Dear Editor:
 
Mason County is sinking like the Titanic with Commissioner Lynda Ring Erickson at the helm . Lawsuits and judgements totalling over half a million dollars have put our County deep in debt with more rulings pending.
 
For eight years the citizens of Mason County have voted Lynda Ring Erickson into office based on name recognition, association, misinformation or just plain lack of interest in researching the candidates. Many brave citizens have reported known facts that have exposed a less than stellar Commissioner. Lawsuits and judgements, wrongful terminations, contract awards to special interests, overbuilt projects costing taxpayers hundreds of thousands, are just a few common themes reported. Seeing the whole picture is like collecting every small tile and piecing together a mosaic picture of a women, who has poorly represented the citizens who voted her into office.
 
Politics plays a very small role in the average person's life until it's time to vote. If you have not attended commission meetings, followed local news stories or got to personally know the candidates, you may rely on whatever information (or misinformation) is readily available: mailers promising the most popular "theme of the day," a barrage of campaign signs, gut feelings and yes, even who takes the best picture.
 
In the hectic world we live in, it is difficult to take the time to really look into the background of the candidates running for office. Most people do the best they can with the time and information available. Then we hope to God that the horror stories we hear about every level of politics are exaggerated. If we don't take the time to really know who we are putting into office, then who do we blame?
 
Lynda Ring Erickson is depending on your vote to win the 35th District. This time let's all step back and review her past eight years in office. We, as human beings, make honest mistakes, it's when we refuse to correct our mistakes or ask the hard questions, that we fail as a country. Mason County is small in population but gigantic in spirit. Right now we have the opportunity to take Lynda Ring Erickson out of the race for State Legislature and send a message that her kind of politics is not welcome at the County or State level.
 
Nancy Knox,  Shelton, WA 

Dear Editor:
 
If you really want to know a candidate running for office ask someone who lives in their neighborhood. Or better still, live next to them for 2 1/2 years as we have Lynda Ring Erickson, candidate for 35th District Representative.
 
What can you learn about a person by living next to them? 
 You can discern whether or not they possess integrity, honesty, and are of good character by the way they interact with others,
 
How do they treat neighbors? Do they disregard property lines and building codes or knowingly divert water onto a neighbor's property?
Do they follow the County codes or are their fence and other structures out of compliance with County rules?
Do they follow the same laws we must abide by or presume upon their position to work around the law?
Do they take pride in their property or allow it to become overgrown and a breeding ground for rats, mice and other rodents?
Do they respect or disrespect the rights of others by their actions? If they own dogs, do they allow them to bark incessantly?
Do they show their disregard for neighbors by dumping cat litter and old political signs on a neighboring property?
 
We have lived next door to Lynda Ring Erickson for over 2 years and it is enough to say, we will be voting for Drew MacEwen, for State Representative, 35th District.
 
--
Diana Harmon, Shelton, WA

      It was disheartening to learn Mason County Commissioner Linda Ring Erickson and candidate for the Washington State Legislature 35^th district is still spending campaign money from her campaign treasure chest on her husband. She's paying him an wage to manage nearly $110,000 dollars in cash contributions donated by the unknowing public this year. She has been doing so for many years in other political campaigns. How much money has she raised over the years and then spent on her husband?
     Hopefully the Ericksons aren't also paying themselves for their campaign gas and campaign auto depreciation, for their campaign meals, for their campaign beverages and for new campaign clothes.
     It's all about trust. But it's difficult to trust a Mason County Commissioner who spends our precious Mason County tax dollars to settle expensive lawsuits with the very citizens she represents.
     I trust the Ericksons will report all their campaign wages as income to the IRS on their 2012 Income Tax. Hopefully employer Lynda withheld any required state and federal employee withholding from her employee husband's pay checks. Then again if her husband writes his own paycheck he may have withheld any required deductions on his own.
     I trust Lynda could reduce some of her husband's management wages simply by writing all the checks herself. Hopefully she won't charge herself a wage to do so.
     I trust Lynda pays her husband a reasonable wage and didn't just pick a number out of the air.
     I trust her husband gets vacation days, sick leave, health insurance and a lucrative retirement package for his many years of dedicated service.
     I trust Lynda will refund the nearly $70,000 dollars of surplus donations currently in their campaign account. Maybe donate some of this cash to the $24,600,000 million dollar Belfair Sewer Project to help compensate for it's  $28,852,256 million dollar cost over run she managed as a County Commissioner. Donate the rest of it to help pay for an estimated $3,000,000 million dollars in damages from lawsuits she was a party to as our County Commissioner.
       I trust there would be far fewer questions being asked here today if Lynda had simply hired someone other than her husband but certainly not her close friend Emmett Dobey to manage their campaign money. Emmett managed the Belfair Sewer Project until suddenly leaving town last December unable to answer a number of questions about ballooning sewer project costs.
     The Public Disclosure Commission clearly warns candidates not to spend donated campaign money on family members. Maybe it's time the PDC outlawed this very questionable and perhaps unethical practice altogether.
      Past behavior is a strong indicator of future behavior. Trusting Linda Ring Erickson to unquestionably manage her own campaign money is a big disappointment for me.
     I won't trust her to manage my tax dollars in Olympia if I can't trust her to manage her campaign dollars in Shelton.
     This message was not approved by Lynda Ring Erickson.  
                                                              
Bob Harris,
Belfair