Letters to the Editor

Bastions of truth, not!

Editor, the Journal,

Two local bastions of truth (Laugh Out Loud) in our community have once again failed us and shown their true colors. First, the so-called nonpartisan League of Women Voters of Mason County (LWV) held a virtual meeting April 7 on the topic of climate change. Their guest speaker was advertised on Facebook with glowing credentials except no mention she is a current candidate for the state Legislature; registered with the Public Disclosure Commission campaign website, and highway signs. What a great example of full disclosure and transparency from the LWV. Business as usual for this arm of the Democratic Party.

Then, the Journal runs a half-page article on the meeting. Again, without any information that the speaker is currently running for office. To add to the true misconduct of the Journal, recently your very own publisher refused to print a letter to the editor outlining election issues in Mason County. The reason given for rejecting the letter was quote "I will not be running your letter since you are now a candidate."

This submission was before the Journal self-imposed restriction on election letters to the editor. It was a letter to the editor, not a full-blown article. The LWV article is basically a half-page advertisement for the candidate on a key issue of her party and I assume of her platform, with no mention of her candidacy or any disclaimers.

I do not believe either of these rise to the level of a PDC violation for the candidate. However, it does rise to the level of malfeasance on the part of the Journal given the specific rejection of an informational letter by another candidate. This issue also challenges the integrity of the LWV, again, and the candidate herself. As we move into election season, this withholding of full information alone calls into question any use of the League of Woman Voters or the Journal as an information source.

Bob (Robert Gay) Rogers, Shelton

More questions

Editor, the Journal,

In last week's Journal, Ardean Anvik had some interesting questions for liberals about abortion. Here are some more.

If someone's heart stops beating, do you consider them dead? If so, why not consider them alive when it starts? How can you say my body, my choice, when you are aborting a separate body that is not being given a choice? Some states have legalized killing of a child at birth, or who have survived an abortion. Wouldn't this harden one's heart while killing another?

One thing we can agree on, all those in favor of abortion have already been born and for those who oppose abortion but remain silent, and chose to look the other way. You can't say you didn't know.

Ralph Aldrich, Shelton

Roadside spraying

Editor, the Journal,

Roadside spraying by Mason County begins May 1. The people at Public Works are very accommodating if you want your property removed from the schedule.

Hopefully, we as a community will be able to persuade our county commissioners to join Jefferson County and parts of Thurston County in opting out of this expensive, ugly and harmful program.

Rhoda Henkels, Shelton

I love my library!

Editor, the Journal,

I am writing today to publicly thank each and every staff member at the Shelton Timberland Library.

Thanks, all, for providing services to patrons during the remodeling closure. I can only imagine the time and physical labor involved in schlepping all those books here and there. Whew!

The collective creativity, flexibility, good humor and plain old-fashioned hard work exhibited by library staff is to be commended.

Thanks to the construction crew. Looks good.

Thanks to our new YMCA for providing lobby space for "pop-up" library events.

A very special tip of the hat to Mark Ziegler from the City of Shelton for going above and beyond to accommodate library patrons and workers.

I appreciate the way the space has been redefined, with the entire lower level dedicated to serving young patrons and their families. Yay for the expanded and much improved Teen Zone.

I also appreciate the new section upstairs where local history and works by local authors are more accessible.

I hope the mosaics we have enjoyed all these years find a place of honor.

Of course, the library is not just the building.

The library is all of us our community. The library is our common ground. Every person is welcomed and respected.

Thank you, library workers, for creating an inclusive culture where we can all learn and grow, connect with one another, and pursue our interests without judgment.

Theresa Jacobson, Shelton

'Up to date'

Editor, the Journal,

In regards to the article in (last week's) Journal; "Canvassing draws attention," it certainly drew my attention, sir, the focus of my attention was drawn to the incredible inaccuracies and outright falsehoods presented.

Clearly the Journal is not hindered by "fact-checkers."

