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Pete Scobby (Letters, Nov. 3) rails against "conservatives" for a host of financial and governmental abuses including "stealing" his retirement funds with "deregulation of the financial industry." Rather than conservatives, the object of his scorn should be corporatists and crony capitalists of both parties in bed with Wall Street and others for their own mutual benefit.

Popular belief paints Republicans as the exclusive patrons of such, but this is false. Democrats are equally guilty. Look no further than the roles Congressman Frank and Sens. Dodd and Schumer played in the housing/financial bust and the amount of money Wall Street poured into the Obama electoral coffers.

True conservatives despise crony capitalism and are against government bailouts and takeovers, including those started by the Bush administration and expanded by the Obama administration. Party affiliation has no bearing on what is right or wrong.

Conservatives understand that in spite of its imperfections, when allowed to operate in an environment free of excessive government interference, free-market capitalism provides the most good for the most people. No other system provides more incentive or opportunity for anyone willing to work. Conservatives are not the enemy. Neither is free-market capitalism. Corporatists/crony capitalists and their dirty politician patrons are.

Mike Gross

Spokane

This is in regard to the State Patrol people who bought the fake diplomas getting off easy for trying to get raises for unearned credits.

Maybe I am too thick-headed to realize that they thought that paying money for a diploma was the same as earning it through hard work in college. Maybe it was because they knew that they would get away with it. Either way, what they did was dishonest at best.

Robert Jones

Medical Lake

At first I was mad at reading the headline about fake diplomas ("Fake diplomas won't cost jobs," Oct. 31), but after reading this article I am hopping mad that these eight Washington State Patrol troopers have been on paid leave for a year and now will be re-instated with suspensions of unpaid leave ranging from three to 10 days.

Why has this been allowed to drag on for a year while these troopers continue to be paid for not working? This is craziness in today's tight economy to pay these people while they are not working. It should have been resolved right away and they should have either been on unpaid suspension or put back on the job, but to pay them for not working is senseless.

Although I am not a Washington resident, it still makes me mad as hell as a U.S. taxpayer. This is a lot of taxpayer money down the drain.

Joni Lueck

Hayden Lake

After following The Spokesman-Review's reportings on the Otto Zehm story, I feel compelled to offer my opinion. These reportings are becoming increasingly more inaccurate and offensive with each printing.

I am in full agreement that this was a preventable tragedy, however Mr. Zehm is not the only victim of this unfortunate situation. Perhaps the Zehm family and caretakers should share in the blame for what happened March 18, 2006. Their improper monitoring of Mr. Zehm's special needs helped put him into a situation that was beyond his control. This was neither the responsibility of the general public, nor of the Spokane Police Department – Officer Thompson in particular. Many of the events that happened were beyond their control as well.

This "incorrect reporting" (by your own admission, Oct. 31) has not only caused unnecessary personal and professional hardship for Officer Thompson, it has helped create an unfair bias against the Spokane Police Department. In the interest of fair reporting, you should research your articles more thoroughly, or tell both sides of this sad story.

Joanne Vincent

Spokane

Spokane County Raceway Park should be named Mielke and Richard Raceway.

County Commissioners Mark Richard and Todd Mielke held a public meeting without informing the press (violation of the Open Public Meetings Act). In fact the third county commissioner was not notified of the meeting.

Mark Richard said he had no intention of inviting Mager.

Richard said, "My interests are to make sure (the raceway) is a success, hers is to do anything she can to make sure I'm not in office anymore."

Adding insult to injury, the two culprits blew off a scheduled meeting of the County Commission, which was being held at the same time at the county Courthouse.

Martin Burnette (Richard's campaign manager quoted by The Spokesman-Review) said, "It wasn't a public meeting, it was a private meeting of private individuals with a private corporation."

Headlines now state Spokane County boots raceway operator and debts remain. I wonder why Mielke and Richard aren't taking full blame for the whole fiasco. They were willing to take credit for the great purchase and the great operator they had lined up.

I bet the one poor bidder on the park who they ran over is now one happy camper.

Lloyd Zimmerman

Spokane

Rockwood Clinic, a financially viable organization in this region for 80 years, is suddenly being sold to a national conglomerate. Will this benefit the Spokane region? Only time will tell.

What I find shocking is the fact that this happened while the CEO, Dr. Kevin Sweeny, has been on leave of absence since Jan. 1, 2009, and continues on leave until Jan. 1, 2010. How can an interim CEO and board of directors make such a major decision as selling a multimillion-dollar institution without the input of its leader?

I know Dr. Sweeny personally; he is a well-respected leader and member of the community with the highest of integrity. He has not been allowed to take part in any discussions or even communicate with the staff or physicians of Rockwood while he has been on leave. The shareholders should be ashamed of letting this happen in such a sudden manner, without his input, and they should be ashamed for allowing Dr. Sweeny's integrity to be questioned by Sacred Heart.

Charlotte Carstensen

Post Falls

The American people are looking for two things when it comes to health care: low costs and easy access. When it comes to government-run health care, the costs will be substantially higher in the near future, not lower. This is because in the Senate version and in the House bills, they have not addressed tort reform nor have they addressed easy access to health care.

When it comes to tort reform, there are two possibilities. First, we can go to a loser-pay system such as the United Kingdom recently put into place. The incidence of malpractice lawsuits has dropped dramatically in the U.K. It requires arbitration before the plaintiff sues. Secondly, the other possibility would be to do like Sweden and New Zealand are doing and that is to incorporate a "no fault" approach. Under this system, patients are quickly compensated when payments are based on the severity of injury without assigning blame to doctors. Let the AMA discipline the errant doctor the same way the bar association disciplines lawyers.

Lastly, the public needs to be able to buy health insurance across state lines; we currently do this with homeowners insurance and auto insurance.

John E. Ahern

Spokane

We need a single-payer system. This is not a partisan issue, it is a human issue, and health care should be a right, not a privilege.

No corporate welfare. I say no mandatory private insurance. Extortionists should not be rewarded with pay.

An insurance pool should be a nonprofit entity. This greed and excess of the private insurance industry is bringing down our country.

Nina Kindem

Spokane

Perhaps Mr. Swanson (Letters, Oct. 29) read those numerous reports declaring 50 percent of this country's wealth is held by 1 percent. The current "socialist" administration proposes to increase taxes by 3 percent to this downtrodden group to pre-Bush rates.

Many Americans didn't give permission to make war in Iraq and continue it for seven years. But we continue to pay for it. Is it not redistribution of wealth for war to line pockets of "defense" contractors and other merchants of death?

It's necessary to legislate programs to assist less-fortunate Americans because kindness seems to be off the radar of many such as Swanson. I'd be willing to bet they had no problems sending troops against overwhelming evidence of no involvement in 9/11.

I've never had problems paying taxes to improve education, health and opportunity for a better life for people, particularly Americans.

It has been a fact through history, societies that protect a small, wealthy, privileged class in the face of a large class of people forced to support them are doomed to failure. Now that's thievery.

Donald W. Daw

Chattaroy

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