Letters for Thursday, May 7

Bloomsday finisher shirt a shame

Although I no longer live in Spokane, I still enjoy returning to participate in the Bloomsday race. The Bloomsday finisher shirt is a badge of honor to be worn proudly. Except not this year! Race administrators delivered a 50% polyester/plastic shirt that will harm the environment.

Microplastics shed from polyester clothes have a significant negative environmental impact. Estimates suggest that up to 35% of ocean microplastics originate from synthetic textiles like polyester during washing.

The 50th Bloomsday shirt also feels like a bait and switch, considering the registration website proclaims, “Celebrate your Bloomsday 2026 accomplishment with … Fruit of the Loom preshrunk Jersey made of 100% ring-spun cotton.”

Not sure what I will do with my shirt, but unfortunately, I can’t wear it proudly – and neither can you.

Michele Tombari

Las Vegas

Voting Rights Act decision

The Supreme Court’s shameful April ruling destroying the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965 feels personal. I was a Stanford graduate that summer, hired by Rep. Edith Green, D-Ore., to work on its passage, a priority for President Lyndon Johnson after the vicious attacks on 600 protesters marching for voting rights in Selma, Alabama, that year.

My job was to interview Black southerners about the intimidation they faced when trying to register to vote. The Civil Rights Act, passed a year earlier, had not stopped those ugly tactics. Johnson signed the VRA in the Capitol Building on Aug. 6, 1965. It was a major victory. We couldn’t anticipate a Trump-compliant court majority 61 years later seemingly intent on rigging electoral maps for partisan advantage.

The current court had already weakened the VRA. This time, they backed a group of white Louisianans opposing a new majority Black voting district. They dismantled Section 2, the only remaining limit on partisan gerrymandering that barred the redrawing of congressional districts where a minority group was a majority. The court’s new ruling green-lights partisan groups to use nonracial factors to achieve an electoral win – with dire effects for minority representation.

Preliminary analysis of the impact shows that at least 15 seats across the country are endangered – enough to forge a permanent Republican majority in Congress.

What can we do to fight back? Elect a Democratic majority this fall to restore voter protections – and never allow politicians to choose their own voters.

Karen Dorn Steele

Spokane

Congressional responsibility

Baumgartner used to talk against executive overreach. Now he endorses it.

Trump started an illegal war Feb. 28, when Netanyahu talked him into it. Although the Constitution clearly states only Congress can declare war, Baumgartner jumped on the loyalty wagon to parrot whatever nonsense Trump came up with. After thousands of civilian deaths, the loss of 13 service members, and the destruction of the global economy, Baumgartner continues to carry water for Trump. So much for his concern about executive overreach and defense of the responsibilities of his position.

Now, the Trump administration is dismantling the Forest Service. The USDA appropriations bill enacted by Congress in the fall required any reorganization or office relocation to be approved by Congress. Congress hasn’t discussed, much less approved, any of the changes. Where is Baumgartner’s outrage? This illegal move will have an extremely detrimental effect on his district, yet his concern about executive overreach is nowhere to be found. I can’t seem to find any concern for his district either.

Just as with the incompetent and illegal decision on the war leading to mistakes and unnecessary upheaval, the same is what’s coming with any changes to the Forest Service. The chief has as much as admitted that. I don’t think our representative should accept that as good enough. Ever. I think our representative needs to take his position seriously or get out of the way.

Vote Baumgartner out. Vote for real representation, not a parrot show.

Lisa Wolfe

Kettle Falls