McLaughlin vindicated

Spokane City Councilwoman Nancy McLaughlin’s up for re-election on Nov. 3 – and she definitely has my vote.

Nancy’s taken some heat over the fact that she voted against a recent pay increase for police and firefighters. Some, including a few of her opponents in the race, mistakenly believed that she doesn’t value their service. On the contrary, Nancy knew that the city budget couldn’t sustain a pay increase of 5 percent each year for the next four years in this economy. Furthermore, taxpayers aren’t getting this kind of salary increase and, in fact, many people have lost their jobs.

In order to fund the pay increase, the city would have to cut services – again. The jobs of dedicated new hires to our emergency response teams would have to be sacrificed.

Mayor Verner, who voted for the pay increase, has since been meeting with the unions to discuss ways to trim department budgets. I’d say that’s a pretty strong vindication of Nancy’s position.

Nancy takes her role on the City Council seriously, and she’s good for Spokane. Let’s keep her in office.

Evelyn Ainley

Spokane