Letters to the Editor for Monday, October 12, 2009

Writer: On taxes, Garrett’s the man
With Democrats in Washington working hard to raise my taxes to pay for the many new programs that will socialize our great nation, it is good to have a local politician who is committed to reducing my taxes and protecting our traditional family and community values.

This politician is Scott Garrett. On City Council, he has demonstrated his commitment to reducing taxes for small businesses in order to protect and create jobs in our grand city and to ensure that the family and community values that make Lynchburg such a wonderful place to raise a family and to live are protected.

When he is elected to House of Delegates from the 23rd District, he will continue to seek inequities and inefficiencies that will enable lower taxes and will ensure that the freedoms guaranteed to us by our Constitution are not sacrificed.

On Nov. 3, I plan to vote for Scott Garrett for my new delegate because I know he will best represent my values and protect my rights!
DORIS SMITH
Lynchburg

For Garrett
I came away from Thursday’s debate between Shannon Valentine and Scott Garrett with three distinct impressions:

* Valentine spoke in generalities and seems to want us to vote for her because we like her. (The lady seated next to me called it “pandering.”) Garrett focused on details of what he believes and on specific steps to put more money into classrooms without raising taxes and to help small businesses create jobs, in part by reducing their taxes. I can vote for someone who tells me exactly what they plan to do, not for someone who asks me to “just trust” them. (How often in politics have we been burned by that phrase?)

* During a spirited discussion about taxes, they both read from the Virginia FREE survey that Valentine answered. No matter how she spins it, she talks in the survey about increasing gas taxes, increasing driver’s license fees, creating a new sales tax on gas and on automobile repairs, and instituting tolls on U.S. 29 and U.S. 460. And she admitted that there are circumstances in which she would support those taxes and fees. Scott will not support them. Period.

* Valentine confirmed at the debate something that former Lynchburg Councilman Joe Siefert had told me earlier. During a General Assembly debate on gun laws, she was on the phone with him asking him his opinion on the different amendments. Valentine calls it “research.”

It seems more like lack of personal convictions on important issues. The improvement of her NRA rating from “D” to “B” seems more based on Joe Siefert’s convictions than her own. Garrett’s “A” rating from the NRA came from his personal convictions.

I’m voting for Scott Garrett because I much prefer his specifics to Valentine’s generalities.
STEVE TROXEL
Lynchburg