“Voting bloc” conspiracy concerns are unfounded | Letters

The truth is that a group of local citizens who are disturbed about what’s been occurring with our local hospital district, especially the failure of two emergency medical services levies, got together to try to repair the situation.

Last Tuesday night, at the League of Women Voters candidates forum, one or more of the candidates for the Public Hospital District Commission claimed that the “Barbara, Bill and Monica” yard signs on the island smack of some conspiracy to elect a “voting bloc.”

The truth is that a group of local citizens who are disturbed about what’s been occurring with our local hospital district, especially the failure of two emergency medical services levies, got together to try to repair the situation. With three vacancies on a five member commission we saw a rare opportunity to bring about positive change.

Of the six candidates who had filed, we saw three who recognize that there are serious problems afflicting our local health care system and three who seem to think that everything is fine. Selecting the candidates we wanted to support was not a difficult decision.

We contacted our chosen candidates and told them we wanted to form a campaign committee to elect all three of them. We told them we would coordinate with them to ensure that our message was consistent with their individual messages but we would run our own campaign.

They agreed on the condition that they would also be free to do their own campaigning. We contacted the state Public Disclosure Commission and were told that what we were proposing was perfectly legal as long as we registered as a separate campaign and submitted our own reports. With that, The Committee to Elect Barbara Sharp, Bill Williams and Monica Harrington was born.

Our committee is a matter of public record. If you have a mailbox on San Juan Island you received a postcard this week containing our names. We raised the money to pay for those yard signs (and postcards), we designed them and we installed them. They are our attempt to say to the community these are the three candidates who understand the problems and have the experience and the will to solve them. And every one of them proposes to do it by negotiation with Peace Health, not through lawsuits.

Liz Pillow, Treasurer

Committee to Elect Barbara, Bill W and Monica