Letter to the Roanoke Times Editor

Published in today's edition:

Senator Warner has been such a disappointment.  I didn’t vote for him, but several Republican friends did.  They said he was a nice guy.  That he would “be fine.”  I held out hope.  He hasn’t been.

At Monday’s forum, Ed Gillespie said Senator Warner voted with President Obama 97% of the time.  True.  Warner said this was a “misleading slice of his voting record.”   I don’t know what a “misleading slice” is.  Do you?

During the debate on the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) in 2009 Senator Warner promised that he would not support a healthcare bill that didn’t allow us to keep a plan that we liked.  Remember that?  But then he did.  He voted for Obamacare.  He was the deciding vote. 

Regarding the 250,000 Virginians whose plans Gillespie said will be cancelled at year end, Senator Warner said this was a “completely made-up number.”  It is not made up.  A September 11, 2014 article in The Roanoke Times reported this number.  My husband and I are two of those.  Our Medicare supplemental plans were through our former employer and cancelled due to “inability to be competitive.”   We don’t know what our new plans will cost, but we’re pretty sure they’ll cost more, as our employer is contributing $1,000 per year for each of us.  Affordable Care Act?

Senator Warner also said on Monday that he supports the Keystone XL Pipeline, offshore drilling, coal, all the resources we have here in Virginia and our country, but I’m not sure we can believe him.  We know he supports a Carbon Tax or Cap and Trade – which would be the death knell of the coal industry – because there is a video of his speech.  We cannot be sure either way on the pipeline or offshore drilling because Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid hasn’t allowed a vote on them.  Maybe something about election year politics?

We need to get rid of Harry Reid as Senate Majority Leader and put the brakes on Obama’s wreckless spending.  We need to elect Ed Gillespie on November 4^th.