Bill Winter and letters to the HR Herald

I found last week's letters in the Highlands Ranch Herald about Bill Winter's challenge to Tom Tancredo to be quite interesting. One writer wasted no time in trotting out the L-word, accusing reporter Robyn Lydick of a "liberal slant," whatever that is. The writer didn't see fit to provide any examples of bias, though, but did manage to include several misrepresentations. The writer claimed, "She even allowed Mr. Winter to accuse Rep. Tancredo of running a 'Crusade,' which is an obvious anti-Christian statement..." However, the actual quote from Bill was, "I'm not on a crusade and I don’t have an agenda." This Christian didn't sure see any mention of Tancredo in that quote, or any attacks on my religion, either. In fact, a group called "U.S. Border Control," which often reports favorably on Tancredo's immigration-related activities, has a highly complimentary story about Tom and his “crusade.”

Another writer twisted Bill Winter's comments about Tancredo's failure to represent the interests of the Sixth District into a diatribe about "pork" spending. Despite the fact that Colorado houses several large military installations and defense contractors, for every dollar Colorado sends to Washington, D.C. in taxes, only 80 cents comes back in federal spending! It sure doesn’t seem unreasonable to ask what Tancredo has done for his district, but Bill was attacked for simply pointing out this disparity!

It's not surprising that Tancredo's votes don't match the views of his constituents on jobs, education, health care, the environment, or national defense, since most of his money comes from PACs whose interests are diametrically opposed to the needs of real people in our district. As for pork spending, Tancredo talks a good game, but his voting record is nearly 100% aligned with the champion of pork, Texan Tom Delay, who is currently under criminal indictment for corruption. We should also note that Tancredo has been one of the top recipients of campaign cash from Tom Delay.

There is nothing biased about making sure that everyone in our district knows the truth about Tom Tancredo. This is a man who has pledged to abolish public education, who has publicly backed terrorists in Iraq, who lied when he said he would only serve three terms in Congress, and who accepted tainted cash from Tom Delay. It seems to me that we’re the ones who deserve an apology – from Tancredo.