Spokane7
59°
February 12, 2012 in Opinion, Letters
Mielke testimony distorted
Accusations made by candidate John Roskelley, and the story portraying Commissioner Todd Mielke’s testimony at a recent Senate hearing, are blatantly misleading.
I was part of a delegation of elected officials and business leaders in Olympia during Mielke’s testimony on SB 6154. Your headline, and Roskelley’s comments, imply Mielke testified in favor of a new fee for land use appeals. Wrong.
Anyone aware of the legislative process knows that bills have a number of sections addressing a variety of issues. Roskelley should know that, but he rarely set foot in Olympia to represent his constituents’ interest as a county commissioner.
Mielke testified on one subject of the bill pertaining to a legal definition of who has standing to file land-use appeals. He testified that the same definition used in 99 percent of the legal proceedings in this state should be the same one used in land-use decisions.
Only one group testified against this bill, Futurewise, a group well known for advocating for additional regulations on private property owners. Roskelley’s bias against private property owners has not changed.
Al French
Spokane County Commissioner
Spokane
MAC firing begs explanation 
ChefGus/ John Olsen on February 12 at 8:20 a.m.
Mr French has been shill for the builders in this county for many many years. So i discount any words he may offer on this topic. John
jimvw2 on February 12 at 12:25 p.m.
I’m not clear on something here. So, Is Commissioner French saying that Commissioner Mielke did NOT propose a fee of $400 be charged to citizens challenging land use decisions of local governments under the Growth Management Act. Did I miss something in the original article?
We pay property and sales taxes to support our local governments, including the planning departments and the courts. We don’t need to be adding punitive fees to discourage the exercise of our legal rights under any law, including the Growth Management Act.
It’s one thing to charge a developer who stands to benefit financially from a land use change the cost of using public workers’ time to gain that private benefit. It’s another to charge citizens seeking to defend the value of their property to exercise their legal rights to protest the actions of someone trying to profit at their expense.
Raising_Hell on February 12 at 7:53 p.m.
Removing the legal standing of those who have participated in proceedings at the local level would essentially make them into the private affairs that French and Mielke would love to see. That way they could pay back their developer buddies shielded from the public eye, a well as the ability of the public to do anything about it. Mielke knew damn well all the ramifications of the bill’s passage.
French is just a crook, in public office for his own private gain. Mielke proved his motives when he quit the legislature mid-term to take a job with a health care company which benefited from a bill he had just sponsored. Neither of them is concerned about the interests of their constituents, simply the interests of their benefactors. You don’t need to go to Olympia and lobby against the rights of citizens to represent them.