Don’t limit right to appeal

Regarding Spokane County Commissioner Todd Mielke’s testimony in Olympia in favor of SB6154 (The Spokesman-Review, Jan. 28). If passed, this bill would severely limit a citizen’s right to appeal and it would charge a fee if they were allowed to do so, all under the guise of budgetary constraints. This bill has nothing to do with budgets and everything to do with attempting to silence citizens.

Passage of this bill would limit or even eliminate citizens’ involvement in protecting their own community from egregious acts by their local officials. The Growth Management Hearings Board is the people’s court and is used to enforce Washington state law through the Growth Management Act. Any citizen or entity could be affected by a precedent set by a decision of the Hearings Board, whether in their county or not.

To charge $400 for the right to speak before a public board is not a price any citizen should have to pay to exercise his or her First Amendment rights. It is frightening that one of our public officials, Mielke, is not working on behalf of all citizens and wants to charge certain citizens for the right to speak up.

Kathy Miotke

Spokane