I want to correct a claim made by Ms. Elizabeth Cameron in her letter to the editor praising John Braun in hopes he is elected to the U.S. Congress.
When I lived in Centralia for five years, I sent Braun several emails about problems I was having with local government, and complaints I had about his policies as published in his constant opinion pieces Chad Taylor publishes for him.
Never once did I get a reply. Not from him, not from a staffer.
When Elizabeth claims John Braun “listens intently to what you are saying,” that is not the truth. It simply isn’t true. John Braun knows this. He’s counting on you to ignore it after you’ve elected him.
Try it sometime. You’ll find that if you aren’t rich enough, or if solving your little problem doesn’t make John Braun any political hay, exactly how intently he listens to you. Try it. See for yourself.
Ask the people who live on the north end of Sandra Avenue when the last time they got to vote in a Thurston County PUD election, after that municipal corporation simply bought their neighborhood’s privately owned water system in 2019. It’s the people of Thurston County who tell those Centralia citizens exactly how much they will pay for their water. Then, ask John Braun what he did about that.
To this day, those families living in that neighborhood find the very first article of your state constitution to be nothing more than empty words. John Braun listens, indeed.
Jesse Ohlsson
Formerly of Centralia
