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To taxpayers, it’s just plain common sense. Elected officials, government employees and supporting boards and agencies cannot use taxpayer resources to campaign for or against a candidate or office or to endorse or oppose any ballot measure. To make sure elected officials and employees understand that, Revised Code of Washington 42.17A.555 specifically says: “No elective official nor any employee of his or her office nor any person appointed to or employed by any public office...
If the gutless Congressional Republicans thwart President Trump’s impeachment, then my Democratic presidential primary vote goes to the candidate most likely to defeat him. Jackie Robinson’s pre-election endorsement of Richard Nixon versus Jack Kennedy (1960), Robinson later called mistaken, determined my first presidential vote. That initiated my invariably policy-centered voting, recently Democratic, but defeating Trump is now my paramount goal. Many share my emphasis. A recent poll showed 57 percent of registered Dem...
As the struggle for immigrant rights continues to be fought across America, new battlegrounds may come into view, and then fade from public attention. For many months, our border drew intense scrutiny, as family separations shocked and horrified millions. Recently, the fate of DACA and 700,000 Dreamers moved back briefly into headlines, as the Supreme Court took up arguments over the Trump administration’s efforts to terminate the program. What hasn’t yet come to full attention, however, is the struggle over the future of...
The all-female space-walk was front page news for several days until it was replaced by a story about a female squadron commander at Fairchild Air Force Base. The reality of capable women shouldn’t be a news splash. The attributes for becoming an astronaut or a military commander have nothing to do with gender. I look forward to the day when everyone realizes that. Our country seems to be lagging behind the rest of the world in accepting women in the role of national leaders. Maybe we just need the right individual to b...
The Washington Bankers Association has taken the mantle on an issue all state taxpayers should be outraged over — the Legislature’s use of title-only bills. In the waning days of the 2019 legislative session, lawmakers in Olympia used their “title-only” stunt to enact new taxes without proper debate, public review or comment. Indeed, Democrats even had the galleries cleared and the doors barred to prevent the public from watching the shenanigans. Title-only bills are just th...
I have been following Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers’s voting record for more than 10 years. She has a consistent record in supporting deregulation and “freedom.” Just recently, according to the Thomas Voting Reports, Inc. of Oct. 25, 2019, CMR voted against Combatting Election Interference (H.R. 4617) and also against requiring sponsors of internet political ads to identify themselves in the ad. Furthermore, she voted for an amendment to the above bill to strip it of the authority of the U.S. Attorney General to co...
Just before Veterans Day, the last known survivor of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor died at age 98. With the passing of George Hursey of Massachusetts, it closed that chapter of World War II — the world’s most deadly conflict in which over 60 million people perished. President Franklin D. Roosevelt called Dec. 7, 1941, “the date which will live in infamy.” During the surprise attack, 350 Japanese aircraft descended on Pearl Harbor and nearby Hawaiian military installation...
In my 20 years of military service followed by over two decades of national security work in intelligence, counterintelligence and information operations, I recognized the former Soviet Union, now the Russian Federation, as a formidable adversary. As a result of America’s confused and counterproductive posture towards NATO and the recent decision to green light Turkey’s incursion into Kurdish-held territory in Northern Syria, Russia has gained strength and influence in this strategic area and in other areas of U.S. int...
The House has decided to make the closed door inquiry an official impeachment process. The headlines indicated that they had enough votes to unveil their activities. I heard rumors that some Democrats were going to vote against it, but CNN didn’t mention any. The radical left and CNN present a unanimous front. I have never witnessed such hatred. The radical Democrats with the support of a liberal national media have been trying to overthrow the 2016 election from day one. It began with the “Not My President” demonstrations be...
At a recent high school assembly marking Veterans Day, keynote speaker retired Gen. Neal Sealock suggested that students be the “kind of American worth fighting for.” He defined that as a citizen who is active in elections by promoting voter registration, casting informed votes themselves and speaking out against injustices such that everyone could realize the benefit of the freedoms our veterans and active military have and continue to protect. “We can do that by volun...
Mr. Daugharty (Letters, Oct. 17) clearly needs help interpreting history (and economics). Indeed the passage of the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) was necessary at the time — it established minimum wages at 25 cents an hour. Adjusted for inflation in 2018 that same wage would be $4.45/hour — hardly the $12/hour in Washington State, already set to go up to $13.50 in January, 2020. That’s effectively trying to compare today’s minimum wage scenario to paying 75 cents/hour in 1938, which clearly did not happen. As well, W...
You did it again, Cheney. It will be a warmer winter for many thanks to the hard work and generosity of the Cheney community. A total of 422 coats were donated to this year’s coat drive. Of those, 360 were given away at three separate distributions. This is the largest distribution to date. The remaining coats have been donated to the Cheney clothing exchange. Special thanks to the Cheney Kiwanis without whose work this event could not happen, Big Wash for laundering many of the coats, Copy Junction for printing the p...
