In reference to Rich Elfers’ column dated Aug. 5, 2013, “Union Seeking More Influence,” I was curious to see campaign financing for the various candidates for (Enumclaw) City Council. Of the six I checked (I did not check Morgan Irwin since he is running unopposed) on the Public Disclosure Commission website, http://www.pdc.wa.gov/MvcQuerySystem/Candidate/loc_candidates?year=2013, Tom Mann shows a total of $6,250 with $5,150 or 82.4 percent coming from various unions. The balance appears, from research, to come from people associated with unions, and his campaign treasurer is affiliated with a union. I contacted the other candidates since their information is not on the PDC website and asked about their campaign financing. Other than Sean Krebs (I haven’t heard from him), their financing came from friends and/or family.

Why are unions backing a particular candidate? There has to be an ulterior motive because money is not freely given; there are always strings attached. Is this best serving our city?

Nancy Wieland

Enumclaw