Tuesday, October 20, 1998

Vote we can't afford

I note in the Oct. 16 newspaper there is another barrage of letters degrading U.S. Rep. Stenholm. It would seem that every time the Republicans have another one of their back-yard parties, another group is assigned the duties of writing to the editor.

Mr. Izzard, in a speech before an oil group, spoke in favor of unitizing oil royalty owners, even though that is a matter of state control. This speech was undoubtedly prepared by a special interest group, either by Newt Gingrich or Dick Armey. The two college professors seem to be his only source of information, other than Mr. Potato Head, Dan Quayle.

Could it be that Mr. Izzard would be in favor of unitizing the fees charged by members of the American Dental Association?

It is a bit odd that Gingrich could be promising Izzard assignments to the various committees while at the same time he himself is still under investigation for illegal money-raising tactics.

No, we cannot afford to vote Charlie Stenholm out of office. The 17th District would suffer the consequences for years and years to come. Yes, some of us still remember the Herbert Hoover days of a chicken in every pot.

ROLAND MILLER

Abilene

Shame on Charlie

Shame on you, Charlie Stenholm! Whatever happened to campaigning on the issues? Attacking a man's character on a TV ad where he can't respond isn't exactly what I call integrity. In my 41 years of teaching, I recall years of teaching children that honesty and integrity are of prime importance, that name-calling isn't appropriate and if you can't say something good, don't say anything. Too bad you weren't in my class.

Slanderous name-calling is certainly not a good example to set for our children. Yes, Rudy Izzard has admitted making mistakes on his FEC report in the last campaign - mistakes that were resolved to the FEC's satisfaction, but he did not say he lied as you have claimed in your ad.

As an educator, I also question your taking $10,000 from the National Education Association and then co-sponsoring a bill to abolish the Department of Education (H.R. 1817). I may not always agree with Dr. Izzard's position on education, but he is willing to sit down and talk about it and at least he says what he thinks.

It seems there is a great deal you don't want the voters in the 17th District to know. Unfortunately, too many of us believe everything we read in print and everything we hear on TV, and it isn't always so.

Voters of the 17th District, wake up! Do you want a career politician for a representative or a person who will listen to what you say and vote accordingly in Washington?

CLARANELL MURRAY

Abilene

Figures questioned

Just how did our county treasurer suddenly increase the county's interest earnings by $84,000 per year when she has not been able to complete any of her other duties?

I checked. The county investment committee, of which the treasurer is one member out of four, simply compared how other counties were handling their banking and copied them. We are not earning an extra $84,000 per year. We are finally earning about what everyone else has been earning for years.

On top of this, we just spent an extra $15,000 or so to pay an outside firm to do the work the treasurer was paid to do but didn't. So instead of being up $84,000, we are actually down more than $15,000. I'm voting for Lesa Hart Crosswhite. She's a business woman who will do all the work required of our county treasurer.

EDRA JOHNSON

Abilene