Letter to the editor

Resident professes disappointment with Sen. Johnson’s win over Feingold

In Russ Feingold we had a public servant who cared enough to visit every county in Wisconsin once a year to listen to our concerns. He co-authored one of the most significant pieces of campaign finance legislation and is the only senator to have actually read the so-called Patriot Act before voting on it. He vocally opposed the ruinous wars that are in large part the cause of the current deficit. What do we know about Senator-elect Johnson?

We know that he has articulated only with difficulty even his party’s talking points, and that he has refused to say beforehand what he plans to do in office. And we know that he has a personal fortune of nearly 18 million, which very comfortably insulates him from the struggles of ordinary working people. We know that Johnson has gone on record saying that he has the same health insurance that all of his employees do, while in fact several of them receive low-income coverage from the State of Wisconsin’s Badger Careprogram.

Johnson has also lied about Feingold’s voting record. Russ Feingold normally and almost always votes on party lines, said one Johnson ad, while actually Feingold has crossed party lines more frequently than all but a handful of senators. Feingold was also recently named number one enemy of lobbyists by Washington Magazine. Rejecting Feingold, Wisconsin has thrown out the baby with the bath water, cut off its nose to spite its face and sacrificed a de- voted fighter for ordinary citizens against the power of big money and corporations.

How long, I wonder, before buyer’s remorse sets in when some of us realize what we’ve done?

Thomas R. Smith
River Falls