Letters for Thursday, Nov. 17, 2022

Not a strategy

So much for the polls in the Washington Senate race. They called it a “toss-up” only a few days ago. But as we witnessed Nov. 8 when the votes were counted, it was more like a rout, the incumbent Sen. Murray winning by 14 points.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand why Murray cruised to an easy victory. Assuming one can read and do a small amount of math, the answer becomes obvious. King County, the most populous of the Washington counties, has 1.4 million registered voters. By contrast, the entire population of Eastern Washington counties is 1.6 million residents, many of whom cannot vote due to age, citizenship, or not having registered. King County voters favored Murray by a 72% majority of those who voted.

To win a statewide election in Washington, a candidate must campaign where the population lives. That means visiting the solid-blue areas of Western Washington and trying to gain the support of some of those voters. I would also suggest rather than just point to the issues, provide a plan to deal with them. I watched ads moaning about the price of fuel, inflation, immigration and crime, but never did I hear a solid plan from Republican candidates about how they would resolve these issues. I suspect it is because no such plan exists. Just being the party of “no” is not a strategy.

Allen Roberts

St. John, Washington

Rigged commissioner elections

The insidious practice of blatant election cheating (called gerrymandering) by packing the opposition away into two virtually exclusive Republican commissioner districts, has made the county election process laughable. And of course, Shawn Vestal is giddy.

This is exactly what South Carolina does to congressional Democrats. Pack all their voters into a lopsided district in Columbia. It’s disgusting. Cheating is cheating.

At the very least, Kuney and Kerns districts should have had 35% to 40% opposition like Waldref and Jordan did. But Democrats couldn’t have that. There’s simply not enough of them in Spokane County. It’s voter shopping at its best.

Countywide, only a well-deserved Dalton is expected to win as a Democrat. Democrats didn’t even bother to run for other countywide offices. Why would they?

So, we’re supposed to turn out for rigged elections, Shawn? Damn cheaters.

Mike Reno

Spokane

City Council has its own agenda

I have had enough with the lies coming from the City Council. In Council President Beggs’ recent council recap of the Oct. 24 meeting, he states that the City Council was provided four maps to review for redistricting. This is wrong. The City Council was asked to review one map, and that was the map recommended to the City Council by the independent board. The public was asked to review four maps and in the survey conducted by the independent board, the public with a super majority, supported the recommended map. Although, I suppose it sounds a lot better for council president to say what he did rather than, “We rejected the hard work and community input of the independent board for a map that better suits our political objectives.”

Angela Witter

Spokane

Why Spokane should support Planned Parenthood

Whether you agree with abortions or not, we need to support Planned Parenthood.

Planned Parenthood provides a wide rage of services, which includes screenings for cervical cancer, birth control, testing and treatment for STDs. While it does provide abortions, that is just one of many things it does for our community.

Planned Parenthood serves more patients looking to receive contraceptives and annual exams. Why we should support them is because they provide vital care to all people looking for looking for reproductive care. Supporting Planned Parenthood means supporting better health for women. Having access to affordable birth control decreases unplanned pregnancy’s, which for those who disagree with abortions would mean fewer abortions being performed. Supporting Planned Parenthood would also include supporting women who are stressed financially and are in need of an annual exam. Having access to annual exams is a vital service to catching cancer early when it’s still treatable.

Altogether, 90% of the services Planned Parenthood provides is preventive health care with only 3% being abortion services. Those who are not in support of Planned Parenthood pose a risk to all women in Spokane. The No. 1 thing we do to help support Planned Parenthood is to get involved, vote for representatives who support women’s rights and access to health care for all.

Use your voice to educate and influence the next generation to ensure a better future for Spokane.

Gracelynn Hemminger

Spokane