Letter writers weigh in on Thurston County Commission, Port of Olympia races
Clouse is the sane choice for County Commissioner
Attention, Thurston County voters. This is a red MAGA hat alert. Your choices for the new District 5 County Commission seat couldn’t be more clear. Emily Clouse is a builder who envisions fair and equitable government. Terry Ballard is a destroyer who wants to tear down county government.
Mr. Ballard shows up for weekly County Commission meetings to speak and frequently yell at commissioners. His favorite themes are as predictable as they are insane. He usually advocates for jailing county managers for unspecified crimes, dismantling the LOTT wastewater treatment plant, and ending the county’s racial equity program.
Like the indicted former U.S. president whose red MAGA hat he regularly sported at commission meetings until he became a candidate, Mr. Ballard is not only unqualified, he has no interest in governing. He calls himself a “John F. Kennedy Democrat,” yet he is running as unaffiliated, and offers zero constructive policy proposals.
Ballard has chosen as his campaign manager an even more divisive individual, Jon Pettit. That’s right, the same Mr. Pettit who twice attempted to have Commissioner Tye Menser recalled, tried to remove Commissioner Carolina Mejia from the ballot claiming she was not a U.S. citizen (sound familiar?), and tried to have them both thrown in jail through the courts with a “citizen’s criminal complaint.” Mr. Ballard would be a destructive force and a disgrace to the office of county commissioner.
Emily Clouse is a competent, caring, hard-working alternative. Do the sane thing and vote for Emily Clouse!
Madeline Bishop, Olympia
Leopards don’t change their spots
This is in response to letters from Joe Downing and Jim Amador. They urge us to vote for Bill McGregor for Port of Olympia commissioner because of his experience as a port employee and port commissioner.
I have a different view. McGregor has played a large part in creating the Port policies that concern so many of us. Why on earth would we put him back on the Port Commission? Does a leopard change its spots?
Jasmine Vasavada has an impressive background in public policy and a law degree from the University of Washington too. Not to mention the fact that she is not beholden to the special interests that the Port District currently serves.
Vote Vasavada.
Bob Jacobs, Olympia
Candidates should show up
Decades ago, I walked to a local church auditorium, showed my driver’s license to the church ladies, and sampled a few cookies. I stepped into a voting booth and carefully pressed a metal pin into the ballot, voting for people typically solely based on political party or name familiarity.
Today, it’s different. I love mail-in balloting. I get up before sunrise, feed our Golden Retriever, make an Americano, and start the process. I have the voters’ pamphlet, a stack of candidate mailers, and my ballot. I carefully research each candidate, reading through the mailers.
But the information that best guides my decision is when I hear directly from each candidate. I can’t count the number of times I changed my vote based on what I heard and saw. That is why I was so disappointed when Troy Kirby’s opponent, Sarah Tonge, failed to show up for a debate at Gateway Rotary. I was even more surprised when she didn’t show up for a debate hosted by the Tenino Chamber that night. A friend told me she hadn’t shown up for 11 debates in four weeks. If true, I see this behavior as disrespectful to voters and potentially disqualifying as we attempt to make the best decision for our community.
It’s been said a political campaign is a job interview. I’ve filled in the oval next to Troy Kirby’s name for Port of Olympia Commissioner. He’s smart, does his homework, and cares about the issues. And he shows up.
Tom Carroll, Olympia
Vote for Sanders, not Gunderson, for Port Commission
Rose Gunderson appears to have a shallow understanding of the financial and environmental issues confronting the Port of Olympia.
At a candidate forum hosted by the Thurston County Chamber of Commerce, she said, “The narrative about the port getting too much is not true because the schools get 30 percent more, or at least Tumwater schools do.” She went on to say “the port is able to balance its budget.”
This kind of illogic, whataboutism and ignorance of the very real problems at the port are exactly what we need to rid our politics of. Check your property tax bill and see that the port commission raises our taxes regularly. They just raised it again for 2024. They misspend it by maintaining a non-functioning crane and ignoring legacy pollution in Budd Inlet. They are now mandated by DOE to pay for a $190 million cleanup (our tax dollars) and pay the associated legal bills (our tax dollars).
Finally, when given a choice by the forum moderator as to which spirit animal she would choose, Mazama Pocket Gopher or New Zealand Mud Snail, she chose the latter. Another display of ignorance. This invasive snail is one reason Capitol Lake had to close to recreation. I doubt boat owners at the marina would have chosen it as their spirit animal.
Check out Maggie Sanders’ website. You will see a deep, solutions-oriented understanding of the financial and environmental challenges facing the Port of Olympia.
Lisa Ceazan, Olympia