Editor:

This letter is written in response to "Elections Matter" found in the April 26 NCJ Mailbox section. I particularly took note of the statement regarding the 4-1 voting block that now occupies our county board of supervisors seats. For those who do not understand who or what composes this voting block, I offer a segment of the Feb. 13 board meeting video that is always done by Access Humboldt for the public's accessibility to these meetings.

At this meeting, one of their agenda items to be discussed was the current single-payer healthcare bill, Senate Bill 562, which has been removed from active Assembly consideration by being placed on the kill-it shelf by Speaker of the Assembly Anthony Rendon, and all the neo-liberal Democrats in the Assembly who stand behind him, including Jim Wood. They all make the statement this bill is incomplete and lacks a funding mechanism. That the Assembly's job is to legislate and amend this bill so it includes the funding mechanism makes such statements disingenuous at best.

I have been working with local elected governments to apply pressure to our own assemblymember, Mr. Wood, to encourage him to push and move this bill into the Assembly committees for the needed work to complete the bill. The city councils of Blue Lake, Arcata, Eureka and Trinidad, along with the community services districts of Manila, Willow Creek and Redway, have all passed support resolutions for this bill. I have been working with the county supervisors to obtain such a resolution since November of 2017, providing them with much educational materials to research and address this issue as an agenda item.

To say their research and discussion was dismal is an understatement. But voters should judge for themselves. My comments on their discussion is included: www.youtu.be/8qesUqbcYPQ.

Kathryn Donahue, McKinleyville