The Seattle Times seals its campaign against district elections for the Seattle City Council with today's editorial: Astute Seattle voters say 'no' to districts :
Seattle voters are a discerning lot. They read, they study public-policy issues, and nine times out of 10, they make an astute decision.I think "apathetic" might be a more appropriate "A"-adjective than "astute". As I pointed out the other day, voter turnout fell to 35% from 52% four years ago. Only 18% of registered voters cast their vote to defend the current at-large electoral system. And how astute were these voters? Those who relied on the Times slanted, mendacious and self-interested editorials against district elections were not so much astute as they were gullible.
The popular campaign for district elections will continue, in spite of the opposition of the various suburban newspaper editors. In the meantime, the best advice I can give to those who rely on newspaper editorial pages for information and analysis: caveat lector.
Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at November 10, 2003 10:45 AM