Regarding Mr. Adam Brauch’s Aug. 5 letter, the best way to judge whether Mr. Del Spivey’s “right priorities” match those of the voters is to examine his voting record. It is through recorded votes that the Bothell City Council conducts the people’s business.

The official minutes of all 132 council meetings from Jan. 1, 2006 through June 5, 2009 (the candidate filing deadline) were examined. Only final votes on agenda bill items and ordinances (the city’s laws) were included — not amendments, not continuances of public hearings, etc.

Of those 262 votes, Mr. Spivey was absent for 58 (22 percent) leaving 204 to be analyzed. On these, he voted over 95 percent of the time with the mayor and that number rises to almost 98 percent looking just at ordinances. How much independent thought does that represent? (Note that the mayor is Mr. Spivey’s campaign treasurer.)

Also, Mr. Brauch seems to enjoy selectively posting, online, video clips from council meetings.  He claims to be unbiased.  It’s too bad he hasn’t included the ones where Councilmembers Ewing and Samborg tried many times to eliminate or reduce that health-insurance benefit that people are talking about. Mr. Spivey opposed each one.

Next Tuesday, the voters can decide if they support Mr. Spivey’s ‘priorities.’

Bill Moritz, Bothell