From Nancy Burhans

Monroe

To the Editor:

I have received a large number of glossy mailers from a group in Madison urging me to vote no on the 2 upcoming referendums on the August 13th ballot.  They have used alarming rhetoric and seem to have a vast amount of funding to advertise.

Because they raised such dire situations I felt I should research and I want to share my finding.  My understanding is that in both referendums a yes vote will mean that the governor and administration of whichever party in power would not be able to spend federal money received from government agencies without approval of our elected representatives.  It is constitutionally required that this is followed but has often not been the case-example is covid funds.

A no vote would make it continually likely that one person of one party could spend such funds without any oversight by the people through their representatives. Of course emergency needs would behoove our legislators to act quickly as I trust and believe they would.  The vast majority of the use of federal funding is not on an emergency basis and would, I believe always benefit from careful deliberation by the people’s representatives.

I was able to decide based on my research.  You have undoubtedly received those mailers too and can do your own research.  No matter your conclusion, please vote on August 13th.