Heck, Heller should quit games and support Obama

Voters should know that members of Congress can submit as many bills as they want. And many – because they want their constituents to believe that their actually doing something – submit bills that they know have no chance of passage.

So Rep. Joe Heck, R-Nev., submits a bill that would allow him and others to opt out of the congressional pension program (Wednesday Review-Journal). It’s not going anywhere – it won’t pass. But now Rep. Heck can pose and brag about his fiscal responsibility. All he had to do was take the check and endorse it back to the government. But then he wouldn’t have been able to put on a big show.

Then Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., submits a bill stating that if members of Congress don’t work, they won’t get paid. Do any of you believe that members of Congress would approve of a bill limiting their salaries?

Instead of submitting these nonsensical bills that have no chance of passage, why didn’t Rep. Heck and Sen. Heller vote for President Obama’s job creation bill, which would have put 2 million teachers, police and firefighters back to work, while providing funds to repair our infrastructure and providing jobs for many construction workers? Now that would have really helped the economy.

Despite these attempts to fool their constituents, you will see people lined up on Election Day to vote for them. As has been said, you can never underestimate the intelligence of the American people.

Richard J. Mundy

Las Vegas

What Constitution?

To the editor:

Sadly, the assault upon the Constitution continues.

First, we had the president of the United States putting in place an order to selectively enforce immigration laws to suit his political agenda. Barack Obama has clearly spoken: The rule of law in this country is subservient to his re-election.

Let’s just suppose Mitt Romney is the next president. Let’s also suppose that Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid utilizes a filibuster to stop a tax cut. Can Mr. Romney then tell the people of this country – with a wink and a nod – that if you knock $1,000 off your tax bill he has instructed the IRS not to chase you down? I wonder what the reaction of Sen. Reid would be to that little maneuver.

Now we have the president invoking executive privilege. In 2007, then Sen. Obama and Sen. Reid harshly criticized then President Bush for utilizing such privilege. Sen. Reid said that it’s use was tantamount to calling yourself “king.” Then Sen. Obama said that in an Obama administration, privilege would never be used. In the 2007 case, the Democrats were trying to find out who was present in White House meetings. In this case, there are two murdered law enforcement officers as well as hundreds of Mexicans. We as a people, along with the families of the murdered officers, deserve answers. But we will get none from this administration as such information might damage the re-election prospects of this president.

If the events of the past few weeks have not woken up the citizens of this country nothing will. The Obama administration clearly has no qualms trashing the Constitution if it will help keep President Obama in the White House.

I hope the voters of this country will restore the framework that has made this country the greatest in history and get these charlatans out of office.

Joseph Schillmoeller

Las Vegas

Checking out?

To the editor:

Local teacher union officials, in their infinite wisdom, have caused the elimination of more than 1,000 positions and 400 teacher layoffs simply because they refused to allow the teachers to take a pay freeze. I would like to think that a majority of the teachers would have elected to take the pay freeze if it meant saving jobs.

My wife is a retired teacher and informs me that the teacher union operates not unlike the lyrics in the song “Hotel California.” You know, “You can check-out any time you like, but you can never leave.” Well almost never. Teachers have only a two-week window each year to opt out of the union – and those two weeks are rapidly approaching (July 1-15).

I hope teachers who are not aware of this policy will take note and make the decision to quit the union, thereby giving themselves a raise of more than $600 per year in dues they would no longer be required to pay.

Bob Huggins

Las Vegas