As one of the trained canvassers for Mason County Voter Research Project with affiliation to the Washington Voter Research Project, I can state factually that whom a registered voter cast their vote for was of zero concern to the project, and would never be asked of a citizen. The very focus of the canvas was who cast the votes, not for whom the vote was cast.

Further the article seems to have other motivations then any concern for public awareness of the canvas as all door-to-door canvassing was completed in February of 2022 when Mason County Auditor Paddy McGuire remained unopposed in the upcoming election. Certainly, the Journal would not knowingly print an article of inaccuracies meant solely to reflect poorly on Mr. McGuire's newly registered campaign opponent.

To address Mr. McGuire's inaccurate statements as to the voters' register, first, we share a different understanding of the meaning of "up to date." I personally verified several U.S. Highway 101 addresses currently listed on state and county registers, naming current voters at these addresses, that were in fact no longer addresses at all. As stated by Mr. McGuire, neither his office, USPS, DOL or the SoS seemed concerned that these addresses were changed/eliminated by the USPS, county and DOT in an effort to improve safety of residents, commuters and postal carriers by relocating the boxes off U.S. 101 to newly named "Drives" directly adjacent to an increasingly busy U.S. 101. These changes occurred over 13 years ago. I consider anything over a decade to be less than "up to date."

While Mr. McGuire's attempt to muddy the upcoming campaign was shocking, the inaccuracies and falsehoods were simply indicative of his performance while in his current position. To state "I have no authority" is a blatant lie as the Revised Code of Washington (RCW) chapters 29A, 42 and 46 outline the immense (and growing) authority of county auditors offices.

In closing, sir, what draws my attention and concern is the fact that our single local printed media outlet chose to publish an article without verifying the information they printed and failed to reach out to any representative of the Mason County Voter Research Project for clarification of facts or any statement in rebuttal warrants the attention of every Mason County resident.

Peggy Lingle Cobain, Mason County

Party logic

Editor, the Journal,

What is this, lash out at Democrats week (Journal edition of April 21)?

I wish to extend my sympathies to Karel Gerber in the death of his son. I lost my youngest sister at 21 to suicide. However, neither my parents, my siblings, nor I blamed anyone for it. Though we attempted mitigation, we, as a family, couldn't prevent it. She, as was your son, was an adult and responsible for her own actions. To blame others is ludicrous, though I do understand the tendency to lash out at others in one's grief. To write a letter to a newspaper is pathetic.

One of the tenets of the Republican Party is "smaller government," that the government should stay our of our private lives, but, and it's a big "but," it's perfectly correct to interfere in a woman's most personal decision: whether to let a pregnancy go full term or not. We demand that she carry it full term, that the child is wanted and that she (or the family) has the wherewithal to support it. After all, she and her partner are adults and are responsible for every child brought into this world.

Ahh, the blessings of being a Republican, we can force every woman into our way of thinking by law; moral persuasion is out of the question. However, God forbid we rein in the Second Amendment. It's our constitutional right to have bigger and better guns than our neighbors and unfettered access to and use of them.

The illogic of the Republican thought process is brilliantly on display in blaming the present governor for the inaction of a past governor as if it were some type of biblical curse. A rapid transit system back in the 1960s was a passé notion, there were railroads. Yes, President Dwight Eisenhower inaugurated the interstate system, but its main purpose was to spur the economy and the transport of goods into regions of the country where railroads didn't go, not necessarily for mass passenger travel. Let's not mention the disaster of the Great Depression or the COVID-19 pandemic and the lack of an adequate response to mitigate either of them. The latter statement should give every Republican pause before pointing fingers. There's already enough blame to pass around.

Homeless. Some adults are homeless because of penury, others are homeless by choice. It's tough enough being homeless, we as a society shouldn't make it even harder. Those who are homeless by penury should be helped by either benevolent organizations and/or government; those adults who are homeless by choice can only be persuaded to shelter. Whatever the case, the debris generated by either should be picked up by some segment of society. More locally, what charitable contribution does Mason County Garbage & Recycling make? Perhaps there could be an arrangement between benevolent organizations, the city and county governments and Mason County Garbage & Recycling to ameliorate the homeless trash problem. After all, are we not our brother's keepers ... or are we just Republicans ready to blame others and pass the proverbial buck?

