When all the watchdog wants to do is sleep, maybe it’s time to get a new one – especially when undesirables keep trying to slip into the house.

So it is with the current Sarasota County Charter Review Board. It’s time to replace the watchdog.

Eight years ago, the incumbents on the charter board embarked on a great public service effort. They proposed amendments to our "constitution" to cleanse its language, knock out its redundancies and bring it into a new century. They deserve our gratitude for a job well done. The voters overwhelmingly embraced the changes they proposed.

Then the incumbents sat down, congratulated themselves, got re-elected and went to sleep. While they napped for four years, monumental changes to the charter were proposed. Some passed. Some failed. But without exception, all of them slipped by the charter board unnoticed.

We depend on the charter board to defend our charter, to help us understand the difference between what is trivial and what is critical. However, over the past four years, the incumbents didn’t seem to care what happened. Many of their meetings lasted five minutes, and critical issues of real significance blew past them.

In the first place, this should be a non-partisan board. But it’s not. That means this 2008 election is a matter of Republicans versus Democrats. Unfortunately, all the incumbents are Republicans, so our advice may seem partisan. We hope it’s not taken that way because the charter is a document for all of us. It begins with, "We the People of Sarasota County, Florida …."

The Urban Service Boundary, super majority and economic impact analysis issues, along with other charter amendments we’ve seen these past four years, could have benefited from a thorough analysis by the charter board. But the watchdog was asleep.

We believe the Sarasota County Charter Review Board has an important role. And we believe the five incumbents have been AWOL while vital issues were being presented to voters. It’s time for new guardians.

For those who hesitate to vote for five Democrats, we ask you to remember that the charter board’s only power is to propose amendments to you. The board doesn’t decide. You do.

Therefore, on Nov. 4, we ask you to vote for a clean sweep of the current Sarasota County Charter Review Board.

The Pelican Press  endorses for the board’s seats Jamie Wilson, Ryan Stanley, Bryan Worthington, Ray Porter Jr. and Virginia Hoffman-Meketon.