BY AARON WALKER
White Rock

This letter is in response to the recent letter by Lisa Shin “Where Candidates Stand On The Nuisance Code”. To be blunt and to the point: her letter is fearmongering and distraction techniques. The Republicans have had a rough couple of days in the papers, and this is a poor attempt to pivot away from that.

Let’s start with the distraction tactic. Gary Stradling has been in the papers recently for his abhorrent comments regarding migrant workers and the way in which he talked down to the facilitator asking the questions. He even offered a “sorry you were offended” non-apology for his comments which went over as poorly as his original comments. Shin’s letter serves to try to pivot away from that cycle of bad news to paint incumbent Democrats as the “bad guys” in the nuisance code update. Where this fails is that unlike the Republican candidates, the Democratic candidates have been more than willing to share their perspectives with those that ask. It’s awful that a leader in the local Republican party tries to paint the Democrats as question dodgers when that’s exactly what her own party candidates have done this entire campaign. Lisa is just trying to distract voters from the real issue: The Republicans “big” candidate Gary Stradling made a racist comment about migrant workers and rudely talked down to the moderator at the Chamber Candidate Forum.

Now we should look at the fearmongering. This was a tactic heavily employed by Lisa Shin during her campaign against Christine Chandler several years ago. It’s no surprise to see her and the Republican Party resort to these tactics again, and they need to be called out. Stating “the public has a right to know how Councilor Ryti and Councilor Hand plan to vote…” is a scare tactic. These two councilors are on public record on multiple occasions about this issue if I remember correctly. Go back and watch those meetings if you can. Ask these councilors their thoughts on the nuisance code. There is a lot that can change between now and the decision, including public feedback. The biggest fearmongering is the last sentence of her letter: “Please avoid ‘buyer’s remorse’ after the election!”. This is designed to prey on a persons’ FOMO (fear of missing out). This is a miserably underhanded tactic designed to try to shift votes to the Republican candidates. Don’t fall for it. The Democratic party candidates care about the outcome of the nuisance code as well. They value public input and feedback. They don’t refuse to answer questions posed to them based on what they deem is “relevant” or not. If you have concerns or questions, talk to the candidate. Don’t buy in to these distraction/fear tactics. From my personal experience, the Democratic candidates will answer your questions. The Republican candidates will do everything they can to avoid questions they don’t like because it might harm their candidacy. 

We shouldn’t elect anyone that makes racist remarks, and then returns with the non-apology of “I’m sorry you were offended”. We shouldn’t elect anyone that considers members of the LGBTQ+ community “differently abled” (code for disabled). We shouldn’t elect anyone that talks down to people moderating discussions/asking questions. All these things were actions by Gary Stradling that Lisa Shin was trying to distract you from. The repercussions of these thoughts/actions being elected to council are much farther reaching than the nuisance code.