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Cities are to blame

After reading Mike Baker’s April 7-10 articles on LEOFF-1, I see another example of someone using some truth, some lies and a lot of half-truths to skewer a group of thousands for the sins of a few.

Too bad Baker didn’t bother researching how and why LEOFF was passed by the Legislature. Fighting fires and golfing are not the same. You can do a lot of things when you can’t be a firefighter or police officer. How is that their fault? Baker should have found the real villain in this story: the cities.

Under LEOFF, the cities knew they were now responsible for medical bills and could have funded the disability boards with their unused police and fire pension money once the state had assumed responsibility for the pensions, but most didn’t. They just spent this windfall every year and left the medical debt for future administrators.

As for approving medical bills, the cities have a majority vote on all police and fire disability boards.

Douglas Bacon

Spokane

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