Letter | Herron is challenging wrong opponent

Published 4:49 pm Tuesday, October 20, 2015

In the Snoqualmie Valley Hospital District race for position 3, between Emma Herron and Ryan Roberts, I was dismayed by implications raised in the local voter’s guide.

Herron notes the district is “deeply in debt” and laments the 2012 decision to sell the old hospital to the Snoqualmie Tribe at a 50 percent discount. While I agree these decisions were unsound, Herron is running against the wrong commissioner.

The decision to accept the discounted purchase price from the Snoqualmie Tribe was made in June 2012. Decisions to incur substantial debt date back to the mid-2000’s. The district incurred further debt on the new hospital.

If Herron disagrees with these decisions, why doesn’t she run against David Speikers in Position 1 or Joan Young in Position 5? Speikers has been on the board since 2006 and Young since 1999, when the debt was incurred. Both voted in favor of the discounted sale of the hospital.

Roberts became a commissioner in May 2014. He has worked to establish fiscal accountability and responsibility. His career is advising the healthcare industry in risk management. Roberts also understands the need for this new hospital to expand patient care by improving quality of healthcare provided.

Herron and the community would be better served by her running against the commissioners who perpetrated the decisions she opposes.

Roberts stands apart by actively engaging in steps to fix prior mismanagement, place the district on sound financial footing, and ensure the district advances the interests of patients and taxpayers.

As I agree with all of these actions, I will vote for Roberts.

Mark Hawkins

Snoqualmie