Bill Pfender, Shelton

Simple economics

Editor, the Journal,

In response to Sheri Stanley's letter to the editor published in the April 28 edition of the Shelton-Mason County Journal, page A-4.

Ms. Staley believes that the Democratic Party is the party of the people. I disagree. I recall my first encounter with politics being my having the misfortune of drawing a low lottery number in the Vietnam War draft (an attempt at armed services recruitment equity by President Lyndon Baines Johnson). By sheer luck, the timing was just enough to allow for a college exemption – but there were other kids my age whose fortunes did not include college. I think I see some of them, vacuous, in the streets of Shelton.

Ms. Stanley posits the question: "Who can point to a piece of legislation proposed and passed by the Republican Party since 1980 whose principal beneficiary was working people? I'll wait."

Ms. Stanley, your wait is over. I don't believe the Republican Party has ever proposed and passed legislation whose principal beneficiary was working people – other than tax cuts.

The Republican Party, at least in its idealized form, attempts to construct legislation that benefits the entire country, eschewing the arrogance of choosing winners and losers. At least that's the ideal. I'm more a Libertarian than a Republican and we Libertarians seldom achieve political office; the good being a slave to the ideal. Keeps me out expending efforts running for election and then, if I ever won - without running - keeps me out of a lot of boring meetings. 

In related business, the Republicans lowering the tax rate, first from 70% to 50%, then again to 28% is a positive trend; the less money the government extracts from the citizens and business the greater our personal freedoms and the more efficient our wealth-creating businesses.

I'm surprised anyone continues to believe a minimum wage established by government fiat is a good idea. The real minimum wage is $0.00. Where the minimum wage pegged at $15, if an employer does not believe you can contribute more than $15 to his operation, you won't get hired.

One last point. Relative personal wealth is measured in quintals - fifths. The upper quintal contains the wealthiest families and the lowest contains, obviously, the poorest. Amazingly, despite implications provided in the popular press, the populations of each quintal are most elastic: "You're rising high in April - shot down in May!" My wife was shocked to discover our family was on the cusp of that upper quintal – mostly by her propensity to save money. And then there's been reported the tragedy of one of the Texas Heritage Families whose current patriarch took up the cocaine habit, and, well, toppled to the bottom of the wealth pile right quick.

Ostensibly "We, the People" are in control of our government - and hence, our way of life - and we've been doing a darned good job of it; more people wish to immigrate to the United States than to emigrate from same - and we do it by relatively sound financial management and personal effort.

James Poirson, Shelton

Jan. 6 obligations

Editor, the Journal,

The public hearings of the January 6th Committee are about to become grounds for the greatest propaganda assault from the MAGA cult of news journalists and headline-seeking politicians yet. Like the impeachments of ex-President Donald Trump, the well-deserved efforts of those who sought and presented evidence of complicity (as in this current chaos) will find their intentions and character assassinated by the most irreverently rude irrelevancies we cannot yet imagine.

We the public would do well to remember that as electoral jury members our obligation is to listen closely and evaluate the motives of those offering the words to determine their evidence value. It's about letting the evidence speak for itself. Not your emotions, not your political affiliations, not your religious beliefs, and certainly not your preordained opinions. As members of our club of community democracy, you are the determiners of truth.

Maybe you didn't officially swear an oath to it but, we are all citizens committed to protect our nation and its constitution (not its elected political leadership) from those enemies, foreign ... and domestic.

In the end, justice prevailed for the publicly televised hearings of the special committee looking into the Watergate scandal of presidential abuse by then-President Richard Nixon. So again you're being called to come forth and give a hearing your undivided attention. Godspeed those who have spent these long months in preparation.

