Anti-labor resolution half-truths

Peter Starzynski’s Feb. 9 guest opinion, “Spokane County commissioners anti-labor resolution waste of taxpayers dollars,” was a mix of irrelevancies, conspiracies, half-truths and guilt-by-association accusations that failed to address the merits of the collective bargaining transparency resolution adopted by the county.

As executive director — and sole employee — of the so-called “Northwest Accountability Project,” Starzynski is paid by labor unions to smear groups they don’t like. That doesn’t automatically mean his arguments are wrong. The problem is, he didn’t make any.

He derides the Freedom Foundation as “fringe” for supporting a policy that Oregon and Idaho have adopted and that voters support.

He portrays the Freedom Foundation as “out-of-state,” even though it was founded in Olympia in 1991 by Washingtonians and continues to be operated largely by Washingtonians.

He incomprehensibly claims the Freedom Foundation’s support for public observation of the process by which unions and county officials decide how to spend tax dollars means its real goal is “destroying” public-sector jobs.

Starzynski’s only remotely substantive argument — that the legal authority of local governments to adopt the policy is disputable — neglected to mention the issue has yet to be settled in court.

Such overheated and wild-eyed rhetoric adds nothing productive to the discussion.

Doug Olson

Chattaroy