I was somewhat alarmed when I woke up last Wednesday morning and read the election results for the local races covered by the Catasauqua Press.

Voters had let a longtime Catasauqua Borough Councilwoman go.

And in Hanover Township, Lehigh County, not one, but two township council members who had served, uncontested, for many years, were gone.

North Catasauqua voters also ousted two public servants from their borough council.

Was there a conspiracy afoot by political parties to clean house?

Did voters feel they were grossly underrepresented by their elected officials?

Should I be alarmed by what appeared to me to be a substantial turnover in public servants?

Looking at the ballots, I could see that a Democrat had replaced a Republican in one race. In another, two Republicans had replaced two Republicans; and in the third, two Democrats had replaced Republicans.

So, it's not necessarily a political party initiative any more than any other election year, I thought.

Perhaps voters were simply ready for some new ideas.

Certain television news media might be expected to sound an alarm and analyze the election results to death, using words like "backlash" and "mandate."

But I began to realize that, after all, this is just what our forefathers had in mind.

While debating and drafting the U.S. Constitution, John Adams once said he felt terms of office for congressmen should be for one year only.

Thomas Jefferson is also said to have advocated for a "citizen legislature" where farmers and business owners elected to office would serve in the Capitol for a brief period only and then return to their former lives.

"My reason for fixing them in office for a term of years, rather than for life, was that they might have an idea that they were at a certain period to ... become the governed instead of the governors, which might still keep alive that regard to the public good that otherwise they might perhaps be induced by their independence to forget," Jefferson said.

While they were talking about U.S. congressmen and senators, their sentiments apply to local public servants as well.

We owe a lot to our hometown officials for the time and effort they put into governing our townships, boroughs and cities.

I would hope their years of dedicated service are appreciated by voters, even when our ballots show we think it is time for them to retire.

Elected commissioners, supervisors and council members work many hours attending meetings, reviewing proposals, running committees and being on the scene during a local crisis or community event, for which they are paid only a stipend.

It is often a thankless job, so let me say this to those retiring officials who may have felt like losers last week:

You are winners in my book.

Thank you for your service to the community.

Linda

Wojciechowski

associate editor

Catasauqua Press