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10/23/2007 3:33 AM

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In the spring primary, we commented that the rancor once so common on the Washington County Board of Commissioners seems to have dissipated over the past four years. As a result, while there is occasional disagreement at their public meetings, the three members appear to be working together.

We see no reason, then, to recommend a change in the board's membership - Democrats Bracken Burns and Larry Maggi and Republican Diana Irey - when voters go to the polls Nov. 6.

Burns especially has been a leader for progress in the entire region. He is the immediate past president of the Southwest Pennsylvania Planning Commission, which is charged with marketing the Pittsburgh area, including Pittsburgh International Airport, to potential employers.

Anyone who might question what a Washington County commissioner is doing promoting Allegheny County would be living decades behind the times. Regarding each county - and, worse, each little municipality within the counties - as an island unto itself was characteristic of most of the 20th century. And it probably once made sense.

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Today, however, we are competing for jobs with other parts of the country and other countries of the world, not with each other. Further, improved roads have cut distances to the point that downtown Pittsburgh, once a solid hour's drive from Washington, can be reached in about 25 minutes, and we can be in other county seats as well, much sooner than before.

At home, Washington County benefits from growth, both in population and employment. Burns and Maggi pushed through a 3.9 mill tax increase shortly after their terms began in 2004, but taxes have remained steady since.

We declined to endorse Maggi in the primary, preferring Harlan Shober, chairman of the Chartiers Township Board of Supervisors, instead. But Maggi has his own strengths, not the least of which is the ability to work well with others, and he speaks with much more ease about county affairs than he did four years ago.

Irey, the Republican incumbent, combines a familiarity with county issues with the political toughness to get her positions across. And while she can be a formidable opponent, she often presents a softer approach than her male colleagues could manage.

The other Republican candidate, Michael J. Neville, a former councilman in Peters Township, has a first-class education and offers the experience of having lived and worked in other parts of the country. But he has not made a case for replacing any of the current members of the board.

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