Looking for an excuse

Dear Editor:

I am writing to comment on the recent letters to the editor by Mr. Larry Padora and Mr. Micah Gursky. I read Mr. Padora's letter and must confess that I am in complete agreement with his comments. Please note that I have never met Mr. Padora and would not know him if I bumped into him on the street.

In his letter, Mr. Padora clearly states that our legislators passed a budget that included a $1.7 million boost to cover their increased health care benefits and expected end-of-the-year raises which ups the salary for a rank and file legislator to $82,026. Each legislator will receive approximately a $6,000 increase in pay and benefits. These are facts that cannot be disputed.

In his response to Mr. Padora's letter, Mr. Gursky attacks Mr. Padora's letter as containing "political rhetoric and vague misleading half-truths" and "the type of negative nastiness that turns people off from participating in elections and politics." Mr. Gursky then criticizes Mr. Padora for losing four elections and further accuses him of attacking State Representative Jerry Knowles.

After reading Mr. Gursky's letter, I reread Mr. Padora's letter but was unable to find the political rhetoric and vague misleading half-truths alleged by Mr. Gursky. Our legislators did pass a budget that included a $1.7 million boost to cover their cost of living pay raise, an increase in their dental benefits and an increase in their prescription drug benefits.

Furthermore, the fact that Mr. Padora lost elections is irrelevant to the fact that the legislators gave themselves another pay increase. The reader should note that Abraham Lincoln lost at least three elections before he was elected President. Finally, Mr. Knowles' name is not even mentioned in Mr. Padora's letter.

After reviewing these letters, I must conclude that Mr. Gursky was looking for an excuse to attack Mr. Padora and used Mr. Padora's letter as a basis for his unwarranted personal attack. The only negative nastiness that I could find was in Mr. Gursky's letter. Shame on you Mr. Gursky.

LJ. Dubetsky

Tamaqua