Editor,

Barbara Bailey is taking a page from Trump’s playbook. I was aghast when I read her Op Ed regarding Bob Ferguson’s lawsuit against the Navy. Instead of addressing the lawsuit itself, she created a farcical dramatization of political intent, future disaster, alternative facts-based history and faux statistics about the Navy’s contribution to the economy of Whidbey Island. I imagine her supporters will cite these fabrications as if they are based in reality.

As the senator who represents my district, she is fueling the division and hostility that is occurring because the Navy is forcing their Growler expansion on our pastoral community. To call it unpatriotic to ask for legally required environmental impact studies is to acknowledge that her constituents as collateral damage is not her concern. For the Navy to ignore the lessons of Pearl Harbor and single site a critical military weapon goes against their own strategic plan.

Barbara is a member of ALEC, the billionaire-funded council that works to support business at the expense of the environment and the working 99 percent. She is also a member of the WA Military Alliance —- which seeks to subjugate local control in our state to that of the military. Our state constitution Article 1, Section 7 states, “No person shall be disturbed in his private affairs, or his home invaded, without authority of law.”

Barbara Bailey is mirroring the tactics used by the White House to obfuscate blatant disregard for the law.

The extent of misinformation contained in her Op Ed was truly astonishing. I am grateful that we have an attorney general who will protect us from unlawful invasion.

Becky Wagner

Coupeville