Editor,
It is disconcerting to read the firebombs lobbed by fact-free critics of state Senate candidate Angie Homola. Recent example: Mr. Edmundson of Burlington (not even of Island County) insists she spent taxes “wildly” and “pursued tax increases. Earlier, Barbara Bailey (accepting large bucks from the Koch Bros., Big Tobacco, etc.) mailed unfounded accusations that Angie was inefficient with tax dollars and was fired from previous jobs.
The facts speak for themselves: Angie has never been fired from a job, verified by county records. As for the “wild spending” she came into office during the biggest recession since the Great Depression, worked the budget down to a whopping 20 percent reduction and yet, for public safety, championed law enforcement funding, saving it from the big cuts. Homola even donated $37,000 of her own salary to the general fund to ease the pain for the county. And more: she uncovered abusive waste in the Island County indigent veteran’s fund, overhauled the fund, and brought services to 100 vets after it was only serving 5! Then she went on to lobby state government for other vets’ services.
She was a strong, smart study, digging deeply into issues, spending 60-hour weeks regularly — hardly the “shoot from the hip” style painted by her rival.
Who speaks for the people? About 80 percent of her funding comes from the “99 percent,” i.e., regular folks, unions, labor groups, and no corporate funders. And, oh, yes, she believes in helping the environment synergistically with helping business — crafting ordinances mutually helping each. She knows climate change is real (Bailey denies it vigorously) and that it will drastically affect our island and Washington in just the next decade or two, so Bailey’s foot-dragging on planning is not an option. Environmentally, she initiated comprehensive preservation policies for Ebey’s Landing. She championed improved technology for many procedures at the county, including better mapping abilities by which environmental situations could be tracked.
I want someone who will listen to my concerns, not those of the big corporations who want to carve up Washington for their profit. I’ll vote happily for Angie Homola.
MARK WAHL
Langley
