Letters

According to the Nov. 19 Spokesman, Governor Inslee spent $3 million for security to travel outside Washington for reasons unrelated to his duties as governor. How much would it cost to keep him from returning, and where can taxpayers send contributions?

In his Nov. 18 column, "'Constitutionalists' are in name only," Shawn Vestal rightly pointed out the ignorance and/or hypocrisy of some folks' misconceptions and misapplications of the Constitution. Necessity to publish what should be obvious implies woeful public ignorance of the Constitution, and the history and philosophy surrounding it.

As a faculty member at Eastern Washington University, I was appalled to read in the S-R that EWU has a policy of balancing its budget with $9.8M of 'blood' money from the kingdom of Saudi Arabia ("EWU ranks among the nation's top universities for accepting Saudi-funded tuition," Nov. 5). The president and board of trustees of EWU must be proud that EWU ranks up there with MIT, Harvard and George Washington universities and accepts even more than the UW!

Shawn Vestal's recent column, "'Constitutionalists' are in name only" (Nov. 18), really hit home to me and the other members of the former Stevens County Task Force On Human Relations, greatly assisted in 1991 by the Kootenai County Task Force On Human Relations, mainly because the head of the Washington State Aryan Nations, Justin Dwyer, along with his girlfriend Elizabeth Bullis, and Chevie and Cheyne Kehoe, were meeting in our local city park, hoping to recruit vulnerable youth from our alternative high school with their subtle and seductive message of anti-racial minorities, and anti-establishment rhetoric, to include opposition to duly authorized law enforcement, i.e. the Stevens County Sheriff's Department.

I dispute the opinion letter "Stand against the Proud Boys" (William J. Neville, Nov. 12, 2018). On the face of it, the premise that the Proud Boys are a multicultural white supremacist group doesn't even make sense! To be clear, the applicants for membership must acknowledge that the Proud Boys is NOT a white nationalist organization and will accept anyone into the fraternity regardless of race. Proud Boys are unapologetically pro-American and are self-described "western chauvinists," but to say they are white supremacist is just factually inaccurate and intellectually dishonest. Predictably, this was just another tactical progressive attempt to silence discussion of larger issues.

With the passing of the elections, the maps printed by the Spokesman say a lot.

I was initially shocked and then became downright mad at Mr. Nichols suggesting that I along with the other 40,784 voters were "misinformed and misguided" on the advisory vote for the location of a new football stadium ("Board should ignore vote, build downtown," Nov. 9, 2018). "Disregard the votes and build it downtown anyway."

Columnist Robert J. Samuelsen made the following observation in today's Opinion page ("Can they overcome distrust?" Nov. 11, 2018) to explain his skepticism that a newly divided government will lead to legislative progress.

I am writing in response to a letter printed in the Nov. 14 edition of the Spokesman-Review ("Criminal sentencing reform"). The letter printed was from Naveed Haq.

On June 27, 2013, the U.S. Senate passed a bipartisan immigration reform bill by a veto-proof 68-32 margin. With a bipartisan House of Representatives majority in favor (Froma Harrop, Spokesman-Review, Jan. 20, 2018) and President Obama's signature assured, the bill was destined to become law until the Republican House leadership, including our own Cathy McMorris Rodgers, violated majority rule by not allowing a vote of the full House. The bill included a nationwide employment eligibility verification system (E-Verify) and stricter border control, along with a path to citizenship for eleven million undocumented immigrants, an innovative temporary worker program and increased visa numbers for skilled foreign workers.

In my web browsing I am noting multiple articles and comments lamenting President Trump's lack of empathy for the victims of fires in California.

Recently we have heard from the media that Spokane is projected to grow by approximately 15,000 more people this next year. (I don't know if that is good or not.) If this is the case, our city leaders need to plan for more: more housing, rentals, jobs, mass transit, improved road systems, homeless shelters, improved expanded prison system and more police personnel.

Marc Theissen's recent editorial claiming the "Kavanaugh debacle cost the Democrats the Senate" (Nov. 9, 2018) overlooked the gender bias every woman experiences in American politics and business. During the Supreme Court nomination hearing Judge Brent Kavanaugh and Sen. Lindsey Graham were literally spitting mad. They growled, sneered, spat and yelled their way through their testimonies. Republicans and right-wing pundits interpreted these out-of-control displays of emotion as "righteous anger."

Born in Spokane to a life of music, I have been blessed to participate in many musical groups -- from bands to the youth symphony and more. As an educator in the Spokane Valley for 37 years, I had the privilege of sharing music with countless students.

I have no position on where the new stadium should be built. But the voters sure did. By a 2-1 margin, Spokane voters told leaders to build the stadium at the Albi site.

On Nov. 10, 2018, The Spokesman-Review published the article "Idaho utility's lawsuit against EPA involving salmon on hold" by Keith Ridler. Idaho Power claims that the change they advocate could "...reduce the cost of electricity, the company said, saving customers up to $100 million over 50 years."

Morning Joe is correct in his recent article that President Trump's mouth and demeanor cost Republicans a lot of votes ("That was a wave; Trump lost," Joe Scarborough, Nov. 10, 2018).

Throughout this recent election season, I was continually amazed at the Spokesman-Review's proclivity to have Shawn Vestal's column prominently grace your pages at what seemed like two to three times per week.

This is not a political comment. It is not about the presidency or Donald Trump or Congress. It's not even about Veterans Day, although that's where this thought comes from.