Letters for Feb. 14, 2023

The obvious eluded Madsen

Sue Lani Madsen’s gushing reporting on the young conservative Republicans’ annual Roanoke Conference suffers from the rookie mistake of overlooking the obvious.

Stressing the conference theme of “transparency,” her recitation of the many panels and breakout sessions on topics important to conservative candidates did not mention the obvious lack of discussion time on the insurrection or personal integrity in public life. She compounded the error by suggesting Democrats spend millions of dollars to define an opponent, such as Senate candidate Tiffany Smiley.

The obvious reason Ms. Smiley lost by 15% of the vote was she defined herself by refusing to publicly state that Donald Trump lost the election, just like the many losing Republican candidates in the last election.

To her credit, Ms. Madsen discussed “trust building” but offers no suggestions to the young conservatives on how this might occur. Stating the obvious would be a start. Not electing insurrectionist fellow travelers is obvious and would be even better.

Hopefully, the successful young aspiring politicians described by Ms. Madsen as “hanging out casually” to make “red leaning coalitions” are smart enough to see the obvious and act responsibly in the country’s best interest.

C. Matthew Andersen

Spokane

Complain and blame

Complain and blame, and petty past grievances. These are the platforms of the Republican Party. How is that moving the country forward? I was a Trump supporter in 2014 when I saw him on Leno. He made sense listing grievances. It sounded good when he said the Saudis are not our friends, and are screwing us over. If he were president, gas would be 50 cents a gallon. That’s when I realized he was a con in his attempt and appeal to take us back to 1950s white America … i.e., MAGA.

On the Sunday talk shows, Republicans were slamming Biden for his handling of the Chinese balloon … too little, too late is what they said. But they were at a loss for words when the facts are Biden gave the OK to shoot it down on Wednesday, but left the “when and where” up to the military; and it was pointed out this same thing happened three times under Trump, and we were never told about it, and nothing was done.

So, what is “our voice” Cathy McMorris Rodgers gonna do? Is she gonna join the circus? Or is she gonna be a leader and steer her colleagues away from unproductive investigations and playing the complain and blame game? What is she doing about the border? It is Congress’s job to come up with an immigration plan. Gas prices are down, but what is she doing to make sure this doesn’t happen again? And Exxon-Mobile reported they made $55 billion in profits last year … so the $5 per gallon gas was gouging … that’s a legitimate investigation they should do. Stop playing games, or risk a recall, or be voted out next term.

Richard Trerise

Spokane

Anesthesiologist assistants in Washington

House Bill 1038 and Senate Bill 5184, licensure of certified anesthesiologist assistants, are being considered by Washington Legislature. CAAs, like myself, are highly trained anesthesia care providers with strong science backgrounds and a master’s degree in anesthesiology. We deliver safe and efficient anesthesia within the Anesthesia Care Team model.

I am in strong support of this team model because, even though I am capable of caring for a patient myself, having another set of skilled hands and someone to call for a consult, is superior for patient safety. Bringing CAAs to Washington would ease the provider shortage as we can seamlessly be integrated into existing ACT models in the 1:4 ratio with MD anesthesiologists. None of the 19 states where CAAs may practice have ever rescinded our licensure in the 50-plus years of our profession’s existence because we are proven quality care providers.

Finally, and more personally, Washington is home to my extended family. I am currently unable to return to the beautiful place I would also like to call home due to the inability to obtain professional licensure. Nothing would make me happier than to live in and serve the beautiful evergreen state of Washington.

Charlie Chase, CAA

St. Louis, Missouri

Ranked-choice voting for parties

In her Feb. 2 column (“Conference energizes state’s conservative politics”), Sue Lani Madsen adeptly described the difficulties that underdog candidates face in Washington state. We all should consider her points because no matter your politics, everyone in Washington is better off when elections are competitive and candidates have to campaign for every vote.

However, the author skimmed over potentially one of the best tools we have to make elections more competitive: ranked-choice voting.

Ranked-choice voting by its nature, ensures that the winner has a broad base of support, incentivizing candidates to reach beyond their core constituencies, helping build the “big tent” that was discussed at the conference.

In 2021, Republicans in Virginia selected now Gov. Glenn Youngkin as their winning gubernatorial candidate using ranked-choice voting. Youngkin went on to win against his Democratic challenger, despite Virginia being a “blue” state, with the last four Democratic presidential nominees winning there and seven of their last 10 governors being Democrats.

If political parties in Washington want to follow the Virginia model and embrace ranked-choice voting, they might find it easier to nominate candidates with broader appeal and more electability. And everyone will benefit when every vote matters.

If you want to get past the “my candidate or nobody” attitude, ranked-choice voting is our ticket there.

Trenton Miller

Spokane