Congressional candidate takes advantage of crisis

To the editor:

In the Feb. 16 edition of The Western News. John Heenan, a politician running for U.S. Congress, made this statement: “I do know this: many of our elected officials in Washington, D.C. are bought and paid for by the powerful corporate lobbyists who bankroll their campaigns.”

Here’s a summation of campaign contributions to the 2016 elections. The NRA contributed just over one million, $1,085,150 to be exact. Now that is a lot of money but that was spread over the entire nation, U.S., state and local elections, supporting or opposing candidates as well as legislative issues.

The largest corporate donor, “Fahr LLC”, contributed $90.5 million, of which 100 percent went to Democrats. Skipping down the list to No. 9, The American Federation of Teachers donated $33.6 million with 100 percent going to Democrats. That’s on top of the No. 11 donor, the National Education Association — $29.7 million, but only 99 percent went to Democrats. The top 10 donors combined contributed $450.5 million.

Where is the NRA’s puny million on that list? No. 488. The two teachers organizations outspent the NRA 58-1. Yet Mr. Keenan would have us believe only he is immune to the influence of the powerful gun lobby.

I submit that Mr. Heenan is just another politician following the advise of Rahm Emanual to “never let a serious crisis go to waste.” In case you don’t know, Rahm Emanual is mayor of Chicago, which leads the nation in firearm homicides.

—Joe Houseman,

Troy