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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.