Steal These Letters

Here are some opinion page letters that take on Rep. Barbara Cubin's cheap-shot TV ads as well as dirty campaign tricks by Repub gubernatorial challenger Ray Hunkins and his pal, Drake Hill of the Wyoming Republican Party. Feel free to borrow to your heart's content and mail your letter to the WYO newspaper near you. Here they are:

Editor:
I’ve seen the TV ads by U.S. Rep. Barbara Cubin that distort the record of her Democratic opponent, Gary Trauner. My favorite part is the end of each spot when Cubin appears in a classroom surrounded by elementary school students. "I’m Barbara Cubin," she says with a nervous smile, "and I approved this message."

How ironic that Barbara Cubin is shown in the classroom. Her unquestioning support of President Bush’s "No Child Left Behind" program has forced teachers and students to spend most of their time on tests and very little on actual learning. The children posing with her in the classroom should ask: "Rep. Cubin, why do you make us spend 57 days each year on tests?" That’s almost 12 weeks or one-third of the school year. I would love to hear Cubin’s answer.

For the next ad, Rep. Cubin could be shown surrounded by U.S. troops in Iraq, possibly Wyoming National Guard soldiers. They could ask her: "Rep. Cubin, why have you blindly supported George Bush’s pointless war? Why have you sent us on a mission that is based on lies and has no clear and obtainable objective?" I wonder what her answers would be?

It would be nice to see Cubin travel to Wyoming for reasons other than ostentatious fund-raising galas, such as the one she held Oct. 2 in Casper. She drops in to raise money from rich corporate donors but doesn’t bother to meet with us regular folks. She never has voted to help Wyoming's workers. In this state, we respect hardworking people and honor those leaders who strive honestly to serve our fellow citizens.

Barbara Cubin is showing just how much she has lost touch with Wyoming by resorting to big-league negative campaigning. Can you smell the fear? Barbara Cubin does not deserve to go back to Washington and represent our fine state. Wyoming has only one representative, and we need and deserve better.

Sincerely,
Michael Shay

Dear Editor:
One of your letters last week concerned dirty campaign tactics by the Cubin and Hunkins campaigns. What would you expect from desperate politicians? Can you smell their fear?

It is a shame that candidates who seek our trust should try to fool us. We've had too much of that from the Republicans in Washington. Remember the lies that V.P. Dick Cheney, Wyoming’s favorite son, told us about Iraq?

Are the state’s newspapers aware of what is really going on? It seems like Gary Trauner's campaign is doing its homework on issues important to Wyomingites. On the other hand, Drake Hill and Ray Hunkins seem to have a bad case of foot-in-mouth disease. I bet that the Republicans will engage in the same sort of last-minute nastiness we saw in the 2002 gubernatorial race. The mudslinging probably will pick up now that the campaigns enter the final month before the mid-term elections.

Don’t fall for Republican dirty tricks. We need Gary Trauner as Wyoming’s lone representative in Washington. We need Dave Freudenthal to serve a second term as governor so he can continue his efforts to improve our communities, our economy, and our educational system.

Sincerely,
Michael Shay