Voicing disappointment in State Rep. Cotter's campaign
To the editor:
I’ve been disappointed by the manipulative mail I’m getting from Kevin Cotter and surprised that he includes footnotes so anyone who wants to check his claims can easily do so. He must assume that voters are too lazy or uninterested in getting a straight story to do that, otherwise, I think he’d be more careful with his message:
Cotter states that “Bryan Mielke…drained the [Union] township budget with his wasteful spending … a loss of nearly $815,000 in two years.” Of course, Union Township has since publicly stated that their budget has not been drained, thank you very much. (They didn’t need to remind voters that no single member has the power to spend the township’s money on his or her own, but more on that in a minute.)
Cotter complains that Mielke voted two other times to increase spending and indeed, he seems truly distressed about this. The fact is, however, that every vote he mentions was a unanimous vote of the township board, with its Republican majority and Democrat minority. (Check his footnotes if you’re curious or skeptical.) If he’s sincere, I guess his next priority will be to campaign for the ouster of Union Township Republicans Russ Alwood, Margie Henry, M. Ruth Ayris and Roger Hauk. Somehow, I doubt he’s really concerned about their votes. It seems instead that Cotter is grabbing for straws to make his opponent look bad, but I must say, it kind of boosts my confidence in Mielke to realize that that’s the best “attack” Cotter has.
Candidates will run better campaigns only if voters demand it. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
The letter was written by Merlyn Mowrey, a faculty member in CMU's Dept. of Philosophy and Religion.
