Letters for June 23, 2024
Baumgartner lost my support
Meeting Michael Baumgartner in Riverfront Park, I expressed my dismay about my property taxes growing by over 25% this year. I found him sympathetic to this tax disaster, which was later reinforced by his column in The Spokesman-Review. He expressed support for something like California’s Proposition 13, which froze property taxes at the 1974 level. I thought I might finally have a Republican I could vote for.
Alas, my hopes were dashed as I read his response to Trump’s recent conviction in New York. His comment that it was a “sad day for the rule of law” is exactly the opposite of what any objective person would conclude. His opinion that the case was, “flimsy” and “hyper partisan” is, in our system, of no consequence. In this country we have prosecutors and defense attorneys make their cases and juries give the verdict. The jury’s decision is the law, and it works the same for all of us.
Does a person running for Congress not know this? If he disagrees with the outcome, that is his right. But in this case, to say the process of a public trial decided by a jury is somehow unfair rejects our system
To all the Republican voices upset by the verdict I simply say: Do you want the American rule of law, or Donald Trump? It looks to me you can’t have both. I won’t be voting for Baumgartner in November.
James Becker
Spokane
Libety is being free from restrictions
Thank you to Emry Dinman and The Spokesman-Review for making plain the sharp distinctions between the Democratic and Republican candidates for Congress on the key issue of abortion rights.
Republicans continue to assert that sweeping state or national restrictions over individuals is somehow a “conservative” position.
The definition of liberty is being free of oppressive restrictions. Without control over one’s own body, there is no freedom. There is no liberty.
Robin Rauzi
Spokane
Don’t let Holmes ruin French’s work
Recently, Phyllis Holmes wrongly criticized Al French for failure of a light rail system from Spokane to Coeur d’Alene. The light rail system was turned down by the voters because it was too expensive, not by Al French.
Phyllis Holmes, while on the Spokane City Council, supported many problematic expensive things. One example was the ill-fated issue of bonds to fund Riverpark Square. This bond issue was so badly conceived that there was not adequate income to support these bonds and they were reduced to junk. French and some others reworked these bonds and saved the City’s credit rating.
The fact that Holmes is supporting and mentoring French’s opponent in this race for county commissioner should be reason enough to vote again for French. Irresponsible leaders like Holmes have created a huge budget deficit for the City of Spokane while French and the County Commissioners have a balanced budget with a surplus in reserve.
Don’t let a Holmes disciple bring fiscal ruin to Spokane County. French has led the county to funding for good law enforcement, attracting good jobs to Spokane by leading the effort to bring Amazon and others to Spokane while keeping taxes low without increases.
Joel Crosby
Spokane
Invisible problems still there
Decades ago, governments built high-rise complexes to warehouse the poor, primarily in the Northeast. In recent years, that’s been seen as a failure and a more integrated approach is needed. The same thing is being seen in a different form, here in Spokane.
The upper-middle class claims to want homelessness addressed, but it doesn’t want housing anywhere near them. Therefore, the city has built a number of homeless solutions downtown. Now the same people who don’t want it near them don’t want housing near their businesses. They seem to want more rural or industrial warehousing, far from services that help people in need.
While far more is needed to help people mired in poverty and homelessness than solely housing, from city to federal, governments need to work more strongly to overcome NIMBY.
Making the problem invisible doesn’t solve it.
David Teich
Spokane Valley