Letters To The Editor

SPOKANE MATTERS

Anderson got a job; So what?

The Spokane media have again set new standards for journalistic integrity. A new low has been reached in the practice of creating news where none should exist.

City Councilman Chris Anderson took a temporary job to better support his family. So what? This very newspaper has reported that the average family needs to make approximately $24,000 a year in this city to survive modestly. And in a related story Spokane was labeled the most expensive city of its size in the United States to live in. Is it any wonder that the $18,000 a year paid to council members for their “part-time” jobs isn’t adequate? Like most wages and salaries paid in Spokane, it is a disgrace.

If anything, Anderson has pointed out some serious shortcomings in the way we as citizens of this community treat our officials and what we pay relative to what we demand of them. If they need to find additional means to provide income for their families maybe we are the ones who need to be chastised.

As far as the city charter is concerned, Anderson has done nothing wrong and has the legal right to be absent for up to six months without consequences.

Maybe it’s time to rewrite our city charter. It was written for another time that is long gone. It’s also past time for our local media to concentrate on the factual reporting of news, rather than Creative Writing 101. David Bray Spokane

Mystery shoppers shop here, too

I read with interest the article in Sunday’s Business section regarding mystery shoppers. Although you have been very good about publicizing the efforts of American Sales College and our mystery shopping services in the past, you seem to have forgotten that the services you reported are available locally.

We have been providing customer service evaluations and training since 1993 here in Spokane and throughout the Pacific Northwest. During the past three years we have built a good data base of shoppers and currently have mystery shoppers doing evaluations across the United States.

Please let your readers know that if they desire mystery shoppers or customer service training, they need not go to Seattle to find it. Kim Cooper, president American Sales College, Spokane

LAW AND JUSTICE

Lack of reasoning cause for alarm

The June 19 Spokesman-Review Region section provided us with good examples of the wrongs in our society.

In one column, the prosecutor is attempting to use legal extortion on the county commissioners due to callowness in managing budgets. His statement, “… such omissions as speedy trial violations are inevitable without more money…” citing the fiascoes of Deputy Prosecutor Carol Davis.

Flip the page and read about hearing officer Thomas Heye (Operation Doughboy) on his decision about attorney Ronald Kappelman’s disbarment. Kappelman - legal adviser to the Spokane Police Guild Club, Rape Crisis and DARE. Is there a better hideout for drug use?

Heye states, “The circumstances surrounding Mr. Kappelman’s failure to abide by the laws of the United States warrant our compassion, not our condemnation.” Really! This scholarly remark came from an individual conscripted by the Spokane County Bar Association’s disciplinary board.

Who abides by the laws? Are lawyers an anomaly?

A few days earlier we read about a drunken driver being charged with murder for vehicular homicide based upon the law. Yet in this same Region section families of another drunken driver charged with a similar vehicular homicide are stating that “He doesn’t need to go to jail.” Had he killed a stranger rather than family, would that be acceptable for drunken driving (vehicular) homicide?

Are we mortified by these antics? Edward Thomas Jr. Spokane

Affirmative action is just being fair

I have been concerned with comments I have heard and read of what I consider unfair criticism of racial minorities preference in affirmative action hiring practices.

In reality, the winners in affirmative action are white women. In a recent national news release it was stated that over 6 million white women owe their jobs and promotions to affirmative action. These women’s votes could have major implications nationally at election time.

A much lesser gain has been reported for minority women and even smaller gains for minority men.

I support affirmative action. The goal of achieving parity in the workforce is a worthy one. I believe everyone should have equal consideration in hiring, which is basically all affirmative action requires.

Who gets hired is a decision for the employer to make. All individuals, regardless of race, national origin, religion, marital status, gender, age, health or other protected attributes should be given fair treatment and consideration. To some degree that includes all of us or our families. Don A. Barlow Spokane

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS

Make coming election for real: vote

I continue to be amazed by the references to the “landslide victory” given the Republicans in the 1994 election.

Let us understand that 1994 was an off year when fewer than 40 percent of eligible voters cast ballots. That means that the elected Congress falls way short of representing the full electorate.

