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Saturday, Aug 30, 2008
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Letters |
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| HIV/AIDS PREVENTION
AND EDUCATION:
COUNCIL MEMBERS
DESERVE THANKS Dear Editor, I was glad to read your November 23 front-page article informing us of the $150,000 increase that the City of Seattle and King County each added to their 2008 budgets for HIV/AIDS education and prevention. That's a $300,000 increase, a hefty sum that should go a long way in slowing the spread of the disease. I am particularly pleased that you pointed out that it is the leadership of King County Councilmember Julia Patterson and Seattle City Councilmember Tom Rassmussen that brought this increase to fruition. Government budgets tend to be behemoths with so many details that no one person should be expected to get their arms around all of it. That's the reason the writing and analysis of these budgets are broken down into committees. Somehow it came to the attention of certain activists in our community that there was a King County budget proposal to eliminate the position of the county's Equal Benefits Ordinance (EBO) administrator. The EBO is a county ordinance passed in 2004 that requires county contractors who do $30,000 or more worth of business with the county to give domestic partners the same employment-related benefits they give to married employees. Without an administrator to oversee this program and assure that suppliers and contractors are in compliance, the ordinance is useless. Enter the activists. Phone calls were placed to councilmembers. The long and short of it was that Councilmembers Bob Furgeson and Dow Constantine were in charge of that part of the budget, with Coundcilmember Ferguson chairing that committee. It so happened that the proposed elimination of the EBO administrator was a budget detail they were unaware of until they heard from their (LGBT activist) constituents. That turned out to be a quick end to that proposal. The position was saved; we still have and EBO in King County with teeth in it. When elected officials come through for us, they should hear from us. Please take the time to contact them members of both councils to thank them for their support, but in particular: For HIV/AIDS prevention and education increases: King County Councilmember Julia Patterson - Julia.Patterson@Kingcounty.gov (206) 296-1005 Seattle City Councilmember Tom Rasmussen - Tom.Rasmussen@Seattle.gov (206) 684-8808 For saving the EBO administrator's position: King County Councilmember Bob Ferguson - Bob.Ferguson@Kingcounty.gov (206) 296-1001 King County Councilmember Dow Constantine - Dow.Constantine@Kingcounty.gov, (206) 296-1008 Thank you, Bill Dubay GREAT JOB I enjoyed the review of The King and I by Miryam Gordon (posted Friday, November 23, 2007 - Volume 35 Issue 47) and would like to thank Miryam for doing a great job. Budy Djunaedi |
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