Time to vote the ins#8217; out Staff 04/17/2006 I#8217;m writing in response to some matters regarding the Suffolk News-Herald. In the April 14th edition you published a letter from my good friend, St

Published 12:00 am Monday, April 17, 2006

I’m writing in response to some matters regarding the Suffolk News-Herald. In the April 14th edition you published a letter from my good friend, State Sen. Fred Quayle, a man whom I sincerely respect and whose election campaigns I’ve always supported. I’ve known Fred for many years, and I seldom find reason to disagree with him n but his letter disappointed me greatly.

First, it’s difficult to believe that “everyone agrees that the Commonwealth needs about $1 billion a year for the next 20 years to meet our transportation needs.” I am sure that the “Commonwealth” (whatever that term means) would dearly love to have that amount of money, but I do not agree that such amount can be justified as an absolute “need.”

Not only is it impossible for me, Fred, or any other human, to know what will be needed for transportation 20 years from now, but Rome wasn’t built in a day, nor will the &uot;transportation&uot; issue be solved in a day. Anyway, even if such amounts were needed, we already know where the first $1 billion could come from n just take it from the $1.4 billion surplus created by the unnecessary tax increase that our local General Assembly members were hoodwinked into supporting during the last budget hearings. For goodness sake, let’s please not swallow that old line again this year.

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Second, after reading the term “less for” 6, count them, 6 times in Fred’s letter, I began to hope the House of Representatives really wanted to cut, or reduce, the amounts previously spent for “teacher salaries” (“magic words”), school construction, and so on. But then I tumbled to what the letter really meant by “less” n in this case “less” really means “more” (Shades of Bill Clinton!)

The good senator was accusing the House of wanting to spend &uot;less&uot; than the budgets proposed by the governor and the Senate; which budgets already include “healthy,” really “healthy,” increases over past years.

So you see, nobody, I mean nobody, is talking about trying to cause the Virginia Government to reduce spending, e.g., spend “less” that in prior years. The only real debate is about how large an increase can be rammed through this year.

Finally, it’s only a matter of days before Suffolk’s May 2 City Council elections, and the Suffolk News-Herald has provided virtually no information about the candidates. As a public service, why can’t your newspaper dedicate a page each of the next two weeks in which each candidate would be allowed the same number of words to state their case, give out their phone numbers, etc? Maybe even half a page n anything to let your readers know that, at least in three boroughs, they have a choice n how about it?

I believe it’s time to vote the “ins” n out! Unlike the incumbent in the Suffolk Borough, Charles Parr is a business man who has had to meet a payroll n that type of experience is badly needed on City Council.

Voters in the Chuckatuck Borough also have a solid choice in David Gray, who would never have voted for the King’s Highway Bridge fiasco, and who gives strong evidence that his votes will be well researched and thought out.

And in Holy Neck, Jeff Gardy is a thoroughly competent lawyer, and he will not be easily manipulated by the city’s highly paid upper management.

It’s probable that most of your readers are either voters, or someone who knows at least one voter, in one of the foregoing boroughs. I urge everyone to carry out their civic duty and do all they can to remove the incumbents and bring in a new wave of thinking and ability to act independently.

C.L. Willis

Suffolk

(Editor’s note: We can only assume that Mr. Willis missed our editorial, “Where do they stand,” which appeared on Page 1 on April 13.

That editorial outlined our plan to run comments from all of the candidates, answering the same questions and given a limited number of words in which to provide those answers.

We will begin that process on Tuesday with the candidates for school board. Those will be followed by all of the council candidates, both incumbents and challengers, who responded to our offer.)