In our view: Cheers & Jeers

Cheers: To the state Department of Ecology for deciding not to enforce a rule.

Ordinarily, we like to see rules followed, but when a rule is just plain silly — such as banning the washing of cars in driveways — we’re willing to tolerate some lax enforcement.

The Columbian’s Michael Andersen reported Thursday that the DOE will ask local governments to write a ban on driveway car washing into code, but likely will not expect the rule to be enforced until some indefinite time in the future.

We hope that time is never. Perhaps that will give DOE officials enough time to come to their senses. After Andersen reported the ban on driveway car washes earlier this month, much of Washington state went ballistic (including The Columbian in a Sept. 18 editorial).

Let’s all focus on ways to clean up water running into storm drains, but let’s not throw the baby out with the car-wash water.

Jeers: To Washington state Democratic Party officials for wasting time dragging Republican gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi to court and trying to reverse his decision to identify himself as “prefers GOP” on the Nov. 4 ballot. A Seattle judge correctly ruled Friday morning that the ballot description is allowable. Such wording is at the discretion of each candidate, even if it’s the “Salmon Yoga Party” as one candidate chose for the Aug. 19 primary ballot.

Secretary of State Sam Reed had already ruled correctly that Rossi’s choice was permissible. Of course, the consequences for Rossi’s choice might be more negative than positive, as he continues to face repeated scrutiny (as he should) for eschewing the “Republican” brand.

The cynic would suggest that the Machiavellian Democrats knew all along that they would lose this case in court (the Dems said Friday they wouldn’t appeal the judge’s decision), and all along were simply trying to draw attention to and drag out the criticism of Rossi’s controversial ballot wording. Oh, no! That couldn’t be the case, could it?

Cheers: To The Amphitheater at Clark County for setting an attendance record last Sunday night. More than 17,300 fans attended the concert featuring Journey, Heart and Cheap Trick, breaking the record of about 16,000 at a Jimmy Buffett concert in 2003.

The amphitheater continues through difficult times, however. This year there were nine concerts, down from 11 in each of the two previous years and a peak of 16 in 2004. Amphitheaters nationwide were sailing into choppy financial waters for several years even before the current economic crisis.

We hope the local amphitheater stays in business. The economic boost and cultural contributions are good for the community. Sunday’s concert proved that large crowds are possible, and we hope more such turnouts can be generated next year.

Cheers: To Jason Lee Middle School teacher Susan Wiggs for winning her case against the Vancouver Education Association (the teachers union) and preserving her right to send part of her union dues to the charity of her choice. Compulsory union membership is bad enough, but what’s even worse is a union sending money to political causes with which some union members strongly disagree.

The teachers’ union was properly denied two appeals of this case to the Public Employment Relations Commission in Olympia, and has announced it will no longer pursue the case.