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Newspaper Archive of
Shelton Mason County Journal
Shelton, Washington
July 30, 2020     Shelton Mason County Journal
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July 30, 2020
 
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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Mail-in ballots leadto trouble Editor, the Journal Donna Branch-Gilby ac- cused the Republicans of hating mail-in ballots. ’Below are examples of corruption in voting caused by the use of mail-in ballots and the offi- cials complicit for illegal votes by the use of these ballots. After the 2016 election, it was discovered the vote was corrupted by illegal aliens and dead people voting in many states. Judicial Watch (JW) filed lawsuits all over the country requiring states to enforce the National Voters Registration Act of 1993. JW won all of them. . JW filed a California law- suit in 2017 (Judicial Watch, Inc. et a1 V.Dean C. Logan, et al; No. 2:17) and followed up with lawsuits in Pennsyl— vania' and Maryland. Here’s what they found: I Los Angeles County had over 1.5 million potentially ineligible voters. The entire State of California has a registration rate of 101% of age-eligible citizens. Eleven of California’s 58 counties had registration rate more than 100% of age-eligible citizens. I State of Pennsylvania has over 800,000 ineligible voters. Maryland’s Montgom- ery County had over 100% of eligible voters. - I State of Maryland lost its suit over the fact that they had more registered voters than citizens over 18 (Judicial Watch v. Linda H. Lamone, Maryland Elections Director, et al). More than one in five LA. County voter registrations belongs to voters who have. moved or died. There are more illegal voters in Los Angeles County than legal voters in some states. One Pennsylvania county purged 69,000 inactive vot- ers from their system. The California Secretary of State agreed to require counties to purge voter files of ineligible voters regularly and to up- date their files after the law- suit found neither the State nor LA. County has been re- moving inactive voters for the past 20 years. JW supported North Carolina’s efforts to clean up voter rolls of over 1 million ineligible voters. Ju- dicial Watch estimates there are 3.5 million ineligible vot- ers nationwide. Some election supervisors objected. JW won lawsuits in Ohio and Kentucky; filed a successful lawsuit against Indiana; filed an amicus brief in the 11th Circuit Court for Alabama and Georgia’s voter law and sent letters to the election chiefs in Virginia and Colorado. JW has found that 378 counties nationwide had a'combined population of over 2.5 million registrations over the 100% mark. Democrats want to defeat . Trump so badly they cor- rupt our ballot box by using mail-in ballots of dead voters. Donna, get your facts straight before throwing insults. Sup- porting mail-in ballots that produces corrupted voting is a new low. Ardean A. Anvik Shelton Well done, Journal, for Crafty Tirne Editor, the Journal Shelton-Mason County Journal, nice job. I want to applaud you for the sec- tion in the Journal called Crafty Time by Dave Pierik. I watched this village grow over the summer and have really wished I had someone young enough in the fam— ily to enjoy building such a fun project. When kids need activities to keep them busy and to teach them how to ex- press themselves this section of the Journal went along way in doing just that. Had it not been for COVID-19, my grandson would have half my back porch under construc- tion. Well done! Cheryl Stewart ' Shelton Ted Jackson for. coUnty commissioner Editor, the Journal Ted Jackson has embarked on a lofty goal to serve as Mason County commissioner, District 1. He will need your vote to make this possible. Here is a man with high moral conviction campaign- ing because he wants to make government more transpar- ent, accessible, honest and accountable for the people he will represent. He has worked 20 years in law enforcement and as commissioner for the Port of Allyn. His work experience has allowed him to garner immense contractual experi- ence and become acquainted with many of the problems that face our district. As a result, he has learned how to be more of a problem solver ' for the county. Sharing his knowledge and skills will be an asset to his fellow commis- sioners. Jackson is a retired state Department of Fish & Wild- life enforcement officer who is looking forward to answering the needs of our community through dedicated service and loyalty, which are his inher- ent qualities. His desire is to help make our commissioners do the work necessary in keeping our taxes low as possible without sacrificing the wel- fare of the district he repre: sents and making certain our children’s education is not in any way jeopardized. All county contracts will be scru~ tinized for fairness and accu— racy in the order they are pre- sented. You can be assured that his office will be acces— sible to all who want to give an input into government and entertain better ideas for the betterment of our county. Many in the business community already know Ted Jackson because he has always supported businesses and will continue to do so in the foreseeable future. He understands that a stable community is dependent on people employed and families ‘ shopping within their commu- nity all allowing for a thriving economic forecast and a better quality of life for all. Mr. Jackson is suited for this position due to his college education, port commissioner, law enforcement and wildlife experiences. Your vote for Ted Jackson is a vote for an honest leader and a problem-solver. Marco Brown Belfair Home Rule would help' county Editor, the Journal I support the Home Rule Charter endeavor. Why? I have been in Mason County nearly 50 years. Eight years ago, I got involved with the Port of