Two sitting members of the city councils in Ketchum and Sun Valley have declared that they will not run for re-election. The two were the point men for the idea of merging the cities of Ketchum and Sun Valley.
They argued that such a merger would streamline operations in the two cities, save a lot of money in the long run and unify the northern Blaine County geography for visitors and locals alike who know it simply as Sun Valley.
From 30,000 feet, their general rationale looked logical and was not of the wing-nut variety. The idea looked like something the two cities might want to take a look at over time, with thoughtful consideration about what the ramifications might be.
Yet, the public would need time to absorb the idea because it challenged local "tradition" and "culture." We put these words in quotes because it's quite remarkable that two cities separated by a short three miles, facing the same mountain, with identical tourist economies and similar demographics can be two entirely different worlds.
But official reaction to the idea was immediate—and hard. The two council members, Charles Conn and David Chase, were vilified by one mayor and left to walk the political high wire by another.
In one public meeting, they were characterized as people who wanted to open the doors of the safe in Sun Valley to the looting of rabble from Ketchum and the rampages of barbarians.
Misstatement was heaped upon misunderstanding and soaked in vitriol, and the two councilmen dropped the whole idea.
Now the two are dropping out of local politics altogether. It's too bad they couldn't take the heat in the kitchen because as political kitchens go, this one wasn't really that hot, though it may have seemed so to political novices.
It's a shame they're bowing out. The idea they promoted may have been the right idea at the wrong time or the wrong idea altogether. But it was an idea at a time when the Sun Valley area, the state and the nation need to look at as many new ideas—or resurrect useful old ideas—as they can.
President Barack Obama says he often learns the most from people with whom he disagrees. That could be true even here where people regularly ask, "Is this a private fight or can anyone get into it?"
If ideas are to be blasted to bits, they need to be blasted with the grapeshot of sound reason, not emotional hand grenades or overblown invective.
Rational debate may not be as much fun or as cathartic, but it's likely to take the valley where it needs to go much faster than rancor.
