Attorney general has no business suing over health care
Re: Cuccinelli goes alone on health care suit,” March 24
What Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli is doing is an absolute outrage. I strongly believe that everyone has the right to health care insurance, and he is making life miserable for all of us based on his own political agenda.
If Cuccinelli can file this kind of lawsuit with the U.S. District Court, then I have the right to file a lawsuit charging him with violating my right to health care.
Stephen Schwartz
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Ticket blitz is targeting legally parked cars
Re: “D.C. to tighten parking enforcement,” March 14
The attempt to raise revenues by hiring more parking enforcement officers is an excellent illustration of what’s wrong with D.C.’s government. The Department of Motor Vehicles does not even pretend that the increased ticketing is for the public good. They are quite clear about their motive: They need more money, and they intend to get it by giving D.C. residents more tickets.
The new emphasis on parking “enforcement” has led to a rash of careless ticketing of cars that are, in fact, legally parked. DMV Director Lucinda Barnes speculates that the current economic climate has made District residents more inclined to contest their parking tickets. People are indeed appealing tickets in droves, not because they lack the financial resources to pay them, but because the tickets should never have been issued in the first place.
The D.C. government needs money because it doesn’t allocate its funds properly. If the city made it easier for customers to patronize District businesses (particularly by making it easier for clients to park nearby), they would generate more sales tax revenue for the city.
Hiring more parking enforcers to address a financial deficit makes about as much sense as trying to smother a fire with tissue paper. The additional enforcement is unnecessary, does not solve any existing problems, and generates new ones. More importantly, it makes residents like myself second-guess our decision to live in D.C.
Angela Knobel
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Democrats spurned real health care reform
Re: “Republicans vow to keep fighting health care reform,” Feb. 1
Examiner readers would be better served if your replaced your chief congressional correspondent, Susan Ferrechio, until she could more accurately report the news rather than distort it.
Ferrechio’s Feb. 1 column totally ignores the fact that the GOP offered a health reform bill that included tort reform and other features the Democrats chose to ignore to satisfy their big donors.
It is the Democrats who chose to fight real health care reform — and poor, biased reporting like this only distorts and confuses the issue.
Our country and citizens deserve better from the news media.
Betty Markovchick
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