[JSHint](http://www.jshint.com/) is generally preferred to JSLint as JSLint is a bit too strict about things like that. Requiring all variables to be moved to the top of the function is one of the things it complains about that doesn't really make sense when you can var it when you first use it and keep the variable declaration close to the code that uses it.

I'll insist unless you believe beyond JSLint's insistence that it's a good practice, but by then we'd be bikeshedding. :P