Relentless vs. feckless

A core tenet for a sitting member of Congress is to represent the people of their district. Locally, our own 5th district’s Cathy McMorris-Rodgers is failing to represent the people of Whitman County and specifically the residents of Malden and Pine City who are desperate for FEMA relief.

On September 7th, those communities were devastated by the Babb Fire. On September 10th, McMorris-Rodgers visited the area and pledged in a Twitter post to work with the White House and President Trump on disaster assistance once Governor Inslee made the official request. This request was submitted by the Governor on September 16th. The FEMA disaster declaration is necessary to help these communities obtain federal funds to aid in rebuilding their homes and infrastructure.

It appears this pledge was all but forgotten in her rush for re-election. It has been 77 days and there is still no declaration from the White house for Whitman County. The worthless platitudes from her office about “continuing to urge the administration to support this disaster declaration request” are not enough. She should be relentless in her pursuit of this declaration and focused on taking care of the citizens who helped elect her. Instead, our feckless representative has not succeeded in obtaining this necessary disaster declaration and is failing to represent the people who need her in their most desperate hour.

Once again, I’m left wondering how these people continue to be re-elected.

D.J. Bolling

Spokane