Letters for Tuesday, Sept. 9

Support for Judge Mary Logan

The most effective route to the eradication of nonviolent crime in any community is the identification of the underlying issues of those committing crimes and immediate access to necessary resources. The Spokane Community Court, under the leadership of Judge Mary Logan, is modeled on this premise. As the team identifies issues that include mental illness, active addiction, lack of housing, poverty and more, participants are immediately connected to local service providers. For the participants who engage in these meaningful connections, the rate of re-offense is significantly reduced.

Compassion and accountability are not mutually exclusive terms. It is, in fact, “compassionate accountability” that drives the most successful court programs, providing resources for court users and simultaneously increasing community safety. Judge Logan and her team understand this. The Spokane Community Court is a nationally recognized program. Judge Logan has served as a mentor to myself and several other judges who preside over successful community court programs.

I strongly encourage Spokane voters to retain Judge Logan.

Judge Kara Murphy Richards

Presiding Judge, Renton Municipal Court

Renton, Washington

Baumgartner should sign the discharge petition

I just got off the phone with a staff member for Rep. Michael Baumgartner. I was glad to hear that he is firmly opposed to pedophiles. But I was deeply concerned that Rep. Baumgartner has not committed to signing Rep. Massie’s petition to force a vote on releasing the remaining Epstein and Maxwell files.

This issue is about far more than politics. It is about the countless victims of abuse whose pain was enabled, hidden or ignored for years. The American people – and especially survivors – deserve to know the full truth about who was connected to Epstein and Maxwell, regardless of wealth or influence.

If our leaders care about protecting children and standing with survivors, then releasing the Epstein files should be an immediate priority. Any hesitation only fuels suspicion.

Rep. Baumgartner has the chance to demonstrate his commitment to constituents and to victims. Signing the petition would indicate that he values truth and accountability above secrecy, power and protecting pedophiles.

Lisa Bessen

Spokane

Baumgartner doesn’t work for us

Congressman Michael Baumgartner sprinkles his emails with reminders that he works for you – even if you didn’t vote for him. While it’s true that his literal, taxpayer-funded job is to represent the people of Eastern Washington, I don’t buy it.

Baumgartner sent staffers to meet with constituents because he was busy on a lobbying group-sponsored trip to a genocidal foreign state. His office had no comment on Israel’s forced starvation of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, claiming Israel “has not violated international law.” It’s unclear whether AIPAC drafted that talking point for him.

He has no town halls scheduled but held a fundraiser with Jim Jordan. If that name sounds familiar, it’s probably because you’ve read accusations that Jordan failed to act to protect wrestlers he coached from sexual abuse by a team doctor.

Baumgartner voted for the “one big bad bill,” which cut billions of dollars in health care and food benefits while handing money to the very wealthy and increasing the national debt by trillions of dollars. Already Providence has announced plans to close several clinics in both Spokane and Stevens counties, citing federal cuts as one factor.

Having spent his term hiding from constituents and cozying up to predators and those who enable them, voting party over people and prioritizing his own power over our rights, it’s going to take more than a snappy one-liner for Baumgartner to prove he’s anything other than a MAGA stooge.

Corinna Donnerberg

Spokane

Facts with a grain of salt

Sheriff John Nowels, in an op-ed in The Spokesman-Review, describes fentanyl precursors pouring over Washington’s border with Canada. He cites as his authority FBI Director Kash Patel, the most political director in FBI history, whose main qualification for the job is his unbounded loyalty to Donald Trump. One recent example of Patel’s sycophancy is his firing of three FBI agents, including a former acting director who refused to turn over names of personnel who investigated the assault on the U.S. Capitol instigated by Trump. These firings caused a group of former FBI agents, diplomats and intelligence officials to publish a letter condemning Patel’s actions.

A good rule of thumb regarding Kash Patel is to take anything he says with a big grain of salt. With this in mind, I note that his allegations against Canada sound suspiciously like the allegations Trump has made as justification for imposing a 35% tariff against some Canadian exports. As reported by the New York Times recently, Trump continues to make these allegations despite statistics showing that less than 0.1% of fentanyl in this country comes from Canada, and despite Canada’s appointment of a “fentanyl czar” and its authorization of $900 million in additional funds for border security.

I agree with Sheriff Nowels that we should do everything possible to stamp out the fentanyl curse. But in doing so we should make sure we have our facts right.

Donald D. Lamp

Spokane