G. Owen Ray, Allyn

The whole picture

Editor, the Journal,

Considering I most assuredly will be bashed for my last letter for being a hyper partisan, and in an attempt to have people truly consider the points I made, I thought it wise to addend last week's letter.

While I blame the destruction of the middle class most squarely at the feet of the Republican Party, I never hesitate to call out the Democratic Party for their complicity in how we got here. There is no way to address every bad law or decision, but I'll point to just a few. Back when the parties actually did work together to create and pass legislation, too many bills that would clearly do harm to working people had "bipartisan" support. My number one is the destructive Telecommunications Act of 1996, which though dreamed up by the Republican Party, was signed into law by a Democratic president. This bill allowed for such media consolidation that there are now only a handful of companies who own our print, radio and television networks. It has ultimately allowed for the mass disinformation in our "news" today. Cable and social media networks have truly lacked any basic standards and they are consumed by millions. Not a good combination.

Then you have NAFTA and CAFTA, which far too many Democrats supported. I think back on what Ross Perot had to say about NAFTA and the "giant sucking sound" Americans would hear as businesses shuttered operations in the United States because of it. You can't have a healthy economy if you don't "make" anything. We have lost 7.5 million manufacturing jobs since 1980, and since the early 2000s estimates are 70,000 manufacturing plants have closed. Those losses affect not just the individual plants and their employees, but all those other businesses that are supported by them and their communities. Shall we call it "trickle down?"

There was the weakening and eventual repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act, which sought to permanently end bank runs and the dangerous bank practices that created them. We ultimately ended up with Too Big to Fail and the American people bailed the banks out. As always, corporate losses are socialized while corporate profits are capitalized.

How about monopolies? Despite calls for greater enforcement of laws such as the Sherman Antitrust Act, monopolies are out of control. Without greater competition, the consumer loses every time. Both parties are complicit in ignoring these basic facts to the benefit of big business. I would suggest there just may be a correlation between how many lobbyists roam the halls of Congress these days and how little influence poor and working people have on these law makers. In 1983, there were approximately 440 registered

lobbyists. By 2018, there were well over 11,000. With a total of members of congressmen and senators, you're looking at over 20 lobbyists per Congress person. Let's remember, all those numbers come with dollar signs attached.

We should have representatives who want to protect and lift up working families. We need to pressure them and make them do better by U.S. With Sen. Mitch McConnell's weaponization of the filibuster, larger majorities are needed to get legislation passed that will do just that, not bills that will mainly benefit a small minority. I've said for some time now, I've never seen a party fight so hard for those who already have it all. Maybe it's those dollars again, just a thought.

I implore everyone again not to look at the crisis du jour, but to rather look at the whole picture over the past four decades and ask, can anyone point to a piece of legislation proposed and passed by the Republican Party since 1980 whose principal beneficiary was working people? My husband is hoping I will hold my breath.

Shari Vincent Staley, Shelton

Our attention

Editor, the Journal,

In response to the "Canvassing draws attention" article.

First of all, I would ask, draws whose attention? It appears that the auditor and the Secretary of State's Office are the only ones who are concerned. Both statements first began with false information saying that the canvassers were asking who people voted for. Entirely false. The Voter Integrity Project's only goal is to investigate voter anomalies, for example votes from an address where there is no house, or an address that has many registered voters that on talking with the resident several people do not live at that address, and never have as far as they know.

Why isn't the Auditor's Office or the Secretary of State doing this? Isn't it their job to keep elections free from fraud so that your and my vote count? If there are several fraudulent votes registered at your address, or from a house that doesn't exist they cancel out our votes. So I ask again why are the auditor and secretary of state concerned about the canvassing Project for Voter Integrity? All of the information is being presented to them in affidavits. Their work is being done for them by trained volunteers. Why do they not want to use the sworn, legal affidavits of fraudulent registered voters to clean up the voter roles?

This is what is concerning us and drawing our attention.

Cynthia Stang, Hoodsport