An April 21 “Jeers” editorial claimed that the $31,000 spent to verify the signatures on petitions was unnecessary and wasteful. Your editorial did not indicate whether this amount was a result of hiring additional workers, staff overtime or simply an accounting of existing staff time. If the expense is staff time, they were just doing their job.
Assuming the $31,000 was a nonstaff or staff overtime expense, one wonders why it is not a worthy expense for voters to exercise their right to use the initiative process to correct or institute actions they feel necessary. The expense is a small price for people exercising their rights. Your editorial was one more effort to stifle the use of elections because of cost. Make the initiative and election process more efficient but please do not disregard their value.
Mark E. Swenson
Camas
