Letters to the editor for Sunday, Oct. 16

State’s representation makes sense

In their recent debate, Rob Chase and Leonard Christian addressed the notion that conservatives are underrepresented in state and federal public office in Washington state (“Opponents disagree on election integrity in 4th Legislative District House debate,” Oct. 7). After all, Washington’s governor is a Democrat, as is our attorney general. Both our senators are Democrats and seven of Washington’s 10 representatives to Congress are Democrats. And yet, if you look at a map of Washington state’s counties and color them red or blue, red covers the majority of the state!

And yet … the population of King County is about 2 million; the population of all of Washington state east of the Cascades is less than the population of King County. Add to that Snohomish County (Everett), Pierce County (Tacoma), Thurston County (Olympia) and several other counties that are reliably blue. If you believe in “one person, one vote,” Washington’s political representation is completely, well, representative.

Republican complaints about underrepresentation are unsupported. Consider this: Every Wyoming voter counts for 55 California voters in the U.S. Senate. The GOP response is to lie about stolen elections – Biden really did win in 2020 – and to suppress voter participation, rather than to win votes.

John Sahr

Otis Orchards

The two faces of CMR

Beverly Gibbs’ letter to the editor (“CMR’s ad backfires,” Oct. 7) is right on the mark. Cathy McMorris Rodgers’ latest campaign ad is backfiring. She’s become a one -trick pony.

Every two years, the ‘local’ Cathy appears right on cue sharing tragic situations of local constituent families. A couple of campaigns ago she featured an unfortunate young man she took credit for helping. It must have been very successful because she used it in two campaigns. She’s mastered her look of concern for the camera. Quite the chameleon, watch and listen to her closely. Her main focus is on her Republican party line role.

It’s time for America’s voters to accept the fact that our grandparents’ Republican party is long gone. It was one that valued democracy. The new Republican party’s main focus is to destroy our democracy. Look at the number of election deniers who support overriding the actual outcome of elections rather than how voters actually voted.

Supporting the current Republican party is a one -way road to destroying our democracy. Once it’s gone, there’s no turning back. Our voices as citizens will be silenced forever. Are Americans ready to accept sham elections such as in Russia and be at the mercy of rulers who operate as Putin and Hitler? Will our industries based on capitalism be confiscated and ruled by government?

No one knows where losing our democracy will lead. Don’t let it happen. Get out and vote for those who support our democracy!

Randall Ulberg

Spokane

No drastic changes to districts

I was glad to see that the City Redistricting Board took input from and listened to the people of Spokane in moving forward a new council district map. While it is important to me that the downtown area has shared representation among each council district, it’s as equally important to me that we don’t make drastic changes to our council districts at this time. I want our neighborhoods to be equally and fairly represented with the minimal changes map that the board approved on Oct. 4. It would be quite a disservice to our community if the City Council ignores the recommendations of the board and does not vote for the map that the majority our community supports.

Kristina Sabestinas

Spokane

Police need new training

This is in regard to the police shooting in Hillyard recently and a shooting last year. So, let me get this straight. If a neighbor or anyone else for that matter has issues with me, all they have to do is call the police and tell them something like, “He is shooting a gun (instead of banging a bat against a truck), or is unloading firearms from a car,” and the police arrive and shoot me? Just because a person is unloading firearms from a car doesn’t mean that the cops need to show up with guns blazing. I thought owning guns in the United States was pretty common. Lots of people own guns. And was he unloading an arsenal or just a couple of guns? The police need to know the whole situation. This is pretty scary stuff!

I have usually stayed on the side of the police, but they definitely need new training. They need to start paying attention to who is making these calls and whether the caller needs to be looked into, especially with the caliber of people moving in to Spokane.

In the old days, people would have taken care of business between themselves. Now they just have to call the cops to do it. This is more dangerous, it seems.

Lynne Robinson

Rathdrum

Herndon will cause suffering for seniors

Many senior citizens are facing money challenges. Our property taxes have gone up and groceries are costing more. Having Meals on Wheels and the lunch service at the senior center is a lifeline for many of us.

If Scott Herndon is elected senator, many seniors are going to suffer. You see, Herndon wants a consumption tax, a high tax on what we buy and it affects those with a fixed income the most.

In addition, Herndon says we should reject all federal money – money that makes up 70% of the Idaho Commission on Aging.

Herndon’s write-in opponent, Steve Johnson, understands the difficult circumstances in which many of us find ourselves. Steve Johnson will fight for funding for the important programs administered by the ICA like Meals on Wheels.

