To the editor:
Congress’ approval rating is below 20 percent. Why? Because the Democrats and Republicans refuse to work with each other to pass meaningful legislation to help the American people who elected them.
Now we are on the eve of an election to send a senator to swim in that cesspool of rancor and bitterness and try to help clear the waters.
On one hand, we have incumbent Sen. Scott Brown, who has shown a willingness to work across party lines, voting across the aisle 54 percent of the time.
On the other, we have the challenger, professor Elizabeth Warren, who has given us no indication that she will not march in lock step with her party, and merely chants the mantra of the Democratic Party, who recruited her to run.
She complains about the exorbitant cost of higher education, but pulls down a $350,000 salary for teaching ONE course at Harvard Law School. That is certainly not contributing to any solution to the problem.
Scott Brown introduced two bills, and voted, to lower student loan costs and to force more transparency in higher education costs. Yet professor Warren accuses him of voting against lowering student loan rates, but the way Congress “bundles” riders into a miasma of unrelated amendments on a bill, EVERYONE is forced to vote against something they support at one time or another, when it’s paired with something onerous.
Sen. Brown also stood up to the establishment, introducing legislation and getting it passed into law, to prevent members of Congress from getting rich on insider trading, something that would put you or me in jail (as it did to Martha Stewart), but for which Congress had exempted themselves.
Professor Warren claims she will stand up to big corporations and fight for the middle class, but she made more than $200,000 defending Travelers Insurance in an asbestos poisoning case, and assisted the huge corporation in winning immunity from having to pay a red cent to any of the victims. Is that defending the middle class?
Do you want to stop the gridlock in Washington? Then stop the gridlock at the voting booth and vote for the candidate that will work for you, not just for the candidate who has the “correct” letter after his or her name. If you aren’t contributing to the solution, you are part of the problem.
I will be voting to send Sen. Scott Brown back to Washington to continue the work he’s started, finding solutions for Massachusetts and America, not stonewalling.
Let’s ALL vote to end the gridlock and stagnation in Washington.
David P. McKenna
Danvers
