Dear Editor:

As the election cycle winds down, perhaps we could all take a deep breath and go over this last election cycle.

In the race for the 22nd House District we first saw a representative who was widely accused of not listening to her constituents, or to a select few. A long and fairly nasty primary race saw the local Republican party divided and attacking each other quite regularly. They clearly didn’t care what they said about each other at the time. They just wanted to win. Then the primary election was over and all was quiet for awhile.

Then a well-known, well-respected Democrat decided to run. He ran a good campaign, stuck to the issues, tried to have a debate with his opponent (who would not) and showed he wanted to represent all the people in his district. He clearly was the best candidate at the Candidate’s Forum held at Center Lake Pavilion. Almost everyone who wrote to the Times-Union about it said so.

Now the election is nearing and all the attacks are starting again. All the usual name-calling and false and misleading statements are back. All the doomsday predictions are returning.

What I notice, though, is a lack of talk about the issues that our community faces when our representative gets to Indianapolis.

Again, I’m reminded Curt Nisly wouldn’t debate, wouldn’t state his issues and wouldn’t talk about what is important to him. He wouldn’t say he wouldn’t raise taxes. He wouldn’t say he would vote to increase our revenue for roads, bridges and infrastructure. He wouldn’t say how Kosciusko county needs may differ from Elkhart county.

Instead, we get BS words like liberty and patriot. Let’s face it, we all love liberty and most of us are at least patriotic. But I think if I hear one more politician talk about liberty and values while he’s down in Indy raising my taxes, playing games with my kids’ education, and diverting money from the state away from this county, I’ll throw up.

Local Republicans should realize they’ll stand in line behind Elkhart county for anything from the state if they vote for Nisly. If we vote for someone whose residence, business, family and friends are elsewhere and can’t or won’t address our real issues, we get what we deserve.

Better to be represented by someone local like David Kolbe, who lives here, in Kosciusko county.

Phil Cartwright
Warsaw