This note concerns the recent article on the upcoming debate for the Democratic candidates of the 1st Congressional District.

It is critical for all voters, no matter of which party, to attend in order to know what we are getting into when we cast our ballots in November.

Namely, this debate will hopefully air out some past issues, as all five have skeletons in their closets which the public deserves to see. Four out of the five (Steve Hobbs being the exception) have broken previous agreements in order to run for two elections at once: the special election to fill Jay Inslee’s seat and the larger one for the next session of Congress.

Why do this? The answer is that they are circumventing federal campaign contribution rules so that they can receive double the campaign funds by running twice.

As for Hobbs, his campaign website fails to mention even one policy he advocates, beyond the usual “creating jobs” and “building a better Washington”.

Are these the people that we really want to send to the nation’s capital?

I certainly will be following this debate and I hope that you will too. More public interest may compel each candidate to be clearer about his or her past and goals for the district.

Tejas Ranade, Redmond