Lewis County suffers from an all-too common malady for rural Americans: inadequate internet connectivity.
This has serious economic consequences. In this day and age, established businesses need to be able to count on decent broadband to grow and prosper. New businesses — small and large — will not be interested in establishing themselves in a county that lacks adequate internet if they have other alternatives with better broadband. And during the COVID-19 pandemic, we saw what an impact decent internet has on our ability to educate our kids, for parents to work remotely, for people to access telemedicine and a whole host of other important activities.
The Lewis County commissioners have made a bit of progress to improve our internet situation, but much more of their energy, attention and investment is needed to really make a difference.
Of the two candidates for county commissioner, only one supports improving rural internet in Lewis County: Harry Bhagwandin. In his public campaign statements, he stands in support of doing more as a county commissioner to help Lewis County improve our internet situation.
Candidate Scott Brummer, on the other hand, has not voiced support for or even mentioned improving rural internet as an issue of importance to him. Instead, he has publicly identified himself as a “free market” and “small government” proponent.
The problem with the free-market and small government approach to broadband is that it has given us exactly what we have now.
For-profit providers like Comcast, CenturyLink and the few other internet providers don’t make a profit when they invest in sprawling areas like Lewis County that lack population density. And so they don’t invest. As a result, consumers have to make do with what they get, even if market forces provide them only with substandard options, or in some cases no options at all.
This is the sad state of affairs that exists throughout much of Lewis County.
As a free-market proponent, it is a virtual certainty that Scott Brummer would not support efforts by the county commissioners to improve internet connectivity in this county. And county residents will continue to be stuck with inadequate internet or even no internet access at all.
If you’d like to see improvements in rural internet here in Lewis County, you would be wise to cast your vote for Harry Bhagwandin.
LL Hauer
Winlock
