Bradford County Commissioner Doug McLinko had a tough challenge ahead of him when he began his campaign earlier this year for the 23rd District State Senate seat.
    A Bradford County native, McLinko faced an uphill climb against two well-ensconced — and well-funded — challengers from the larger neighboring county of Lycoming County.
    These two challengers did all they could to rip each other down, and also tear down McLinko — running numerous attack ads and mailing out numerous attack fliers.
    It would have been easy for McLinko to go down the same road as his opponents. He could have attacked both of them, but he didn’t.
    Instead, McLinko chose to run a clean, above-board campaign. He stood on his record and focused on what he wanted to do for the residents of the 23rd State Senate District if he was elected.
    McLinko also didn’t have the deep pockets of both of his opponents, which was attained either through personal wealth or donations from special interest groups. He, and a small grass-roots groups of residents, however, raised enough money to adequately campaign throughout the district.
    Now we may have our issues on some of the items that McLinko has voiced his opinion on, but there is no doubt in our mind that the current county commissioner from Wysox was only focused on this race as another way in which he could help, not just the residents of his county, but to continue retiring state Sen. Roger Madigan’s long-standing tradition of working to help all of the constituents within the 23rd Senate District.
    And for that, McLinko deserves our highest praise.