Steve Johnson has a plan to reduce property taxes so we are not taxed out of our homes. Herndon’s consumption tax hits elderly Idahoans the hardest.

Please join me in casting your write-in vote for Steve Johnson because he cares about seniors. Request an absentee ballot at VoteIdaho.gov, vote early or vote in person on Nov. 8.

Leona Christensen

Sandpoint

We want the same things

Whether you are a D, R or I, whatever you identify with … why can’t we agree we are just trying to make our community a better place for our children?

I have often tried to figure out exactly what it all means. From a party standpoint, there is the Democratic Party, Republican Party and independents. There are also reformists, libertarians, socialists, constitutionalists, the Green Party, the Tea Party and the Trump Republican Party. You can also identify as a conservative, liberal, progressive or moderate. You could be a blue dog or a yellow dog. You could be labeled as a RINO, a snowflake, even a tree hugger. Are you woke? Depending upon who is doing the mudslinging, you could also be tagged as a fascist, a Marxist, a capitalist, a loyalist, a fundamentalist, a multiculturalist or a conspiracy theorist. You might even walk the line of neo-Nazism, white supremacy or Christian nationalism.

Here is what I know. If we live in this great country together, can we agree we all love this country and all have American values? Can we agree to respect our rights to worship and practice our individual faiths? Can we agree that truth is important and lying is not? Can we agree we want the best education for our children they can have? Do we all believe in the opportunity to pursue the American Dream? Guess that makes me an American! What are you?

Bob West

Spokane Valley

Vote for Hill instead

When will too much be enough? We have put up with Cathy McMorris Rodgers partisan obstructionism for 18 years now. John Olsen’s letter (“Vote her out,” July 31) did a nice job of listing most of the following ways she has failed us.

She has voted against sensible gun legislation, against infrastructure work, against the Violence Against Women Act, against supporting capitol police, against interracial marriage, against programs to feed the poor, against women’s abortion rights, against access to contraceptives, against masks and vaccinations during the pandemic, against impeaching Trump for malfeasance, against the Arizona Electoral College votes and against the Inflation Reduction Act.

If you agree that we deserve better than this pathetic record of poor representation, I urge you to vote for her opponent, Natasha Hill.

Wayne Pomerleau

Spokane

A burdensome legacy

The article entitled, “Nearly 900,000 in Idaho-Washington eligible for student debt relief,” on Sept. 21 struck through my heart like an arrow.

As a frustrated young girl, I would ask my dad, “Why doesn’t the government DO something about that?” He answered me patiently and wisely: “They could, and if you want, they could even come in and take your garbage out from under your sink. Just remember, the government has no money of its own and every cent it ‘gives’ has to come from us first.”

What a burdensome legacy to pass down to our children and grandchildren.

Shirley Creighton

Spokane

Better ways than speed traps

According to the S-R article of Oct. 4 (“New school safety cameras target speeding drivers on the South Hill”), 54,092 drivers sped through school zones from 2018 to September 2022. At an average ticket price of $334, the total amount of these fines would be $18,066,728.

Some questions: How much money went into the company maintaining the speed traps? How much actually went to improving safety around our schools? Did 54,092 drivers get up in the morning and say to themselves, “This morning, just for the fun of it, I’m going to speed through a school zone. What great fun this will be!”

If the City Council is truly sincere about protecting students, there are relatively inexpensive ways to provide alerts to drivers to watch their speed, but this would require some thought and creativity.

However, there would be the loss of revenue that could be better spent on truly important things like tent city and cooling tents.

David Bauer

Spokane

Traffic department needs work

What is the traffic department doing to our city? Did we hire someone from elementary school to run the department? What happened to sequencing work? These people are digging up streets without any sequence or consideration for people or businesses. It is almost impossible for people living in Kendall Yards to get downtown!

How are businesses to survive? The intersection of Freya and Sprague is a disaster. If they are going to close a street, then change the light sequence. People sit waiting for lights to change from a street that is closed! Is no one checking these things? Downtown Washington has been closed for weeks so people take Howard north. Morning traffic is jammed because none of the lights heading north are in sequence. If they are going to force people to take a one-lane street, at least change the lighting sequence. What is with these giant holes they have dug up all over the South Hill covered with massive metal plates. Certainly they were dug for a reason, but no one has touched them for weeks. They are dangerous, particularly at night. These heavy equipments all over South Hill are sitting there.

The city has millions of extra dollars that it says it doesn’t know what to do with (while property taxes have gone up 40%). All this extra money and more coming, this department can’t hire someone that can sequence road work, traffic lights and give some relief to the residents, not to mention business owners?

