the levy lid was the right thing to do, but her initial opposition to the idea didn't last. She sponsored that bill.

She was correct when she believed that the school levy lid should be lowered, not raised, and that the share of the cost of schools paid by the state should instead be increased. But not every good intention survives the need to demonstrate sufficient party loyalty.

Loyalty to one’s party is certainly necessary, since enacting legislation requires a team effort. A legislator who isn't on a team cannot expect to achieve much.

Party loyalty can be taken too far, so one of Kilmer’s first tasks should be to figure out where to draw the line.

Learning from the experience of his fellow representative in the 26th District would be far better than learning solely from his own mistakes — even if it does try the patience of those of us who are itching to grumble about something other than an accidental election of a governor.

Robert Meadows is a Port Orchard resident.

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