Just two of the monorail board's nine members are elected by the public; the remaining seven are appointed by the board itself. That's why it's especially critical that members of the board's elected minority are strong advocates for the public interest, not rubber stamps for the board's handpicked majority.

Current board member Cindi Laws, who occupies one of the two seats that are subject to election, has been the board's loudest (and sometimes loneliest) advocate for openness and transparency. Laws, like her former colleague Dick Falkenbury, has often been the only dissenting voice in a roomful of nodding heads, and she's paid for it by getting shut out during critical board decisions by board chairman Tom Weeks, who's looking more and more like an enemy of public disclosure. Laws blasted Weeks and other board members for planning secret monorail "brainstorming" sessions, which were ultimately (thanks largely to a public outcry sparked in part by Laws' objections) opened to the public. Laws is a steadfast monorail supporter and a critical dissident voice on the board, and the Stranger Election Bowling League wants to see her continue to speak up.

Over in Stockmeyer's crowded race, seven men are vying to fill a seat being vacated by outgoing board member Patricia Akiyama. Cleve Stockmeyer, an attorney who cowrote the second monorail initiative, is the best choice in this crowded field. While we do have serious questions about Stockmeyer's commitment to a board assignment, his commitment to the monorail is undeniable. Perhaps Stockmeyer and Laws will use their combined clout to put a proposal for an all-elected board on the ballot immediately, rather than waiting until as late as 2009 (when a proposal for a majority-elected board must go on the ballot)--when most of the agency's important decisions will already have been made.