Letters to the editor for Oct. 29

Support Carolyn Cox for Lacey City Council

I have known Carolyn Cox for over 15 years, both as a professional colleague and as a friend. For as long as I have known her, Carolyn has worked tirelessly for the community she lives in.

I was thrilled when she joined the Lacey City Council because she is exactly the person for the job. From working to address climate change to helping small businesses recover from COVID-19, Carolyn is a forward thinker who builds bridges and finds solutions. She brought transportation access to Northeast Lacey and helped create the Thurston Regional Housing Council to address homelessness.

I ask you to vote to keep Carolyn working for the citizens of Lacey because we need people like her in our public offices.

Linda Kildahl, Olympia

Troubled by conflict of interest

I am troubled by Kidder Mathews commercial real estate broker Amy Evans’s recent letter to the editor in which she claims that she has no conflict of interest as a candidate for the Port of Olympia Commission.

Evans was a lead broker in the Lease Option Agreement with California-based developer Panattoni, which Port Commissioners Joe Downing and Bil McGregor approved in July 2020. The lease involves almost 200 acres, is the last large piece of undeveloped Port-owned land in Thurston County, and contract negotiations are still ongoing.

My concern dates back to the June 22, 2020 Port Commission meeting. During the public comment period, Evans demonstrated a distressing lack of forthrightness when she spoke enthusiastically in support of the Panattoni deal while failing to disclose her material financial interests in its approval.

Ms. Evans also accepted campaign donations from Downing and McGregor, as well as directly from Kidder Matthews and individuals who work in their employ, which has only increased my concern.

In her Oct. 24 letter to the editor, Evans announced she’s decided to forgo her portion of the commission for the Port/Panattoni deal (which, if fulfilled, will generate more than $1.57 million for Kidder Matthews). She claims that this should eliminate any possible perceived or actual conflict of interest to her candidacy.

In fact, her last-minute decision has only deepened my apprehension: I’d feel far more convinced about her motives had she stepped away from the money prior to launching her campaign, rather a couple of weeks before election day.

Lisa Ornstein, Olympia

Please take action to pay disabled veterans fairly

Our disabled veterans are grossly under compensated and have been for generations. This is most especially true for our totally and permanently disabled veterans. Our disabled veterans have been asking Congress for fair and adequate compensation since the end of World War I (1918). That was a 103 years ago. Where is it?

In 2021, a totally disabled veteran with no dependents is compensated at the ridiculous rate of $39,097.92 annually. The National Average Wage Index for 2019 was $54,099.99 per annum and the median income in 2019 was $68,703. In 2020 the per-capita gross domestic product of the USA was about $62,000 a year, among the highest in the world. So why are our disabled veterans being compensated at such a miserly level?

Please introduce legislation now to set compensation at least at the level of the National Average Wage Index for all types of totally and permanently disabled veterans. Or give federal income tax exclusion to all types of totally and permanently disabled veterans for all incomes regardless of source up to $125,000 per annum.

Jeffrey Biel, Lacey