North Bend’s City Administrator, Londi Lindell, gave me the perfect turn of phrase for this time of year, and it’s one I’ve been using, and crediting to her, ever since I first heard her say it, a few election cycles back: “It’s the silly season.”

Specifically, it’s the season for candidates, campaigns, signs, speeches, and letters to the editor. You’ll find a few letters in this week’s issue, endorsing school board candidates, and if I’m right, you’ll see several more in the next few weeks.

We love getting letters to the editor, even the ones that criticize our coverage, because this is the place for conversations, after all. We do have a few rules, though, that we ask everyone to follow. First and foremost, of course, is to play nice — no offensive language or personal attacks allowed. We also expect you, to the best of your abilities, to tell the truth in your submissions.

Rule #2: All letters must be signed, first name, last name and city. If you care about something enough to sit down, organize your thoughts and write a letter to the editor, then you should care enough to put your name to it.

If not, there are many places to go to take anonymous potshots; this isn’t one of them.

That goes for positive statements, too. Right now, I am sitting on a letter received more than two weeks ago, from someone who wrote about the legacy Rep. Dave Reichert is leaving behind, and the many reasons he has to be proud, and will be missed. You haven’t seen it because I can’t reach the person who wrote it.

Rule #3: Make your point in 250 words, give or take. This is a hard rule for the print edition, since we have a limited amount of space each week. Online, where space is infinite, we can flex this rule a little, but just a little.

Rule #4: Last one — send your letter, or email, to us by noon Monday, if you hope to see it in that week’s edition.

Send your thoughts to editor@valleyrecord.com, or to Snoqualmie Valley Record, P.O. Box 300, Snoqualmie, WA 98065.