OSC ruling has far-ranging ramifications around state

Lou Marzeles
Editor and Publisher

     Primary ballots are soon to hit the mailboxes of Klickitat County. The first round of the year’s regional elections is upon us.
     And news has come this week of a ruling (finally) from the U.S. Office of Special Counsel on the county Prosecuting Attorney’s office—though the news will not satisfy all who have awaited it. The OSC has told two candidates for the office of Prosecuting Attorney that they’re OK as far as the Hatch Act is concerned, although for a stretch of time they weren’t. No action will be taken against them.      After all that has been said and written about goings on in that office of late, the OSC response might feel downright anticlimactic to some.
     Still, it is a completed course of action. No wrongdoing has been found in the Prosecuting Attorney’s office, and the county is spared the encumbrance and disrepute of stiff penalties from the federal government. Moreover, there is word that other counties in the state—and in the country—are taking close note of the OSC ruling here in Klickitat County for its ramifications in other areas. That’s not a bad way to kick off the political process.