Sounding off: Readers share views as election approaches

We don’t need Fetterman in Washington

Pennsylvanians are faced with a choice for Senate that very well might tip the balance of power in Washington. Voters should consider what they want for the future of our great country.

Lt. Gov. John Fetterman is, by his own admission, a new progressive Democrat in the mold of Reps. Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. In the first two years of the Biden administration, we have seen the partial implementation of their agenda: Trillions of new spending on unreliable green energy programs and social programs that disincentivize work, while also throwing hundreds of millions more of our tax money into our bloated higher education sector.

Fetterman wants to double down on these policies that have led to historic inflation, record-high gas prices and ballooning national debt. In 2020, many voters expressed a desire to dial back political rhetoric. People are now finding out that, with near-total control in Washington, the Democrats have gone too far. This is not the time to throw fuel on the fire by sending John Fetterman to Washington.

Joe McKool

Oakdale

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Look at Mastriano through lens of history

Kristallnacht, the “Night of Broken Glass,” was a massacre that occurred Nov. 9-10, 1938. It was the first organized, government-sanctioned act of violence against German Jews. It marked the start of the systematic annihilation of millions of Jews during the Holocaust. Its commemoration falls two weeks and four years after the Tree of Life massacre in Pittsburgh.

Reading history is critical to provide a lens on current issues, and reading statements made by gubernatorial candidate Sen. Doug Mastriano provides a lens on his dangerous actions. Mastriano aligned with social media site Gab, known for its virulently antisemitic content, the same site used by the Tree of Life shooter.

He introduced a bill for school employees to carry guns instead of supporting gun safety measures. Rather than support public education, he said he would reduce school spending. Instead, he favors prayer and the reading of the Ten Commandments in our schools.

On Nov. 8, on the eve of Kristallnacht, vote with a lens of caring for one another; vote Josh Shapiro for governor.

Michelle Lubetsky

Squirrel Hill

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Oz is no Pennsylvanian

Are you wondering why a citizen of Turkey with a mansion in New Jersey who is a medical doctor, TV celebrity, has hundreds of thousands of dollars and a family with extreme wealth would be pretending to be a resident of Pennsylvania to run for the U.S. Senate?

This is the same Dr. Oz who excitedly told his TV audience that there is a “miracle drug” that will cause a person to lose weight without effort or exercise. He is a doctor. I believed him and bought the miracle drug. I didn’t lose weight, had stomach cramps and didn’t like being ripped off. It was a scam. He promoted phony weight-loss drugs for months while increasing his viewership and popularity. He helped swindle millions of trusting people while dashing their hopes to lose weight.

Elected officials need to protect citizens from fraud and not be a part of it. He is pompously arrogant with lots of fancy talk. He could run for political office in Turkey or New Jersey. He is not a Pennsylvanian.

Dr. Oz encourages word of mouth testimonials and this is mine.

Judy Reed

The Villages, Fla.

The writer is former mayor of Connellsville.

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Fetterman’s ideas, not his health, most concerning

Recently we were informed by Lt. Gov. John Fetterman’s doctor, who has also made multiple donations to his Senate campaign, that he is sufficiently recovered from his stroke to be our senator. That’s great, except his stroke isn’t what’s keeping sane people from voting for him. It’s his wacky leftist ideas that the fawning media refuse to report on while carrying water for Democrats in this state.

It’s Fetterman’s radical support for abortion up until the birth of a baby. It’s his support for releasing violent criminals, including murderers, back into society to commit more crime. It’s his crazy socialist economic ideas that have failed everywhere they’ve been tried. It’s the fact that he has lived off his wealthy parents most of his adult life while wearing a Carhartt sweatshirt and pretending to be a blue-collar guy to get the union vote.

Fetterman touts his tenure as mayor of Braddock. Take a ride through that town and talk to the owners of the few businesses that are left. He often missed council meetings and continued that performance as lieutenant governor; the Associated Press reports Fetterman was often absent from state business and on the days he did work, he typically put in four or five hours.

In closing, I have to give Fetterman credit though, for having President Biden appear with him and making him sound completely recovered!

Steve Tauber

North Huntingdon

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Fetterman right about parole

I kept hearing in one of Dr. Mehmet Oz’s TV ads that Lt. Gov. John Fetterman votes to let savage young violent criminals out of prison, focusing on one case in particular. So I looked into it. Turns out one was a 73-year old man who’s been in jail for 54 years, who committed murder when he was 19.

The old man is considered in poor health and no longer a danger. His name is Wayne Covington, and he earned a bachelor’s degree while in prison and was offered a teaching job decades ago. Taxpayers are still footing the $37,000-a-year bill to keep Covington in jail.

All but one of the prisoners Fetterman successfully helped release had been in jail for over 30 years.

Also, Pennsylvania is one of only eight states that mandate a life sentence without parole for people who participated in a felony that resulted in someone’s death, even if they never killed anybody. It’s called second-degree felony murder, and over 1,000 people are in jail for life because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time — even though they never pulled the trigger.

That’s crazy, and I’m with John Fetterman all the way on making parole an option for judges. There is much about atonement and redemption in the Bible.

Dean Orfanoyannis

McKees Rocks

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Elections are not popularity contests

People need to remember one thing about voting. It is not a popularity contest. It is a job interview. Vote for the candidate who has the qualifications and background to do the best job.

Take a good, long look at your gas, grocery and utility bills. Don’t go in and vote straight party because that’s what your parents and grandparents did. If that’s what you’re going to do, do everyone a favor and stay home. Try and actually figure out what you’re voting for, especially if you have a job and pay taxes.

The world has two types of people: makers and takers. If you can’t figure out which party represents which, then crawl back into your smartphone-based world and hope some liberal DA doesn’t get you killed.

Kenneth Minyon

Saxonburg

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Enough with the political ads

It is time we address the issue of the constant ridiculous political ads that invade the airways every other minute, insulting our intelligence and integrity. Do they really think Pennsylvania voters are that stupid?

Wouldn’t it be original to just tell the truth? Try donating some of that wasted money to our food banks, where it would actually help someone. That would be unique!

Donna Mediate

North Huntingdon