Nima Michael

Spokane

Expect truth in politics

We’ve all had experience with job interviews. We know the rules. Whether you are the job applicant or the one hiring, we know the rules. If the applicant is caught in a lie (falsifying job experience, education, exaggerating past accomplishments), he or she should not get the job. Even if he doesn’t lie himself, if he promotes an idea of someone else which is widely regarded as untrue, the job will go to someone else, rightly so. At least, that’s the way it would work in business.

We are in the process of “hiring” for very important positions: U.S. senators, U.S. representatives, positions in the state legislature, school boards, governors of some states. The same criteria should apply to choosing these government employees … those who are supposed to work for us … as would apply in our professions. If a candidate is exposed to be lying in their campaign ads or speeches, or is supporting the lies of others, our vote should go to someone else. Each of these candidates, no matter which office they seek or what party they represent, is applying for a job working for us. We voters are the ones doing the hiring.

Bill Yeend

Spokane

Support Johnson for Senate

During the primary campaign, candidate Scott Herndon demonstrated viciousness and untruthfulness in his attacks on the incumbent senator. A lengthy text from him that blocked my reply made it clear he didn’t want to hear from me, his mind was set. Such absolutism and extremism are evident in his agenda: He would reject funding for Medicaid, public education, Meals on Wheels, highway and road improvements, and veterans’ services among others. He believes a woman has no right to choose under any scenario. He wants to sell our public lands into private hands.

We voters have a choice.

Steve Johnson supports access to public lands and preserving the quality of our rural lifestyle. His 42 years in public education will serve us well as the new state law ushers in funding for public education. His top priority is to double the homeowners’ property tax exemption to $250,000 to keep pace with increasing home prices.

I cherish my freedoms, including recreating on public lands, casting my ballot, making my own medical decisions, and having choices such as where to worship and what to read. To that end, I support Steve Johnson, the write-in candidate for Idaho State Senator, District 1.

Lexie de Fremery

Sandpoint

Nature lover against French

Hates nature, hates Spokane parks and recreation, he is Al French. I told French at a public meeting about many problems and things that can be fixed in our county parks. I asked French to walk the parks and see the problems. French refused to walk in our parks. Our parks are understaffed and in bad shape including Fish Lake County Park. Fish Lake Park has its bathrooms locked up, broken water sprinklers, dead grass and bald spots, stones everywhere on the lawn, illegal fire rings, graffiti, trash and broken glass.

Fish Lake County Park needs beach sand, water fountains to be fixed, holes filled and there is a large dump in Fish Lake Park and around the park.

If you like nature, please vote for someone else.

Eddie Tompson

Cheney

Murray is out of touch

In her most recent ads, Sen. Murray talks about “codifying” Roe v. Wade (making abortion a federal law in all states, including late-term abortion) and Jan. 6, which no one cares about. In a recent Monmouth poll, the two No. 1 issues people care about are inflation and economy. Crime too. Out-of-control crime has overtaken abortion. Women can still get an abortion up to 24 weeks in Washington.

Patty Murray has not talked about either of these issues, because she can’t. She and her Democrat colleagues have voted for policies that have put us into the mess we are in.

After 30 years of caring about Washington, D.C., rather than Washington state, it’s time for her to be retired. Vote Tiffany Smiley for U.S. Senate.

Mark Duclos

Spokane Valley

Happy to oblige

I am keeping the letters coming like Jerry Sletvold sarcastically suggested (“Keep those letters coming, Oct. 9). I wonder what letter Jerry would write if a Democrat had been the 5th District congressperson for 18 years? The majority likes the Democrat congressperson, so shut up and stop writing letters or negative articles.

What Jerry is promoting is political fascism. Our side has the power and beats all opposition into submission. Sen. Patty Murray has been in office for nearly 30 years and the majority likes her. What will Jerry have to say when she is re-elected in November?

Finally, why doesn’t Jerry blame Cathy McMorris Rodgers for inflation or high gas prices? Why hasn’t Cathy gotten the Spokane North-South corridor completed in 18 years? Abortion is still legal, and the veterans are still treated poorly by the government that they served. What has Cathy done to prevent crime or address the fentanyl, immigration and homeless problems? Jerry likes Cathy, but what has her 18-year voting record produced for us? I wonder if Jerry sees a contradiction in voting for Cathy and against Patty. Jerry votes like he picks the color of a car.

Pete Scobby

Newport, Wash.