Letters for April 20

Baumgartner M.I.A.

Like some of you, I signed up for new Republican Rep. Michael Baumgartner’s weekly newsletter to stay informed. For the past two weeks, his biggest boast is his effort to discontinue the NCAA and place administration of college athletics in the executive branch and make the president the judge and jury of all things athletic.

Not a word about his vote in favor of the SAVE Act, which makes it harder to vote, especially for anyone who may have changed their name at some point, looking at you, married women.

He doesn’t mention his vote for the Republican budget, which includes tax reductions for the wealthiest citizens and at the same time cuts $800 billion from Medicaid to pay for that tax cut. Pro tip, Mike: there are Medicaid recipients in your district, and many of them voted for you.

He makes no effort to empathize with his constituents suffering from the whiplash of the on-again/off-again Trump tariffs that have resulted in higher mortgage interest rates, worsening inflation, threats of a recession and a reduction in the value of individual retirement accounts. Baumgartner says he represents everyone in the district, but his votes and lack of empathy are straight out of the oligarch playbook, pumping evermore money to the rich.

I typically might ask you to reach out to his office with your concerns, and you should. Just don’t be disappointed with a cut and paste form letter response.

Roger Haick

Loon Lake

Bingle is a model Republican

Jonathan Bingle wants people to only use the restroom for the gender for which they were assigned at birth. On a right-wing authoritarian talk-radio show (in Seattle), Bingle said that it would be pretty easy to enforce his weird policy with the simple admonishment “Man with the beard, you’re in the wrong bathroom, go to the men’s room please.”

Well Jonathan, many of my male transgender friends (people who were assigned “female” at birth but now identify as “male”) have very substantial beards. So, which bathroom do you want them to use? Do you want a guy with a beard using the women’s restroom, like you said, or do you want him to violate your demand that they use the restroom for which they were assigned at birth?

One has to wonder what someone like Bingle is struggling with that they are so obsessed with LGBTQ people. My heart goes out to him and his inner turmoil. On the other hand, though, he is a perfect representative of today’s Republican Party – people who think they know more about theology, climate science, government, justice, medicine, gender science, economics, etc. than the people who have spent their lives and resources learning about these subjects.

Today’s Republican Party – where ignorance is only outweighed by arrogance, and cruelty is the reason for the season, even if it self-inflicted. God help our country and protect us from them.

Maeve Griffith

Spokane

Gasoline taxes vs. alternatives

Though the state is projecting a deficit of billions over the next four years, the legislature has proposed $16 billion in new taxes so they can spend an additional $12 billion on failed or pet projects. Where would that additional $16 billion in new taxes fall you ask? Take a look in the mirror.

One proposal is a 6 cents per gallon increase in the state gasoline tax. Including the 40 cents per gallon gas tax disguised as a carbon tax, Washington state’s gas tax currently ranks fourth in the nation. Everyone who drives a gas-powered vehicle in the state and their families who will have less money to spend on other necessities pays this.

Owners of electric vehicles get free use of our roads and pay nothing to maintain them. Using data collected by the state (total vehicles registered in state: 2,540,000; average mpg for gas vehicles: 26 mpg; State gasoline tax: $0.54/gal; number of electric vehicles registered in state: 236,000), the average driver of a gasoline powered vehicle pays $290.75/yr in gasoline taxes. Charging the equivalent amount on all electric vehicle owners each year to pay their fair share of maintaining our roads would raise approximately $70 million dollars per year for our roads, the same amount as a $0.06/gal increase in the gasoline tax. The democrats are always wanting the wealthy to “pay their fair share.” Well, guess who owns most of the electric vehicles?

Randahl D. Roadifer

Cheney