CAMPAIGN - Disturbing Letter

     A Douglas County man has apparently submitted a Letter To The Editor to both the News-Review and the Roseburg Beacon. The man e-mailed a copy of the letter to all of the Douglas County Commissioner candidates. The letter calls into question the integrity of one candidate (not me) and suggests the candidate is incapable of handling the duties of the office of county commissioner.
     It remains to be seen if the newspapers will publish the letter. The letter cites public records, so from a legal standpoint, in my opinion, there would be nothing to prohibit the letter's publication.
    I have mixed feelings about the whole affair. Part of me is for transparency and the belief that all issues involving a candidate's character should be up for review by the voting public. On the other hand, part of me realizes that everyone has made mistakes in life, and to what extent do we want to air a person's dirty laundry for all to see?
     Like it or not, people who choose to run for public office become public figures. Perhaps that is why few people run for office..??..  And when it comes to a candidate's ability to run public affairs, any past activity that could affect that candidate's ability deserves to be scrutinized.
     I suppose what I'm saying is that some of these issues need to be publicized by journalists, and not by personal attacks in the Letters To The Editor section. Instead of the newspaper blindly publishing an inflammatory letter, how about a reporter interviewing both the letter writer and the political candidate, and then writing a news article where BOTH sides can be presented in an "objective" fashion side-by-side.
     That's one of the shortcomings of negative Letters To The Editor. They're one-sided opinion pieces, that don't give all sides of an issue the opportunity to respond.