Further, in 1994, an off year, Republican voters cast 36 million votes, compared to 27 million cast by Republican voters in the 1992 presidential election. We need not ask who these voters were. We need only turn on our radios and television sets and glance through our newspapers to know that many of them came from special interest groups that are always very vocal.

We know that the National Rifle Association, displeased at recent legislation, got out the vote against the Democrats. We know that the Christian Coalition, believing that family values had gone the way of the dinosaur, were very vocal in resurrecting voters who espoused their cause.

We know that many talk show hosts inflamed their listeners with outlandish statements to appeal to those who were discontent with life in general.

It would be good if the average voter, caring for civility, would exercise his franchise. John Bouchard Spokane

Dirt-dishing sign of GOP desperation

Never in my many years of reading The Spokesman-Review have I read such vicious and blatant character assassination of an American president and his wife. Cartoons that demean and insult the president’s family.

Even Hillary Clinton’s desire for a baby is jumped on by these radical right scum, equating it to vote-getting and politicking. Have they no shame?

The November election is drawing ever closer. The Republican Party is desperate to equate Whitewater with Watergate crimes. It will be to no avail and an exercise in futility.

Comparing Whitewater with Watergate is like comparing a firecracker to a sonic boom. Let those without sin cast the first stone.

Calling Clinton an adulterer is sheer Republican verbal garbage.

God deliver us from a Dole administration. With grandpa Dole as president we may all be on the dole.

Why change horses midstream? Let’s stay the course with another Democratic victory in November. A.K. Stirling Spokane

It’s the Republicans’ turn now

Jean Layton can’t be serious (“Better remind Dole who’s running,” Letters, June 23).

First off, a debate between Clinton and Dole would be very interesting. Mainly because Clinton doesn’t have a leg to stand on. No matter what the issue is, he’s too wishy-washy.

Secondly, I’m very tired of hearing about Sen. Al D’Amato being unethical. Those allegations were brought up by Democrats trying to divert attention from Whitewater, Travelgate, and now, Filegate.

Lastly, it may interest her to know that the Reagan and Bush administrations had over 200 allegations brought against them - and Democrats have the nerve to whine about a few investigations against Clinton. It is sickening. Dave DeTrolio Spokane

Clinton the champ at wishy-washy

Again, some letters to the editor seem to reflect complete ignorance of the facts. Jean Layton (“Better remind Dole who’s running,” Letters June 23) says Bob Dole won’t debate Clinton. When and where did she get this information?

Layton referred to Dole as wishy-washy. That’s a joke. Even most Democrats would agree that Clinton changes his mind and goes back on his word day by day. She states that the Republican motto is “investigate every little thing.” Eleven arrests have already been made regarding Whitewater. Oh yes, she’s having a memory lapse regarding presidents Reagan and Bush. Democrats did investigate them and came up with no wrongdoing.

Yes, Elizabeth Dole is helping her husband, but I see no sign of her taking over. How lucky we are that Hillary Clinton’s health care plan did not survive.

With 40 years of Democratic rule, our country is $5 trillion in debt, taxes and crime are at an all time high, payroll taxes have increased from 2 percent to 15.3 percent, and welfare is completely out of hand (even criminals in prison receive welfare checks).

The current welfare reform is so important that the Republican bill HR4 (Personal Responsibility Act) passed both houses of Congress but was vetoed by Clinton. The “Contract with America,” an excellent idea, was mostly vetoed by Clinton.

How I would love to see Bob Dole debate Clinton, and/ or Elizabeth debate Hillary. Eileen Deaton Spokane

Freedoms extend to White House

I have just finished watching our Rep. George Nethercutt commenting about Hillary Clinton seeing a spiritual adviser. I think Nethercutt would be wise to research the habits of our previous first ladies - namely Nancy Reagan, who openly consulted an astrologist on a regular basis.

It’s been my opinion for almost three quarters of a century that our Constitution guarantees freedom of speech and religion. I have never been able to find in the document that presidents or their families are excluded. Madeline Luedtke Spokane

Beyond budget there is the debt

For 50 years I’ve been frustrated over our national fiscal policy.

