From Earl Barnes
Dodgeville
I enjoy learning about candidates' positions in your newspaper's letters to the editor column. This is a great service to voters. I happen to be a supporter of Rep. Ron Kind because I believe he has done a remarkable job for the citizens in his district. In the agricultural area, Ron Kind fought hard against doling out billions of dollars to very large farms. He has instead introduced legislation that benefits the average farmer and rural communities such as ours in the 2nd Congressional District. Kind has also been a strong advocate of fiscal responsibility, supporting "pay-as-you-go" budgeting in Congress and opposing the automatic cost of living increase for congressmen. He has been a champion of Mississippi River protection. In the contentious health care reform debate, Kind played a critical, last-minute role in protecting pioneering Midwestern hospitals such as the Mayo Clinic and the Gundersen Clinic which have already put into place highly effective cost-reduction strategies for Medicare patients while maintaining the highest level of care. This model when it is implemented by hospitals throughout our area will result in a much more efficient and cost-saving method of paying for medical procedures while increasing the quality of care for all of us. For seniors, the health care reform bill is now closing the "donut hole" in the Medicare Part D drug benefit program and is providing better preventive care and better chronic care.
Ron Kind has received a good deal of creative criticism in this campaign season as might be expected. It's when criticism veers into misrepresentations that the real losers become the voters. Anyone who says that Kind does not listen to his constituents has obviously not attended his many listening sessions throughout the district or tuned in to one of his telephone town halls.
Of course, he does not agree with everyone in the room on all sides of an issue, but his responses are always thoughtful and courteous. He is indeed attentive to his constituents. As for Kind receiving PAC funding, every member of Congress does. In fact, Wisconsin's Republican Rep. Paul Ryan receives substantially more PAC and out-of-district money than Kind.
Dodgeville
I enjoy learning about candidates' positions in your newspaper's letters to the editor column. This is a great service to voters. I happen to be a supporter of Rep. Ron Kind because I believe he has done a remarkable job for the citizens in his district. In the agricultural area, Ron Kind fought hard against doling out billions of dollars to very large farms. He has instead introduced legislation that benefits the average farmer and rural communities such as ours in the 2nd Congressional District. Kind has also been a strong advocate of fiscal responsibility, supporting "pay-as-you-go" budgeting in Congress and opposing the automatic cost of living increase for congressmen. He has been a champion of Mississippi River protection. In the contentious health care reform debate, Kind played a critical, last-minute role in protecting pioneering Midwestern hospitals such as the Mayo Clinic and the Gundersen Clinic which have already put into place highly effective cost-reduction strategies for Medicare patients while maintaining the highest level of care. This model when it is implemented by hospitals throughout our area will result in a much more efficient and cost-saving method of paying for medical procedures while increasing the quality of care for all of us. For seniors, the health care reform bill is now closing the "donut hole" in the Medicare Part D drug benefit program and is providing better preventive care and better chronic care.
Ron Kind has received a good deal of creative criticism in this campaign season as might be expected. It's when criticism veers into misrepresentations that the real losers become the voters. Anyone who says that Kind does not listen to his constituents has obviously not attended his many listening sessions throughout the district or tuned in to one of his telephone town halls.
Of course, he does not agree with everyone in the room on all sides of an issue, but his responses are always thoughtful and courteous. He is indeed attentive to his constituents. As for Kind receiving PAC funding, every member of Congress does. In fact, Wisconsin's Republican Rep. Paul Ryan receives substantially more PAC and out-of-district money than Kind.
