Letter to the Editor: Roberts & Ryun Both Useless

From today's Topeka Capital-Journal-

Letter: Enough of them

I am getting tired of Pat Roberts and Jim Ryun telling Kansans how they are for Kansas while their actions dictate otherwise.

For example, Sen. Roberts talks about how Jim Slattery, his opponent in the November election, is a Washington lobbyist. He fails to tell readers that Slattery still has roots here. The front page article July 11 notes Slattery still owns property here, so he comes back to Kansas often. Roberts has two condos in Virginia, land in South Carolina and a home in Dodge City. All of Slattery's property is in Kansas. Who is the real Washington insider?

Also, when Roberts runs his ad about the Boeing contract, why doesn't he mention that he voted to allow the Department of Defense to accept bids from agencies outside of the United States as long as they had some connection to this country (which Northop did).

And let's not forget about former Rep. Jim Ryun. He states he will stand by the principles he had before. Does he not remember those principles are why he was voted out the last time?

Ryun ignored veterans, the lower and middle classes and workers. I know many veterans who called his office to ask for his assistance and his response was that only when their problem reached his committee in Washington would he become involved.

Rep. Nancy Boyda has kept most of her promises since being elected, and she has made her presence known. Every congressman and congresswoman should strive to emulate her.

We cannot afford to have the same bad ideas and philosophies continue in government. We need to keep Ryun out and make sure Roberts knows how the majority of Kansans feel. I wish the true winner the best in the elections.

MICHAEL NORMAN, Topeka

A Lot of Money, and We're Only Halfway In

In Ric Anderson's column in the Topeka Capital Journal today:

3 With the amount of campaign money that Kansans seeking seats in the U.S. Senate and the House 2nd and 3rd districts had on hand during the first quarter of this year, which of the following could be provided?

A) Salaries for 150 public school teachers

B) One semester of in-state tuition for more than 2,200 students at Washburn University

C) Either

Correct answer: C. The seven congressional candidates had about $6.2 million on hand between them.

The average salary for a Kansas teacher is $41,369, according the National Education Association.

Washburn charges $185 per credit hour in tuition for in-state students, which adds up to $2,775 for a 15-hour semester.

The cash on hand figures are as follows: U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., $3 million; Jim Slattery, Roberts' Democrat challenger, $288,000; Rep. Nancy Boyda, D-Kan., $812,000; former Congressman Jim Ryun, who is seeking the Republican nomination to challenge Boyda, $461,000; Kansas Treasurer Lynn Jenkins, who also is competing for the Republican nomination, $486,000; Rep. Dennis Moore, D-Kan., $889,000; state Sen. Nick Jordan, Moore's Republican challenger, $307,000.

Holy cripes, folks...and those numbers are only going to get bigger and bigger and bigger...

Nancy Boyda: In your corner, on your corner

We've done our level best since this blog went live in October to trumpet all of Nancy Boyda's successes, and we've brought you links to articles published in newspapers districtwide that support the very important, very real message that Congresswoman Boyda has spent a full year voting with her district, securing funds for projects in her district, and, probably most importantly, coming home and talking to people that live in her district.

Former Congressman Jim Ryun got kicked out on his tail because 1) people in the district decided he was corrupt (bingo!) and 2) they suddenly all realized they only saw him during election years. That makes sense, since he didn't really think of Kansas as his home anymore- he didn't have any reason to come back here.

That certainly hasn't been the case with Rep. Nancy Boyda. From our count, there have only been 3 or 4 weekends out of all of 2007 that Nancy Boyda didn't make it back to her district for some public event- far, far better than the vast majority of members of Congress, and much more time back at home than most of the rest of the freshmen class.

Boyda's record would be nearly perfect if it wasn't for her two trips to Iraq (which is one more, by the way, than our former member of Congress made to Iraq in his entire term...), and the new member orientation that was held the very first weekend after she was sworn in.

When she's back in Kansas, the very best component part of her constituent service program is "Congress on Your Corner," which literally brings the constituent services folk out of her two district offices and brings them to cities up and down the district. They're always packed and they always run long, because Nancy insists on talking to each and every person that wants to talk to her.

Congresswoman Boyda's got a great map on her web site that shows all of her Congress on Your Corners- and every other public event she's had since being elected to Congress. Please, partake.

Honest to goodness, we haven't had a member of Congress like Nancy Boyda since Jim Slattery left office, and it's that kind of over-and-above effort that will give her her much-deserved 2nd term.