Concerns about Jenny

In all of the letters I’ve read about the public hospital district board election it struck me the other day that no one has mentioned Jenny Ledford’s political beliefs. Jenny Ledford is a Tea Party activist. You can verify this for yourself. Go to the Journal’s website and search for “Jenny Ledford, Tea Party.” Or do the same search on “Google.” In one instance, she demonstrated against the Affordable Care Act, which has made health insurance available to millions of previously uninsured people.

And you remember the Tea Party, don’t you? Those are the people who have ground Congress to a halt, who shut down the government not too long ago, and who are threatening to do it again in December; the people who have used voodoo math to construct federal budgets that destroy the safety nets for the poor and the working poor to give tax cuts to the wealthy.

And consistent with Tea Party philosophy, Ledford told us at the recent League of Women Voters forum that she has “a plan” to take care of those islanders who can’t afford to go to our new hospital because the average cost of an outpatient visit in 2014 was $1,100 (from PIMC’s own report). Her plan is not to amend the contract with Peace Island Medical Center so that the charity care funding actually benefits the working people on the island. Jenny’s “plan” is basically to pass the hat.

And if she’s successful in her efforts to defund Planned Parenthood where do we send the hundreds of islanders who are currently getting their health care from Planned Parenthood because they can’t afford the hospital, and the hospital won’t provide full reproductive care anyway? I don’t think Jenny’s the kind of person that most of us want as our representative on the hospital district board. Frankly, I don’t trust Jenny.

Louise Dustrude

Friday Harbor

(Editor’s Note: See Jenny Ledford’s response here)