Letters to the Editor

Let Heck and Herrera debate

As Third U.S. Congressional District citizens will we be limited to the exchange of commercials for Denny Heck and Jaime Herrera on the public airwaves, with idiotic one-liners, and special interest lies?

I’m a Democrat, but frankly I don’t know either of these candidates very well. Do you? We need to know exactly how they will address the issues and we need to know exactly what sort of people they are.

One great way to find this out is through face-to-face debating. I’m not talking about a question-and-answer moderated by a disinterested third party. I’m talking about an issues- based, what’s your position, rebuttal and defense. How will each candidate stand up for themselves, communicate directly to an audience, and deal with opposing opinions?

These are important political skills. You don’t find out these political qualities in carefully produced and edited commercials, parades or press releases.

“We the people” demand to see these candidates without the influence of their handlers or public relations committees. “We the People” demand not to be swayed by shadow financiers of special interest commercials. “We the people” demand a series of debates between Herrera and Heck so we can decide who ought to represent us.

I call on both campaigns and I call on all the newspapers in the Third District to make these debates happen.

Jim Ebacher, Camas

Herrera and Rossi -proven fiscal responsibility

A Post-Record editorial entitled, “New Taxes, for Camas no worries” (Aug. 31) was spot on.

Homes and businesses responded to the economic downturn with spending cuts. Government at every level, city, state and federal likewise has a duty to cut spending to survive these stormy times. Citizens have a choice to make this November election one of direction, either responsible stewardship, or a credit card spending mentality that doesn’t stop to consider that the bills must be paid.

Taxpayers are not an unlimited resource to be mined and depleted.

Former State Senator Dino Rossi and current State Representative and Camas resident Jaime Herrera have proven fiscal responsibility with taxpayer dollars in Washington state, and are sorely needed in Washington DC.

When facing a tough budget deficit, former Senator Rossi helped draft a balanced budget that rejected raising taxes to cover increased spending. Non-essential items including travel and retreats were eliminated or reduced as well as state motor pool cost reductions. He proposed a hiring freeze to reign in spending.

By contrast, the incumbent democrat senator in DC approved a $1.2 trillion “stimulus” that hasn’t delivered the jobs promised. The U.S. now owes more than $500 million in interest every day to cover our government’s debt, now estimated at 13 trillion dollars (defeatthedebt.com). The Wall Street bail outs were handed out without adequate restrictions, then misused for executive bonuses.

Democrat proposals to spend even more money we don’t have are destructive and unsustainable.

Rossi and Herrera understand that spending cuts are necessary to restore fiscal sanity. They support keeping the tax cuts for families and small businesses that boosted growth when they were adopted.

Rossi and Herrera also support the repeal of the estate tax (or death tax). The American Family Business Institute, released a study that showed repealing the tax permanently would create 1.5 million jobs nationwide and nearly 34,000 in Washington state. The estate tax includes both personal and business assets, thus hits family business owners and farmers especially hard. The estate tax expired this year but is scheduled to return in 2011 at a rate of 55 percent on all assets over $1 million unless Congress acts first. Ann Rivers shares these ideals and would serve our area and state well.

Citizens can inform themselves about these candidates, stay informed through October when revelations about candidates sometimes surface, and vote in November (www.dinorossi.com, www.JaimeHerrera.com, electannrivers.com).

Margaret Tweet, Camas