Letters to the editor — Aug. 24, 2022

Vote for Hays

This November you have a chance to vote for Ken Hays for Clallam PUD Commissioner. He’s a candidate who will lead Clallam PUD into our challenging and changing future.

Ken Hays built his career and leadership skills in Sequim, and now he wants to help our whole County. I am really impressed and amazed by Ken’s qualifications.

I’m relatively new to Clallam County, but I served two terms as commissioner for Thurston PUD. For more than a decade I met commissioners from around the state. I can think of few commissioners I’ve met who bring such a strong set of skills and knowledge to the job as Ken does.

His two terms as Mayor of Sequim tells me he knows how to serve on a governing board and work with others.

He’s shown his dedication to public service through the certificate of leadership he earned through years of study and work.

And his decades of career in architecture and planning have taught him about the challenges of local government, including setting budgets, working with clients and partners, and thinking strategically.

Vote for Ken Hays in November — it’s time for a change!

Paul Pickett

Port Angeles

Letter ‘misleading at best’

The Aug. 10 letter to the editor “But wuzzit true” (Sequim Gazette, Aug. 10, page A-12) is misleading at best and simply not true at worst.

The author infers President Biden is responsible for the economy quickly losing 22 million jobs. The U.S. economy did lose 22 million jobs in March and April 2020 (marketplace.org, Aug. 5). Biden hadn’t been elected yet.

It’s true that 600,000 have died from COVID since Biden was elected. On Inauguration day (Jan. 21, 2021), the seven-day average for deaths was 3,211. On Aug. 10, 2022, the seven-day average was 354 (usafacts.org).

On March 14, 2022 Joe Biden said “Make no mistake. The current spike in gas prices is largely the fault of Vladimir Putin.”

On March 16, 2022, politifact.com rated this “mostly true.” They said: “The big spike came when the invasion began, with the price of gas rising by 83 cents to $4.32.”

On March 9, 2022, politifact.com also said there were two main drivers of gas price hikes: war and economic recovery post-pandemic.

On inflation, the author cherry-picks countries for comparison. In June 2022 inflation rates averaged 10.3 percent for 38 wealthy countries belonging to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

The U.S. rate peaked in June at 9.1 percent. Japan is a silly example of low inflation. Japan’s inflation rate has remained low because of its persistently weak economy. Japan’s average growth since 1989 is 1.2 percent, less than half of the U.S.

Louis Kalmar

Sequim