I recently met Walt Washington, the Democratic candidate for Kitsap County Auditor. He impressed me as a man with a clear grasp of the pressing issues facing a diverse and growing Kitsap County population, the dangers of voter suppression, voter disenfranchisement, and the value of fair elections.

Walt is the current interim Kitsap County Auditor. He is uniquely qualified to replace the retired Karen Flynn who was a moderate, effective, evenhanded, and much-respected Kitsap County Auditor for many years.

As a longtime Washington state resident, and having also lived in other parts of the United States, Walt has experienced first-hand the adverse, polarizing impact of powerful special interests on our nation, our states, and our county.

A recent issue of the Port Orchard Independent proclaimed, using a screaming front-page headline, that Walt had made mistakes on his required Public Disclosure Commission form.

To the low-information voter, this will be enough to make them vote for his Republican opponent.

The informed voter will have read further and found that these mistakes were of a minor nature, not mistakes at all, or are common to the campaign PDCs of others.

We can ill afford to elect a person who masks a lack of qualifications with the same right-wing Republican biased ideological thinking, tactics and special interest affiliations that afflict so many of the wedge issue radicals who regularly populate the editorial opinion pages of the local media.

We all know who they are, and are numbed by the continuous discord and divisiveness they cleverly unleash to pummel our senses with fear and apprehension.

CLIFFORD M. KINCAID

Port Orchard