There are more important problems

Jay Inslee said Monday that he wants to demand “fundamental reforms” to make state government “more focused on the principal job of the state of Washington, which is job creation.” [“Inslee unveils agenda for jobs,” NWTuesday, Feb. 7].

Then he goes on to suggest the creation of a new Cabinet department apart from the already existing Commerce Department, a whole new bureaucracy, as his initial step in accomplishing his “primary” goal.

The next thing out of his mouth was tax breaks for “new industry” when our Legislature can’t even get its act together to rid us of the old ones.

Jay. This is a Democrat talking to you. Job creation may be one of the jobs of state government, but it certainly is not the principal one. There are a lot more important goals needing serious attention that are central to what makes a great state.

Certainly the education and welfare of its citizenry and dealing with revenues and budget before our credit completely tanks ranks way up there, well before job creation.

— Robert Squaglia, Seattle

What about the marine trades?

I apparently missed the news flash that Puget Sound and other Washington waters no longer has world-class seaports in Olympia, Tacoma, Seattle, Everett, Bremerton, Longview, Vancouver and elsewhere, and that Washington state’s vast maritime industry has apparently been exported overseas, leaving us with only the “key industries such as aerospace, clean energy and agriculture” to power job creation.

Candidate Jay Inslee, are you even aware of the current proposals down in Olympia to start some kind of marine-technology programs at community colleges and our state’s preeminent position in the maritime world?

I respectfully suggest that it would be a good idea, if you want to be our governor, to recognize the huge importance of the marine crafts, marine trade, (not to mention the Navy), and their supporting infrastructures in the Washington economy.

— Lawrence Baum, charter captain, Camano Sail and Power, Camano Island