Letters to the editor for Oct. 21

Attorney Robbi Kesler for City Council

I have been an attorney in Olympia for over 50 years and support my colleague, Robbi Kesler, for Olympia City Council. An attorney would bring a unique perspective to the council and a wealth of knowledge. Lawyers have three years of intense training in law school that includes learning to analyze laws and understanding the functions of government. Our careers are spent communicating, problem solving, and further studying the law. No profession is better equipped to mold good lawmakers.

Robbi is particularly well suited for City Council because she has experience helping to lead a tribal government as their general counsel and she served as staff counsel for the state House of Representative’s Local Government Committee. I have heard some suggest Robbi lacks local government experience because she has not served on a city committee/commission, but this suggestion is preposterous. An attorney who has helped lead a sovereign nation’s government and been involved with the State Legislature already has more knowledge of laws and local government issues than could ever be gained by serving on a city commission, or the city council for that matter.

Moreover, Robbi is active in her community and has been a working mother most of her career. She has done more than enough in her personal and professional life to earn my vote. Please join me in voting for Robbi.

Steve Bean, Olympia

In City Council race, representation matters

Because in the past we have had so few Black, indigenous or people of color holding public office, I am excited about the number of BIPOC candidates running for Olympia City Council. African American candidates have fair chances of winning two council seats (Position 5 and 6). In the race for Position 2, a Native American woman, Robbi Kesler, is running against a woman with Vietnamese heritage, Yen Huynh, insuring that at least one BIPOC candidate will be elected.

However, what is concerning is misinformation that attempts to portray Huynh as the only person of color running in that race.

Elected officials who have publicly endorsed Huynh have stated that voting for her “can send a clear message that representation and diversity really matter” — implying that voting for a Skokomish Native American candidate would not be a vote for diversity, or a BIPOC person? Of concern is that Huynh’s campaign has chosen to promote this statement de-legitimizing a Native American woman who is better qualified to serve on the Olympia City Council than is Huynh.

In fact, Kesler would not only bring diversity, but degrees from the Univeristy of Washington and the Sandra Day O’Connor School of Law in Arizona, as well as career experience as counsel for the Chehalis Tribe, tax policy with the Department of Revenue before serving as nonpartisan council for the Washington state Legislature, and public service positions too numerous to list here.

I do agree, representation matters.

Deborah Sioux Cano-Lee, Olympia

Amy Evans for Port of Olympia Commission

I am exhausted by our two-party political system. Division is tearing at our country and at our psyches. We all know it. We all feel it. Every day.

Enough is enough. Let us stop focusing on what divides us. We have much more in common — more that unites and connects us as human beings, and members of our South Sound community.

Amy Evans is not beholden to any political party. She is both deeply, personally engaged in front-line progressive social issues, and an experienced and accomplished businesswoman. Focused on solutions instead of ideology, she has the authenticity and determination that pulls diverse interests together.

And she is effective. If she sets her will to something, she works hard, follows through, and gets it done.

I believe Amy will make one of the best Port Commissioners we have ever had. I believe she is the right leader at the right time to bring our community’s collective intelligence, creativity, sweat and strengths together.

Please vote Amy Evans for Port of Olympia Commissioner, District 3.

Aslan Meade, Tenino