Letters to the Editor: Oct. 21

Time for a fresh start

Trump is a direct result of the behavior of Republicans in Congress for the past 10-15 years. They have behaved in a haughty, condescending manner with no sign of collaboration or compromise with Democrats, Independents or others. They have sneered at our president, snickering at rude jokes, and even acting like ‘we’ are the takers and ‘they’ are the givers (Romney). They deserve the candidate they got and they got the candidate they deserve.

Lisa Murkowski has been part of the Republican establishment, refusing to work collaboratively with anything initiated by Democrats or our president. As someone who once voted mostly for Republicans, watching Lisa and others, I wonder if I will ever again vote Republican.

Margaret Stock is a smart, hard-working independent who owes political allegiance to no party. She is a small businesswoman with about a dozen employees for whom she pays their health insurance premiums. She knows the law, and works as an immigration attorney. Margaret knows how to get fair bi-partisan bills passed into law. She was a pilot in the military. She grew up with many disadvantages, including foster homes and found the American way to work to lift her above her circumstances.

Let’s try something different than the same. It’s time for a fresh face and a fresh approach by an honest and hard-working woman running for the U.S. Senate: Margaret Stock.

— Linda Sharp

Anchorage

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Stick with Stutes

As we approach Election Day, November 8, the media are full of opinions regarding issues and individuals. The dark arts of politics captivate or repel us, depending on our specific interest or persuasion. But there are some bright spots.

Here in Kodiak we are blessed with several good people running for our single House seat in the State Legislature. I want to point out some of the many advantages of retaining Louise Stutes in the State House.

With the pink salmon run ending as the worst since 1971, our Representative Louise Stutes, who occupies the chair of Alaska’s House Fisheries Special Committee, convinced Governor Walker to begin the process of working with the U.S. Department of Commerce to declare a fishing disaster for the Kodiak, Prince William Sound, Lower Cook Inlet and Chignik management areas. Additionally, Rep. Stutes has begun negotiations to allow fishermen to defer payments on state loans and she is working for federal grants to come through to assist people who depend on pinks.

I’ve known Louise Stutes for many years and she works as hard as our representative as she did as a member of the Borough Assembly. She makes her job more than a full time position.  Her expertise and efforts have not been limited to the fisheries, as evidenced by her endorsement for re-election by the NEA, the NRA and the AFL-CIO.

The Alaska Legislature has been paralyzed by abject division along party lines as the state’s economic situation has worsened, but Louise Stutes has worked across party lines to reach consensus.

On October 7, 2016, Randy Hoffbeck, Commissioner of the Alaska Department of Revenue said “Your Senator (Gary Stevens) and Representative (Louise Stutes) are not part of the problem — they are part of the solution.”

That is a well-deserved accolade for our first term Representative. We can expect Louise to gain more influence for the good of her district, and therefore, the good of the State of Alaska if we re-elect her.

So, for me, it’s “Stick with Stutes.”

— Jake Jacobson

Kodiak

 

Questioning Cordova Chronicles

I write today after reading the Aug. 19 article, “Cordova Chronicles: A Texan in Paradise,” by the illustrious Dick Shellhorn, recently arrived by overland courier to the far reaches of Austin, Texas, home of one Huckleberry Cole Moorhead.

It is clear to the reader that Mr. Shellhorn’s acquaintance with the facts is sufficiently more casual than the relationship he shares with his grandchildren, whose exploits he relays, occasionally truthfully, in the above referenced article.  While Mr. Shellhorn may enjoy a clever turn of phrase and delight in the art of spinning the King’s English, he does so while severing credible ties to any semblance of effort towards “getting it right” or providing “just the facts, Jack”—those quaintly obsolete journalistic standards that once served to buttress all that was right with American letters.  Perhaps Tricky Dick spends too many hours firing peach-schnapps-primed potshots at passing fowl on Pete Dahl (pronounced Peed-all, I am repeatedly told), and not enough passes by the pressroom.  For the record, we dare not sedate our beloved Bevo (except, perhaps, when playing the Oregon State Beavers, for their sake), the capitol building is only our nation’s sixth-tallest, etc. etc.

As a proud Texan, native Houstonian, and father of Austinite Huckleberry Cole Moorhead, I must insist that Shellhorn be held to some minimal journalistic standards, and leave the tall tales to the op-ed section of the paper. Readers of the article may recall that the subject in question is already more than enamored of life in the largest state in the Union, and all the water, mud, and heavy machinery that such an existence promises.  Coupled with an abiding love for the grandpa who never lets the facts get in the way of a good story (a grandpa who will denigrate his grandson’s home state by way of lies, damned lies, and zero statistics) I fear my efforts toward sivilizing the child will be for naught, and we may lose him to light out for the great Alaskan Territory once and for all.

— Scott Moorhead

Austin, Texas

 

Letters to the Editor

The Cordova Times welcomes letters to the editor. General interest letters should be no more than 300 words.  Thank you letters should be no more than 150 words. Letters should be submitted by 5 p.m. Thursdays for consideration in the following week’s edition of the newspaper. However, meeting that deadline is no guarantee that the letter will be published. All letters must include the writer’s name and address and daytime number. Only the writer’s name and city or village will be published. This newspaper also reserves the right to edit letters for content, length, clarity, grammar and taste. Unsigned letters will not be published. Letter writers are encouraged to use email.

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