As a grammar school youngster studying our government I was particularly proud of our nation’s consistent paying off of our national debt. The debt of $24 billion after World War I was reduced to $16 billion by 1930. Andrew W. Mellon was referred to as “the best secretary of the Treasury since Alexander Hamilton.”

Following World War II I expected the government to begin repaying our debt of over $250 billion. Instead, year after year the goal seemed to be a balanced budget, with no provision for debt repayment. Whenever we had a deficit it was added to the debt. Today it’s about $5 trillion.

Yet, all the talk is about attaining a balanced budget in seven years. I’ve heard no leading politician even mention the need to reduce the debt itself.

Wouldn’t it be sensible to seek a balanced budget, plus some payment on our staggering debt? Otherwise we’ll continue to have to pay a substantial portion of our taxes to continue indefinitely to merely pay interest on the debt.

This is not “paying for a dead horse” but merely paying interest on the dead horse. Suppose we gain the desired balanced budget, but due to a miscalculation or emergency we have a deficit some year? Won’t it merely be added to our national debt?

The people of our nation should be challenged not only to a balanced budget, but to begin making payments on the staggering debt. Howard M. Lehn Spokane

If he makes it about taxes, Dole wins

President Clinton, according to polls, has a two-to-one lead over Robert Dole among women voters. It’s really no surprise - Family Medical Leave Act, National Sex Offender Registration, a tax credit for college education (a gravy train for colleges) and so on.

Pandering? Probably. These are also due to the fact that more and more women have entered the workforce, mostly for economic reasons.

They are now facing the same pressures as men. One of these not talked about is taxes.

Since 1949 the average percentage of income sent to Washington, D.C., has risen from 2 to 15 percent, a sevenfold increase. Add to this FICA taxes, Medicare taxes, state and local taxes, and some families’ tax bite is close to 49 percent.

We are taxed higher now than in any time in U.S. history.

Has it solved poverty? No. The percentage of those in poverty is the same now as it was 30 years ago. From 1993 to 1995, middle class per capita income has risen zero percent.

Under Reagan, when Reagan cut taxes across the board, income growth rate for all classes averaged just under 2 percent a year.

Donald Lambro, Washington Times columnist, summed it up recently when he said that the candidate who makes taxes a central theme of his campaign will win. Dole will win if he does.

Lowering tax rates will go a lot farther toward helping not only women but everyone. Why send more of your hard-earned money to Washington, DC, for Clinton to waste on empty promises? Mark Duclos Spokane

Don’t wait for system to fail

I am a senior and I am on Medicare. We seniors have the best, cheapest health care, as far as our personal expense is concerned, for most illnesses.

I have been watching the Democrat ads on TV telling how they are keeping all the funds in Medicare.

We have all either read in the paper, seen on TV or heard on the radio that at the present level of spending and proposed spending, Medicare will go broke in either 2000 or 2001. If I were younger, I would really question those ads.

The next time you hear some Democrat office seeker telling you that they will keep Medicare from being cut, ask them where the funds will come from to keep Medicare spending at the same level.

I believe that it would be much better for all of us to pay slightly more now and take a few cutbacks on proposed spending increases than it would be to wait for the system to go broke and then either have to have a drastic increase in Medicare premiums or a drastic increase in Social Security taxes, or a combination of both. The only other alternative is for more deficit spending, and the U.S. Treasury can’t stand that. Ed Weilep Spokane

Slick operation exposed

Now we know how slick an operation was performed in obtaining 600 FBI files by the White House.

Listening to sworn testimony given under hearings of the House of Representatives, we find it was not a bureaucratic snafu.

Presidential appointee Craig Livingstone, as director of White House security, gave the directions that made it possible to obtain the FBI files.

Livingstone’s background as a barroom bouncer and a collector of sleaze for Democratic politicians in various campaigns qualified him as a “fox guarding the hen house.”

He is now on paid leave, his $65,500 a year salary intact.

Comparatively, Watergate - a failed burglary - was nothing. This slick operation was totally successful. Don Reed Spokane