My letter to the editor Bedford Bulletin about the 5th district House of Representatives election
When I was on line for our last election, two women behind me were talking. One said, "Who are we even voting for?" Her friend answered, "Oh, I don't know - I just always vote for the Republican!" The stakes are too high for us to have this view.
Robert Hurt goes along with the party of “no” even when it hurts his constituents. He voted against the Affordable Care Act, trying to stop millions of Americans from getting healthcare. As a breast cancer survivor, thanks to the ACA our insurance company is prohibited from dropping my coverage for my now preexisting condition, and it paid over $36,000 for my diagnosis, surgery, radiation, and follow-up care. If you are uninsured, do you have $36,000 in the bank to pay for medical bills? Hurt doesn’t care, he isn’t worried about you.
He voted to close down our government, costing us greater than $28 billion, according to economists. Hurt doesn’t mind wasting your money. He voted no on a bill that would keep oil from the Keystone XL pipeline in the United States. Hurt isn’t concerned about your gas prices.
Our area needs so many things – quality, affordable Internet service for our kids, factories to return to the 5th district for good-paying jobs, solar panels to reduce our use of polluting coal - yet Hurt keeps pandering to the billionaires. I’m voting for Lawrence Gaughan, who’s not working for billionaires, but is focused on the citizens right here in our district.