Mr. Evans writes a preface to the column explaining why you won't read this in The Bay Times today: 

The Bay Times has an editorial policy that I adhere to prohibiting the use of endorsements by editors, staff and columnists, during local elections. But if the ban didn’t exist, the following is a column I’d be compelled to write in advance of next week’s primaries for what it’s worth. Think of this as my “1 Cent Worth” column.

Bill Evans 
_______________________________________________________________________ 

No strings attached. 

I’m about to break a rule about the use of names and endorsements during an election in this column. My reason for doing so is pretty straight forward, but may be considered a little dark to some, unless they happen to reside in my age group – then they’ll understand all too well. 

I’m doing this because my warranty on parts and service expired a long time ago. I’m now in the count down stage of my life when time becomes more precious, and frankly I just don’t want to spend the next four years being agitated and frustrated by the inability of our county’s elected officials to work together and come up with positive solutions to head off the disaster looming on the horizon that threatens our quality of life.

And I have another reason, just as self serving as the above. I am sick to death of politicians who say one thing as candidates, and do the opposite in office, and frankly I’d love to see them taken down. (Good Bill would probably have toned that down a bit, but this is Bad Bill’s column.)  I’d also like my faith in humanity restored. I want to believe in our ability as citizens to see through all the bullshit being shoveled our way, and do the right thing.

Having said that, there is one Republican primary vote next Tuesday that is pivotal in determining whether this will happen. The results from it will tell us how closely Queen Anne’s voters have been paying attention to what’s been going on in Centreville during the past four years, and how serious they are about having their voices heard, and putting people in office who are true to their word. 

I’m talking about the District #4 Republican primary pitting two current commissioners against each other – Mike Koval vs. Ben Cassell. 

This was not a match created in heaven. Think lower, much lower - it was created by the Queen Anne’s Republican Central Committee. This would be Mike’s punishment, you see, for straying from the pack and voting for what he believes is in best interest of the citizens who voted him into office. I wasn’t there, but I can imagine how all this went down.

“How dare he cut the strings!” scream the chief puppeteers on the realtor-invested central committee. “We’ll show him. We’ll put puppet Ben up against him,” they say after chastising Mike in public noting that "A REAL REPUBLICAN works for the betterment of the party, attends the Reagan Day Dinner, gets out signs, blah, blah, blah...” 

Pardon me, but this isn’t just a slam against Mike Koval, it’s also an insult to a long list of my Republican friends who could never be bullied into abandoning what they believe in for the betterment of the party. That is simply not a viable option. And it doesn’t make you REAL anything – just the opposite. Does phony ring a bell?

I am not going to comment further on Ben Cassell here. You know what he said he’d do four years ago. And you know what he did. Enough said on that subject.

I will comment on Mike Koval. He has proven his loyalty to the citizens who elected him to office. He is passionate about fighting for what he believes in. By virtue of his profession he knows more about the building industry and it’s impact on infrastructure than any of the 19 candidates for commissioner. And you can take his word to the bank.