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Two sides to Smith story

Since I believe citizens should know the candidates running in all local districts, I attended a filing fling in June and met impressive candidates for Spokane City Council, Spokane Valley City Council and the District 7 Senate seat.

The one candidate I never met was Sen. John Smith, who was appointed to take the seat of retiring Sen. Bob Morton. He was in Olympia on an extended session working on the budget, courtesy of Gov. Jay Inslee.

I don’t even vote in the 7th District, but I went to an event on Aug. 13 to check Smith out. I had read the hatchet job on Smith by Jim Camden in The Spokesman-Review and expected to see someone with horns, tail and a pitchfork. Instead I heard an authentic man – one with a past – and now one with a future.

He was portrayed by those who knew him as reasonable, rational and reliable.

Smith is definitely not a prima donna, but a true public servant. He was described as a work horse, not a show horse.

An ancient proverb says, “Any story sounds true until someone tells the other side and sets the record straight.” Every coin has two sides.

Donna Kuhn

Spokane



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