Beware of Barbara Bailey’s half-truths and deceptive statements. It’s sad, but not surprising, that she would run away from her very conservative voting record. Since she cannot credibly deny votes that are a matter of public record (although she sometime tries to do that by claiming she can’t remember how she voted on a particular bill), she seeks instead to mislead voters by diverting their attention away from the troublesome aspects of her record.

For example, she voted against protecting orca whales from the impacts of vessels (HB 2514). Rather than acknowledge that vote and provide voters with her justification for voting the way she did on that bill, she talks instead about how she pushed to declare the orca whale as the state’s marine mammal.

What deception! It’s tantamount to declaring the spotted owl the state bird, but then taking no action to protect its habitat. Bailey wants to claim environmental credentials without really putting the environment ahead of competing business interests (the business interests that contribute heavily to her campaign). It is up to us to demand that she come clean by both acknowledging and explaining her voting record. The very fact that time and time again Bailey will engage in half-truths and deception in order to divert voters’ attention away from her voting record is recognition on her part that she is out of touch with the majority views of her constituents in the 10th District.

Nancy Jordan

Oak Harbor