With the average age of a U.S. farmer at nearly 60 years, and millions of acres expected to change hands over the next few years, military veterans have a key role to play as the nation looks for the next generation of producers. To do so, veterans will need assistance overcoming barriers, such as accessing land and the lack of assets or cash flow to purchase land, equipment, and farm inputs. Access to credit is an important component of most farming operations, especially for new and beginning producers. Farm Service Agency...
The House has decided to make the closed door inquiry an official impeachment process. The headlines indicated that they had enough votes to unveil their activities. I heard rumors that some Democrats were going to vote against it, but CNN didn’t mention any. The radical left and CNN present a unanimous front. I have never witnessed such hatred. The radical Democrats with the support of a liberal national media have been trying to overthrow the 2016 election from day one. It began with the “Not My President” demonstrations be...
Please vote! It is not required that you know everything about everything on the ballot. If you know something about an issue, then vote. If you do not then you can leave it blank. If you are disgusted with all of it then send in a blank ballot. At least you are participating in democracy and you send a message. If you see some position with only one person running you can leave it blank. It will encourage someone to run next time. If you don’t get what an initiative, referendum, advisory, amendment to the constitution or c...
My kids caught me reading a book. An actual book, printed with ink on real paper. I was lectured about my abuse of the planet and was told how many trees went into making paper. Paper that would likely line the bottom of our birdcage and eventually be discarded. I argued that I own books I have treasured for many years. They ignored my nostalgic argument and went on to demonstrate how easy it is to dial up an electronic copy of whatever I wanted to read. Instead of a traditional newspaper, my kids get an abbreviated version...
During his campaign for president, Donald Trump said that he could “stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody” without losing voters. Now, in a case before the Second Circuit Court of Appeals (and probably when appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court), the president’s attorney William Consovoy told the three-judge panel that immunity would also temporarily shield Trump from prosecution for that act. “This is not a permanent immunity,” Consovoy said, when asked by U.S. Circuit Judge Denny Chin to respond to a police...
Buried in the back of your voter’s pamphlet is a little discussed vote on Senate Joint Resolution 8200. The measure cleared both the state Senate and House with comfortable, bipartisan approvals. What is SJR 8200? Its text is pretty simple – a proposed constitutional amendment to add the phrase “catastrophic incidents” to the specified times of emergency where the Legislature can take immediate actions to ensure the continuation of government and governmental operations in areas impacted by these incidents. That applies...
The Cheney School District passed a capital projects bond in 2017 to remodel and improve several schools. Many of the projects are finished on time and under budget. The high school will be completed May of 2020. Citizens of the district can be proud of the fiscal responsibility of the district in providing for our kids. After seeing projections that the student population will double in the next 10 years, the school district is responsibly planning for the future. Land will never be less expensive; now is the time to purchas...
I am writing this letter in support of the Capital Levy being proposed by the Cheney School District. This levy makes TOTAL sense. We need to make the community aware of the projected growth that will most likely take place over the next 10 years. For example, Cheney High School is projected to grow from its current 1,350 students (approximately) to over 3,000 students in 10 years. That type of growth needs lots of planning... starting with purchasing property for future schools. Property prices will only rise. Before you...
The Washington State Transportation Commission, which has led the effort to study, test and report back to the Legislature on the feasibility of a road-usage charge, agrees the money drivers would pay should be protected for highway spending only. If implemented, a road-use charge — also called a mileage-based user fee, per-mile charge, vehicle miles traveled tax, and mileage tax — would require drivers to pay a tax on every mile they drive, rather than on every gallon of gas they purchase. The commission met recently to ass...
There is a branch of our government that is independent of the three branches we study in school. This branch usually operates in the shadows overlooked by both the people and the Legislature. It makes its own rules with the same force as law. It has the power to levy fines and seize property. No one in this branch is elected and, therefore, is generally unresponsive to public opinion. It is virtually independent to do whatever it pleases, and I have never known it to admit a mistake. This shadow government is made up of the...
Amid the myriad of topics and candidates on this year’s general election ballot, voters in our state already have a 20-year tradition when it comes to two measures. Statewide, voters have twice overwhelmingly told lawmakers to hold the car tab fees at $30. And statewide, voters 21 years ago overwhelmingly told lawmakers to stop injecting race, gender, etc. into government hiring and college admissions processes. So, I’m at a loss as to why government employees and elected off...
Taxpayers are getting ripped off, everybody knows it, and politicians refuse to fix it. That’s why 352,000 voters signed petitions to get Initiative 976 on the ballot. Taxing a $10,000 vehicle like it’s $25,000 is fraud. I-976 repeals the dishonest vehicle valuation schedule that politicians are currently using to artificially inflate our vehicle taxes. If a private company was price gouging its’ customers like this, the government would shut it down. But here, because it’s the government taking more than they should with a...
“Buy the ticket, take the ride,” or so wrote journalist Hunter S. Thompson in his book “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.” While the context of Thompson’s comment was certainly different, on the surface it’s perfectly relevant for I-976, the newest car tab reduction effort placed on next month’s ballot by serial initiative activist and anti-tax campaigner Tim Eyman. His fourth effort to reduce the cost of taxing licensed vehicles in the state, if passed, would pull a $2 bil...
