Letters for Wednesday, May 27

Eastern Washington residents deserve better representation

Rep. Baumgartner’s comments regarding Donald Trump’s $1.8 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” spoke to how he “hopes” the fund will be administered. In doing so, he appears to be sidestepping his responsibilities to the American taxpayer.

Furthermore, by stating that the “DOJ does this all of the time,” he implies a false equivalent with past DOJ practices that were vetted through proper channels. Donald Trump’s unprecedented “settlement” was secured without judicial, congressional, or public oversight of any kind.

The five-person panel set to oversee the fund is answerable to Mr. Trump who can remove any of them at any time. This, by definition does not address Mr. Baumgartner’s “hope” that this will be a “nonpartisan, nonpolitical board.” As Mr. Trump routinely refers to Democrats as “the enemy” and, of late, “Dumocrats,” I can say with certainty that Mr. Trump is not likely to abide by panel members that are not “Trump loyalists.”

Regarding Mr. Baumgartner’s “hope” that no payments go to violent individuals, it is likely that such individuals, who have already been pardoned, will get serious consideration from Mr. Trump’s panel.

If Mr. Baumgartner believes that Mr. Trump’s fund is a legitimate use of our tax dollars and should not be subjected to congressional, judicial or public review, he should say so without reservation. Otherwise, he must unequivocally reject this gross misappropriation of American tax dollars. The citizens of Eastern Washington deserve representation that goes beyond “hoping for good outcomes.”

George Stratman

Spokane

Airport planners should be grounded

If there is a way for the Spokane Airport people to muddle up the roads to the parking garages and completely waste the tax payers money they will find it.

As a frequent traveler I can tell you that almost all of the frequent travelers I know are fed up with their complete incompetence when it comes to their road design. Over the last five years they have wasted more of our tax dollars rerouting perfectly good roads and abandoning brand new roads they just paved less than a year before. Trying to park at the airport is now a safety hazard. No one knows where to go. Signs are non existent. And none of these new roads make any sense any more. Literally no sense at all.

Five years ago they had perfectly good system but apparently they have money set aside so they feel they have to spend it, even if it makes no sense. And now they have taken the hourly parking out.

It seems they are looking for ways to confuse travelers and make life harder for them. In that they have succeeded.

Nima Michael

Spokane

Rule changes

I see local women’s pro soccer is ceasing operations. Want to “spice up” the games? Play with two balls.

Want to make basketball more fun? Ban three-pointers in the first and third quarters; doing so is a turnover.

Backgammon tiebreaker: Play with four dice in a “quad” game!

Larry Treffry

Spokane