Letters for Oct. 8, 2023

Wanting Moore for Spokane

I am writing to express my support for Earl Moore as a candidate for Spokane City Council, District 3. Through the time that I have known Earl, she has always been someone I can trust and I know will listen.

Earl’s impressive background in health care, combined with her passion for community service, makes her an amazing choice to represent Spokane’s northwest district. With 35 years of experience in health care, including being a basic life support instructor and teaching CPR classes to both colleagues and community members, Earl has demonstrated the strong commitment to promoting health and safety. Her volunteer work for health care awareness in Spokane’s great schools, and her involvement with organizations like the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, and the Better Readers Club showcase her dedication to improving the well-being of our community.

Earl will be a voice of reason in the council because she is tired of partisan politics, preventing well written legislation for our city. Earl has no ambitions to run for any other position. Her heart and time is focused on helping the city we love. Please join me in wanting “Moore” for Spokane.

Arlie Robinson

Spokane

Don’t support Brown

In 1990, at age 30, inspired by the leftist Sandinista regime in Nicaragua, Lisa Brown was one of the idealists who went to Nicaragua to help, in her case by teaching the Sandinista brand of government-involved economics at a Jesuit university. This was near the end of the 45-year Cold War and the Sandinistas were supported by the USSR and Cuba. She and the others were upset when the Sandinistas lost power by election. At age 62, preparing for her obviously admin bloat political sinecure position at one of Spokane’s two medical schools, she took a fact-finding trip to Cuba, still a Communist dictatorship, to see what she could learn about providing health care. Brown’s long-standing fondness for totalitarians, and her fight against citizen-passed tax initiatives while in the Washington legislature, makes me think of this C.S. Lewis quote:

“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.”

If you want to be governed completely by leftist true believers, who know better than you what is good for you, like in Seattle or Portland, then vote for Lisa Brown for mayor.

Tom Horne

Nine Mile Falls

Woodward can’t govern

I feel sorry for Mayor Nadine Woodward. She has just received a no-confidence vote from her own Spokane City Council by a majority vote. In a parliamentary system of government, she would be forced to resign and be replaced by someone who does have the confidence of her legislators with whom she together governs the city. As a result of this no-confidence vote, she will be unable to effectively govern the city even if she is elected to a second term, which is now unlikely.

I will be voting for Lisa Brown, her opponent who does inspire confidence due her long record of public service as Majority Leader of the Washington State House of Representatives, as Chancellor of Washington State University Spokane who brought to our city our first medical school and her latest post as secretary of commerce of Washington state, which facilitated the removal of Camp Hope and the placement of its residents into shelters, housing and services. Lisa Brown as our new mayor will bring fresh ideas and experiences to Spokane as mayor and will do us proud.

Please join me in voting for Lisa Brown for Mayor on Nov. 2.

George Taylor

Spokane

Brown has no integrity

Spokane City Council voted 4-3 to “denounce” Mayor Woodward on Sept. 25, and the four elected officials think this is better than “censure” they started with? These council members voted after an apology from the mayor. What tiny-minded, petty and unforgiving folks they are. The apology wasn’t to their narrow-minded liking; had to be exactly their way, or not good enough. What a grotesque display of self-righteousness and rudeness from these council members who believe they are above reproach. If someone observed every place visited and every person these four morally bankrupt council members spoke to – I’d bet big money that the egg of hypocrisy would cover their faces. People in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.

These same folks adore Lisa Brown, not much of a recommendation for Brown in my estimation. I prefer people with integrity who exhibit good character. She’s never “regretted” visiting Nicaragua during Ortega’s violent overthrow of the government, she just “regretted” the human rights abuses of that regime. Why “regret” anything if she was only there to teach? She should “denounce” totalitarian governments which all employ human rights abuses as is their nature. Brown’s never met a tax she didn’t love to pass in the legislature. A vote for her is a vote for more taxes. Brown, through the Department of Commerce, funded an attempted murderer: Le’Taxione aka YOYO aka Ernest Carter. He received $50,000 from Brown’s Washington State’s Equity Relief Fund program (2020). Does she “regret” that? Vote for Mayor Woodward.

Alene Lindstrand

Spokane

Hattenburg for Spokane Valley council

I rarely write to the newspaper, but I feel supporting Tim Hattenburg for Spokane Valley City Council, Position 6, is important.

