Small Town News

Letter sows fear, distrust

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It is difficult to see what the point of Paul Ibisch's letter Feb. 24 was, other than to sow fear and distrust by pitting various deserving constituencies against one another, in this case our veterans and our schools.

Regarding distrust, Ibisch seems to think that Congressman Tim Walz and State Sen. Sharon Ropes cooked up some sort of sinister, backroom plot to actually make sure our veterans received the extra combat pay they had been promised. He implies that this was done solely to promote Ropes in the upcoming election.

However, Walz and Ropes (both veterans themselves) have long supported our vets. Tim Walz has spent the last three years working on veterans' issues, and this recent effort was just an extension of his on-going commitment. Sharon Ropes also has supported vets' issues, and for her latest effort she should be thanked, not tarred with Ibisch's foolish accusations.

Further, Ibisch criticized Ropes because she introduced a bill to cover these losses of pay from state monies, claiming the schools could have used the money instead. But Sen. Ropes has long been an advocate for our schools and understands better than most their dire need. Obviously, both veterans and schools need support.

Instead of cooking up silly conspiracy theories and pitting the legitimate interests of veterans and schools against each other, why does not Mr. Ibisch propose some solutions to the critical problems we face in our state? Thinking through such issues is a lot harder than being divisive and arguing from innuendo, but it is the first, and the most basic, responsibility of anyone who aspires to run for office.



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© 2010 The Chatfield News Chatfield, Minnesota. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from DAS.

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