I urge voters to look beyond the spin campaign against Mary Margaret Haugen to see all the good she has done for Island County and our district during her many years of public service. When the Washington State Ferry system began having problems due to lack of funding to maintain vessels and provide service, blame was unfairly placed on Sen. Haugen, and the campaign against her focuses on this issue again and again.

I wonder how many of the folks placing this blame on Mary Margaret voted for the initiatives brought forth by Tim Eyman, which have gutted funding for important transportation and infrastructure for our state. Voters were warned of all the services that would go away or be severely cut by this lack of funding, but they ignored the warnings, somehow expecting the state to keep up with the needs and services for our growing population without the funding.

Now that we are feeling the pain from these harmful initiatives that became law because of uninformed voters, the blame is being put on the very person who has done the most for us in these difficult times. Please make sure you are informed about the issues and the candidates, and understand that the dire condition of the Washington State Ferries is just one of the many casualties caused by uninformed voters cutting budgets for necessary services such as transportation.

Susan Berta

Greenbank