Letters for Oct. 9, 2024

Vote ‘no’ to save WA Cares

Having worked as a visiting RN in patient homes, I’ve seen how difficult it can be to care for an elderly parent. Caregivers are often family members who volunteer hours of their time assisting their loved one with the mundane tasks of daily living, while sacrificing their own employment opportunities and putting their financial future at risk. This is a scenario that the ultrawealthy sponsor of Initiative 2124 simply cannot comprehend.

I-2124 would essentially bankrupt the Washington Cares Fund that, starting in 2026, will provide up to $36,500 in care support for an eligible individual and will eventually grow to $60,000. These funds can be used to hire a home aide, pay family caregivers, purchase medical equipment and supplies, make medically related home modifications, reimburse medical transportation costs, and cover meal delivery service costs and respite care. The amount won’t last long if used for institutional care, because the program is designed to keep people in their homes, where they are the most comfortable. About 70% of seniors need long -term care services, and once the program is fully implemented, most will receive more in benefits than they contributed. For the 3% of seniors who have long -term care insurance, the funds can be used to provide stability during the 90-day waiting period. For those on Medicaid, they could prevent the need to spend down one’s life savings to $2.000. So be sure to vote “no” in November on I-2124, and please do the same for I-2109 and I-2117.

Cris M. Currie

Mead

I-2109 is bad idea for business, workers

On our ballots this year, we will have the chance to vote “yes” or “no” on Initiative 2109 to eliminate Washington’s capital gains tax that provides funding to child care and education across the state.

I’ve looked into the facts, and as a small business owner, I’ll be voting “no” on I-2109. Here’s why:

Only the 0.2% wealthiest families in Washington pay this capital gains tax. Make no mistake, this probably isn’t a tax you and I are paying, yet in the first year of its implementation, it provided $900 million in funding to child care and education.

If I-2109 passes and this tax is cut, fiscal projections say child care and education could lose $2 billion in critical funding over the next five years. Cutting child care so severely will make it more common for businesses like mine to lose good workers due to their difficulties finding child care. But if we make up for lost funding by raising taxes on the middle and lower classes, then our local economy and my customer base will suffer.

I-2109 would be bad for my business and bad for my workers. I’m voting “no,” and I hope you do, too.

Orin Ford

Pullman

Give our kids best opportunities

I think we can all agree that we want what is best for Idaho kids, not only our own but all the kids in our communities. The “Idaho Children Are Primary 2024 Kids Matter Index” rates our state legislators on their votes beneficial to our kids. All Democratic Idaho legislators scored 91% or higher while Republicans scored failing grades such as Brandon Mitchell’s 50%, and Dan Foreman’s 36%.

We are extremely lucky to have fantastic Democratic alternatives running to replace our current failing state representatives. As a former teacher and community leader, we can be sure that Kathy Dawes has kids’ best interests at heart and that she will exceed 91% with her votes in the Idaho House.

As a nurse, Julia Parker has spent her career caring for people. I know Julia through service on Moscow city commissions. Her role as a Moscow city counselor has been to help make good things happen. She cuts to the chase and is practical about what we can do to improve life for Moscow residents. She epitomizes the expression “sensible leadership.”

Both Dawes and Parker support investing in public education to assure a “uniform and thorough system of public, free common schools,” and oppose voucher schemes that are fiscally irresponsible and take funds away from public schools. Both candidates also recognize climate change as a serious problem that we must address.

Join me in voting for Dawes and Parker – giving our kids the best opportunities is what we all want.

Al Poplawsky

Moscow, Idaho

Olympia needs change of pace

Eight hundred lawyers!

Bob Ferguson added hundreds of lawyers to his office to make it the largest law firm in the Northwest. Why? So he could better meet the needs of our citizens? Because he is an “empire builder” and we cannot afford him as governor.

Forty years of Democrats in charge in this state. The last 28 years were Democratic lawyers. Ten times we have voted down state income tax and they did it anyway.

Now some of the richest and most charitable residents are moving out of state. You wait, they will find a way to tax all of our income.

Now the Democrats want to take out the Snake River dams for billions of dollars to save fish that are eaten by thousands of protected sea lions before they even reach Bonneville Dam.

We need balance in Olympia. We have been run over by one party that has hurt small businesses, passed laws that we have to change through the initiative process, allowed drug sales, a homeless mess and increased crime. We need Dave Reichert.

John Olaughlin

Nine Mile Falls