Grapeview, not as a commissioner, but as a volunteer — a position I main- tain to this day. I found that the state’s Open Public Meeting Act se- verely weakens small govem- ment representatives from exercising due diligence. Boil- ing down the pertinent RCW 42.30, the OPMA stipulates that all discussions between elected officials must be done in a public setting. That law applies to the port commis- sioners as well as the county’s. The Washington Attorney General has an opinion on the OPMA as to what can and cannot occur between a quorum of elected officials ' in Mason County’s case, two commissioners. From the AGO opinion: “It is our conclusion, there- fore, that with one narrow ex- ception which we will discuss later, the Legislature intended the provisions of Chapter 67- 356 to be applicable to every assemblage of a board or commission governed bythe, act at which any discussion, deliberation, decision, or for- mal action is to be had, made or taken relating to, or within the scope of, the official duties or affairs of such body ....” The key word is “discus— sion.” No discussion is allowed between commissioner meet- ings by a quorum, meaning, in Mason County’s case —— two commissioners. The full opin- ion can be Googled. So let’s dig further into the commissioner’s responsibili- ties. They hold a public meet- ing every week. Every week they must make small and large decisions, most of them financial in nature. And every week they are presented with a briefing package, which de— tails what will be discussed ' and acted upon at the meet— ing. Last week’s briefing pack- age was 160 pages. It is avail- able on the home page of the county’s website. One-hun- dred sixty pages that cannot be discussed between meet- ings between two commission- ers. Nope, they can’t call one another and say, “hey what do you think about it....” and get some perspective as to how the other comms feel about a subject. One-hundred sixty pages, week after week. It is impossi- ble to perform infallibly under the OPMA in Mason County with just three commisSioners. Especially in a county that last week’s Shelton-Mason County Journal real estate section said that the county’s population is exploding. Clear- ly a change is necessary. I sat on a corporate board of directors of a‘$10 billion- a-year corporation. We met four times a year. Our briefing package was maybe 50 pages. To assist the newly elected and incumbent representa- tives, the state Legislature established the Municipal Research and Services Center (MRSC). It is staffed with at- torneys and accountants to assist the aforementioned in their tasks and responsibili- ties under the law. It is only available to elected repre- sentatives but the public can visit it at www.mrsc.gov and type in the search bar “county forms of government” for a complete and unbiased treat- ment of home rule charter. Thursday, July 30, 2020 - Shelton-Mason County Journal — Page A-5 Disclaimer: The afore- mentioned is my opinion, and mine alone. I have no attach- ment to any Home Rule char- ter effort. Bob Pastore Grapeview Disputing letters about Democrats Editor, the Journal Some recent letters to the editor have made incredulous statements about Democrats. One letter tried to associate Democrats with racism by bringing up a 50-year-old situ- ation of a Southern Democrat- ic senator with segregationist Views. The writer of this letter was apparently ignorant of the fact that those Southern Dem- ocrats became Republicans after President Johnson signed the civil rights legislation. Another letter writer tried to associate Democrats with fascism. Nothing could be more absurd. We have a Republican president who is walking right down the fascist path. If one looks at the his— tory of fascism in Europe it is clear that the first step is to eliminate the political op- position, i.e., the communists. Then they suppress the free press and the trade unions. Now, just the other day, the president, on FOX News, has stated that he may not accept the results of the next election. It seems to me that we may be approaching the low- est point in the history of our democracy. I have often wondered what motivates his supporters, is it ignorance, mendacity, or just plain old identity politics (he validates your viewpoint)? Please don’t say that he has done wonders for the economy. The economic growth during his tenure isa continuation of the Obama recovery. He has cut regulations and taxes, but the main beneficiaries have been the wealthy, the rest of us get air and water pollution. A Democratic administra- tion would have been creating infrastructure projects. And, of course, there is the Republicans’ go-toissue, abor- tion; A horrible dilemma, but it seems that the pregnant one should have some choice in the matter. And why is it that . those most opposed to it seem to be the same ones who resist providing care and services for mother and baby? Robert Clark Shelton see LETTERS, page A6 Times: ’React to the situation as it Unfolds’ is good advice continued from page A-4 to 14 hours over several weeks on the matter trying to get through on the phones, sending emails and researching. He spent more hours than that worrying. “My personal information is out there somewhere,” Wilkerson said. “Criminals have my information. Which is scary, terrifying really.” In a letter dated July 10, he learned that his claim-that-wasn’t-a- claim had come to an end. “I received a letter that says the inves- tigation is complete and that my Social Security has been disconnected from the matter,” he said. “Basically, it’s not me.” Wilkerson has some advice for oth- ers caught in a similar predicament. “All you can do is protect yourself as best you can and react to the situ— ation as it unfolds,” he said. “I was fortunate in many respects because I didn’t have anyone do a lot of things in my name.” I Contact Kirk Ericson at kirk@ma- soncounty.c0m.