In the next few months, voters in Lawrence and Douglas County will be going to the polls to elect a number of new officials. Those who are successful will face some very serious problems during their time in office.

The economic situation in the nation, the state and the county is grave. Oil prices show no sign of going down or even leveling off, the substantial spring rains have damaged crops, job growth is stagnant, and new businesses have been slow to come to Lawrence and Douglas County. Tax revenues are down, as well, and the demand for social services is up and will continue to rise as the economy worsens.

These and others are real problems that must be faced, and strategies that set realistic goals and healthy priorities must be devised to cope with them. That will be the job of those who are elected in the coming months. I worry somewhat about our ability to elect the best people to fill these jobs and do what needs to be done for Douglas County.

I think, frankly, that the partisan politics and the long-standing feuds among groups in both city and county impede our ability to move ahead economically, socially and governmentally. Several years ago, when I served on the committee to help Lawrence and Douglas County work toward designation of a historic area by the federal government, the chair of the committee Judge Deanell Tacha, asked the members what terms they thought characterized our community best. Interestingly, a fair number of committee members replied they thought that “conflict” was one of the terms that best characterized our community.

Certainly, our town and our state were both born out of conflict. Since the 1960s, Lawrence has been a divided city, divided between the two ends of the political and social spectrum and every shade in between. But Lawrence and Douglas County have always managed to find ways to survive. And that’s what we need to do again, develop strategies not only for survival, but, also, for prosperity.

Lawrence and Douglas County are marked by a rich diversity of people, ideas and ideals. But, if we are to survive and prosper, we must also find the ability to compromise and to do so in a productive way.

Here is what I am going to look for in deciding for whom to vote in the coming months. First, I want elected officials who tell the truth about what they think and what they believe. I want to know what they see as our greatest problems and how they believe that they can solve them. I want these plans to be realistic and detailed. I don’t want to hear platitudes or rhetoric. I don’t want to hear local candidates talk about national issues. Let the candidates for national office talk about those.

Frankly, the war in Iraq seems to me to be virtually irrelevant to city and county politics. I want to hear plans to solve local problems. Where to put the next industrial park and how to support our schools and plow our roads may be of far less cosmic significance than ending the war, but it’s what local officials need to spend their time on.

I am also concerned that the level of discourse in this election remain at a high level. There have been far too many instances at the national and state levels of the worst kind of nastiness and dirty politics. This shouldn’t happen at those levels and it must not happen locally. We are a small community that must be able to discuss our differences intelligently and politely. I have to admit I’m quite troubled by one local radio host who spends much of his air time talking about local politics and seems incapable of even basic civility when doing so. There’s no need to call people with whom you disagree stupid or refer to our governor in a rude manner, no matter what your politics.

I hope that the candidates and all public figures who discuss local issues over the next months can do so intelligently, truthfully and civilly. I shall be looking at the candidates to see how they handle themselves in debate and discussion. There’s an enormous amount at stake in the coming elections.

I intend to spend the rest of my life here, and I want this community to prosper. I would hope everyone feels the same way, regardless of political affiliation. We as citizens need to be sure we make informed choices. That’s how democracy in action works.