Letters to the editor for Oct. 23

Elect Beth Doglio

I am writing to express my strong support for Beth Doglio, our state House representative for the last four years who is now running for U.S. Congress.

Part of my work is teaching high school civics. Each year, I bring my students to the Capitol. Beth and her team always make time to meet with my students and listen as they share personal stories of poverty, hunger, housing instability and other difficult issues. Every time, Beth has shown immense empathy and gone to work in the Legislature for these students. Beth has an incredible gift for not only listening to people, but actually fighting battles for them and winning. I know Beth would do this as our representative in Congress because this is who she is, a woman of high integrity, compassion and guts to work hard and do what it takes to represent the people.

The Tumwater School District went through a difficult strike a few years ago as teachers fought for fair wages, safety in the classroom and reasonable class sizes. Negotiations weren’t going well, so I knew just who to call. Beth came to one of our rallies; she listened, spoke with teachers and then went to work on the issue with Rep. Laurie Dolan and our school board. Soon after, the union and TSD came to an agreement. Beth listened, she cared, and she fought hard for us to make good changes. I know she’ll do the same in Congress.

Kristen Maring, Olympia

Call for resignation shows pattern, bias

A letter to the editor (LTE) in The Olympian recommends my resignation as Port Commissioner due to alleged bad behavior. The letter writer shows a disturbing bias, as do the false allegations.

In recent years, one port insider escalated from physical threats to alarming behavior, because he disagreed with my principles at the port. The threats and behavior are documented by police reports, videos, witnesses at port meetings, emails, and letters. He and his best buddy, another port insider, made major contributions to the campaigns of two male commissioners.

This group has made allegations against me every year since my election. Their complaints are always dismissed after formal investigations by a judge. He concludes that I committed no ethical or legal violations, and have no conflict of interest. The latest such report dismissed charges by the port buddy and author of the recent letter, Frank Gorecki.

Now Gorecki trashes me in a LTE. These attacks are sadly familiar, and they are escalating. There have been multiple charges this year, including an outrageous allegation of sexual harassment. An irregular port investigation leaves that allegation in limbo at “he said, she said,” instead of a proper opportunity to clear my name yet again.

Hundreds of local taxpayers have expressed concern about this pattern of insider attacks on a public servant who represents the people, instead of big business. At what cost do women, LGBTQ people, and other members of under-represented groups work to improve public policy, inside power structures dominated by conservative white men?

EJ Zita, Port of Olympia commissioner

We can house everyone

In response to the Oct. 7 letter to the editor, current conditions in Olympia are unacceptable.

People should have a place to go to get off the streets. No one should have to endure houselessness, but the solution is not moving people on to some other place. Many homeless people have jobs that don’t pay them enough to afford housing. Minimum wages should be increased. Things will only get worse as people are evicted from their houses because of loss of jobs in the pandemic.

All of Thurston County should create enough permanent supportive housing, tiny houses and low-income housing to cover the need. We need to find low-cost ways to provide the basics. There should be tax breaks and subsidies for builders of low- income housing. Those building market-priced housing should be taxed more to help pay for the low-income housing. Only progressive solutions will get us out of this mess.

If we can’t provide basic housing for people, why are we building a sprayground in Lions Park? When people have no place to take showers, how can we justify putting more money into recreational spraying?

Heather Yancey Pens, Olympia