“I sure do wish people understood the difference between Politics and Government.” That wistful comment was part of an email recently from a professional acquaintance in Ohio.

The writer was pointing out that making campaign speeches encouraging your ideological supporters is politics. That’s lots easier than making decisions that affect people’s lives and welfare if you’re elected.

The writer is also a died-in-the-wool Democrat who wrote to tell me why, for the first time ever, she’s willing to consider voting for her state’s Republican governor. Here, in her own words, is why.

“Governor Mike DeWine is a Republican that I very much did not vote for and have been a strong critic of for many years. He has made too many political decisions that have not benefited Ohio. He supports the President simply because the President is a Republican.

“But I must say I have learned a number of lessons during this crisis. First, when elected officials are asked to lead people through a crisis, true leaders are able to set aside their party and politics in order to lead and govern. DeWine has proven to be one of those leaders.

“When DeWine was elected he saw a severe lack of public health initiatives in Ohio (think opioid crisis, the epicenter is in Ohio). He made public health a priority and chose a public health leader with the street cred to handle the job.

“I applaud him for that decision, which he made long before COVID-19.

“DeWine picked a doctor who was a known Democrat and who has for years fought against poverty, homelessness, and a lack of health care for minorities. That was not only okay with him, but it was also what he was looking for — someone with experience who understood the problems.

“Second lesson, I should be cautious about voting a straight party line. There are leaders who continue to surprise me. I need to be more diligent about doing my research on candidates. Color me schooled.

“Now, DeWine is not my idea of the perfect governor. But he certainly has my respect, and possibly my vote, if he chooses to run again.”

The writer of that email is not the only liberal publicly acknowledging the good work of leaders on the right during the coronavirus crisis. Commentators for “fake news media,” the president’s favorite insult for those reporting both sides of the news, regularly call out DeWine and Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, also a Republican, for their capable efforts to lead their states in these difficult times.

Hogan, you may recall, negotiated the purchase of 5,000 coronavirus test kits from South Korea in April. The kits are enough to perform 500,000 tests, more than all the tests performed at the time in four of the five worst-hit states. The governor called delivery of the tests a game-changer, saying adequate testing is one of the “four critical building blocks of our Maryland Strong Roadmap to Recovery.”

Nursing homes have accounted for almost a fifth of COVID-19 infections in Maryland and nearly half the deaths in the state from the virus. Shortly after obtaining the tests Hogan announced “an executive order requiring universal testing of all residents and staff at all Maryland nursing homes, regardless of whether they are symptomatic or not.”

I understand there are elected officials in Bannock County and Idaho who think Hogan is totally off base. You may agree with their opinion that the virus is a part of nature and social distancing and putting people out of work is a ham-fisted effort that may not save any lives.

A governor, though, has the responsibility of representing a majority of the citizens, not just those who scream loudest, longest. Right now polls show more than 65 percent of Americans, despite growing economic hardship on themselves, don’t want to go back to work without more testing and other efforts to keep them safe. Even more support keeping isolation orders in effect if deaths will be prevented.

Shutting down Idaho was, by the way, ham-fisted and has hurt people and businesses who didn’t deserve the damage. This is not unique to Idaho, though. It’s the kind of response you get from a nation with poor preparation, poor planning and poor leadership.

We are where we are, though. Sigh. Next time you mark a ballot, you might ask yourself, is this only a vote for my ideology? Or, is this a vote for the person on the ballot most capable of doing the job when it counts? Wouldn’t we all be better off if it’s the latter?

Dave Finkelnburg is a longtime Idahoan, a former newspaper journalist, and is currently semi-retired from an engineering career.