Sinema must resign
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema is blatantly in thrall to the pharmaceutical industry. Most Americans agree that excessive drug profits must end. Sinema is representing the drug industry’s continued profit gouging, not her constituents’ expressed desires. This position on drug prices and her continued insistence on an unaltered filibuster mean it’s time for her to resign and to be replaced by a Democrat more responsive to the will of the people.
Donald Ijams
Midtown
Sinema is out of touch
I have regretted voting for Sen. Kyrsten Sinema for some time. Her belief that the Republicans have any interest in actually governing is criminally naïve. To her, bipartisanship is an end in itself, not a means to an end. The video of her little stand-up routine in which she mocked former Sen. Joe Lieberman was disgraceful. How hypocritical can you get?
Now we learn that she is going to prevent Medicare from negotiating drug prices. Like many others, her votes are bought by lobbyists. Private insurers negotiate drug prices. The VA can do it. Medicare cannot. I suspect she has no idea of what people on Part D are going through. She is the poster child for term limits and public financing of elections. Hopefully she will get some competition in the primary in 2024. We can vote her out, and she can look for a real job. And I don’t mean lobbyist.
Robert Wysocki
Southwest side
Sinema really represents all AZ
Re: the Sept. 24 letter “Sinema nothing but a roadblock.”
The letter writer, like many critics of Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, says the senator is a a roadblock standing in the way of President Biden’s agenda. What the letter writer and her cohorts and the Biden administration fail to accept is that this administration did not receive a mandate to implement the progressive-socialist agenda of the far left.
Biden campaigned as a moderate, but we have seen in only eight months in office that he has adopted the Sanders-Warren agenda contrary to his campaign promises. Most citizens — when they understand what he is proposing — reject his agenda. Senator Sinema knows and realizes it, and she’s representing the views of all Arizonans unlike our other senator who just does what Sen. Chuck Schumer tells him. You’ve got my vote, Senator Sinema. Keep it up!
James Tuthill
Oro Valley
There is no vax for what ails me
Reading the various national accounts of the resolution of Maricopa’s 2020 election audit has made me sick. Arizona is the laughingstock of the nation (soon to be followed by Texas and Pennsylvania). Our federal legislators are quibbling over spending bills that will actually help people, modernize infrastructure and fight climate change while our state is wasting millions of dollars trying to prove a negative.
There were no requests-for-proposals from companies that perform these types of audits. Cyber Ninjas was engaged having no experience and whose CEO already believed there was fraud. They found none, but in the process they compromised the voting machines, which will have to be replaced. Their lack of experience caused inappropriate flagging of perfectly normal procedures, which continue to cast unwarranted doubt on the legitimacy of our elections.
There are vastly more important uses of our state funds. The state senators who voted for this debacle do not have our best interests at heart. Please vote them out!
Cindy Soffrin
Northeast side
Senator Sinema’s style
Let’s give Sen. Kyrsten Sinema some credit. If she’d been upfront about her political convictions and run and won as a Republican, she’d still be equally successful at obstructing the Democrats’ agenda. But she’d be doing so as a faceless freshman at the back of the McConnell pack.
Instead, having flown under a false flag, she’s accomplishing the same thing while showing up front and center on the national news every night. As others have noted, Ms. Sinema seems to favor style and self-promotion over substance. Mission accomplished.
John Pasco
Northwest side
Masks work
Re: the Oct. 3. article “Arizona Supreme Court to consider mask-mandate ban“
As a public health graduate student, I have dedicated my career to protecting and preserving the well-being of vulnerable groups of people. The only way to protect children, who are currently ineligible to receive the vaccine, is to require the use of masks in schools and day cares. Mask wearing in combination with social distancing has been proven to significantly reduce transmission of COVID-19.
A mask mandate ban disregards scientific literature and is a blatant attack on the health and well-being of children across the state. With pediatric COVID-19 related hospital admission rates rising around the state, it’s crucial for parents to encourage their children to take all precautions in order to keep their families safe. This is vital, as it is clear that state government officials do not have Arizona children’s best interests in mind.
Geneva Frank
West side
Marine officer should be tried
Re: the Oct. 4 letter “Let Marine retire with dignity.”
As a Marine veteran, I take exception to the letter urging that Lt. Col. Stu Schellar be allowed to retire with dignity. He went on public media with his political bias to in effect criticize commanding officers and our government’s exodus from Afghanistan. It’s easy to second-guess from a comfortable office and not be forced to make the hard decisions.
Discipline is the bedrock in the military that includes all branches of the service. Chaos and confusion would be rife if officers in the services would be able to publicly criticize their superiors. Marines in boot camp crawl through mud and march in the rain for hours, as this prepares them for that day when those conditions could be commonplace. They obey.
When an officer says move out, move forward, discipline is what wins battles. Lt. Col. Schellar should have kept his political leanings to himself. He’s an embarrassment to the U.S. Marine Corps.
JD Shulec
Foothills
Mark my words
Re: the Oct. 3 article “Opinion editor Gassen says farewell.”
Dear Sarah,
I was saddened when I read that you were abandoning your Tucson “family” for individuals to whom you are related in St. Louis. I noted a significant reluctance in your farewell, so I am going to make a prediction. Like The Terminator, you’ll be back … perhaps sooner than you think.
In the middle of January 2022, when you are snow-shoveling your way to the mailbox in the midst of winter’s gloom, you will have an epiphany. Then you will discover that that same force that drew you eastward has now fully reversed course.
So when you arrive at Tucson International, don’t use an app. As you well know, Tucson is a welcoming community, and I would happily represent everyone by giving you a ride to your abode. Look for the pickup with the Mariachi band in the back.
Rick Cohn
West side