During the time period Tim has served on the City Council, he has demonstrated a sincere concern for the residents of the Valley and bordering areas. He has repeatedly shown a willingness to listen to people’s problems and concerns. He makes himself easily accessible to voters by sharing his personal cellphone number with constituents. Tim routinely visits critical infrastructure assets in the region to see how smoothly the city is operating and to pinpoint problems that may exist. He follows up by addressing any issues he discovers.

Tim Hattenburg is a considerate, diplomatic, level-headed council member who cares deeply about our region and I urge you to give him your vote.

Donald Berkowitz

Greenacres

Stop banning books

I wonder if people who are so concerned about certain books in libraries realize that children by age 10 or so are quite proficient at using computers, especially their phones. These children can and do access sexual information, disinformation, pornography and even “snuff” sex. They sometimes accidentally find a sex site and then are bombarded with a wide varieties of sites with more enticing photos. The children explore sites with friends and alone. Parents may monitor their phones, but that no longer prevents their explorations.

Give me the library any day. If they chose a book parents don’t approve of, they can so no. Long ago my mother told her 12-year-old daughter not to read “Peyton Place.” Guess what I found and read ASAP? I hid it under my mattress. The forbidden is always enticing.

Jan Herman

Spokane Valley

Rebecca Long for Cheney council

Rebecca Long is the best person to join the Cheney City Council to fill the Position 2 slot. As a graduate and former student of Eastern Washington University and a homeowner, she can forge a powerful partnership between the university and the city. In addition, she can also provide a bridge between the younger students and the older community members.

Her campaign brochure is well-constructed, and she has cleverly used her name – Long-term vision, Long-lasting impact along with a QR code to use. On the reverse side, it mentions her priorities from safety to infrastructure to revitalizing the downtown corridor by connecting businesses and pedestrians. Rebecca works in the tech field, and can bring her expertise in cutting-edge technologies such as Artificial Intelligence.

On the personal level, Rebecca is very approachable, and is a great listener. She takes her campaign seriously. We need a fresh new voice on the Council. Vote for Rebecca Long for Cheney City Council, Position 2, this November.

Nancy Street

Cheney

Choose experience for Mead School Board

In the Mead School Board race between Denny Denholm and Alan Nolan, there is a clear choice, Denny Denholm.

Nolan is a relative newcomer to Mead, relocating in 2015 after retiring from the military. Like many who relocate to Spokane, he chose Mead for its excellent schools. By that time, Denholm had already been volunteering and serving on the board for 20 years.

Nolan mocks that experience and service through innuendo, inferring he could do better, although evidence of that is nonexistent.

Nolan states his business experience will ensure the district operates in a financially responsible manner, however, Denholm has far more business experience than Nolan. As a candidate for the school board Nolan hasn’t reviewed the budget and doesn’t know whether he will support the levy. Without $20 million from the levy, deep budget cuts would immediately be necessary.

When Nolan refers to “teaching the basics” on his website, the basics must not include smaller class sizes, AP courses, sports, band and other extracurricular activities and programs provided through the levy during Denholm’s time on the board.

Finally, Nolan vows to keep the culture wars off campus and uses jingoistic phrases such as: reclaim our schools; take back our schools; retake the district. However, he acknowledges the district isn’t teaching CRT, and was very courageous in reopening during the COVID lockdowns. So who exactly is Nolan at war with?

Stick with a board member that helped Mead become a great place.

Wayne Leonard

Spokane

Give me your poor, your troubled masses

Recently, with a singing group that I’ve enjoyed, I was invited to sing the marvelous words at the base of the Statue of Liberty. “Give me your poor, your troubled masses …” by Emma Lazarus. I’m somewhat, though not completely, embarrassed that I raised a ruckus because I was aware that there were some in the room who no longer accepted those words.

They, like me, an immigrant generations ago (from Ireland), are glad those words were there for our ancestors. However, without even acknowledging that most of us have a recent immigrant history and that our ancestors faced hate and discrimination, many would erase those words that welcomed “us.”

Immigrants should be welcome, simply because of compassion. They are the Samaritans Jesus spoke about. The Statue of Liberty has been, with those famous words, a beacon for the world.

Also knowing their vulnerability for deportation, according to some data, recent immigrants are low in crime. They take jobs that other Americans will not take. They help us harvest our crops. They create large high-tech and small businesses. They are an engine that keeps us prosperous, free and loving!

I will sing those words. I will not surrender them to those who would keep immigrants out and who therefore negate those marvelous words on the statue.

Robert P. Crosby

Spokane