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Show Congressman not available to answer questions from people Dear Editor: I feel I must respond to the letter from Peter H. Jenks in the Oct. 2 issue of the Clipper regarding the unwillingness of James Hansen to debate. Jenks rightfully says that Congressman Con-gressman Hansen has scheduled several television appearances, and he also has meetings scheduled at the Bountiful and Ogden Chambers of Commerce. My problem with this is that there are no meetings scheduled where the Congressman is available to the public at large. There are no open public debates scheduled where we the voters can have our questions answered. These are the kind of "meet-the-candidate" settings which the League of Women Voters has always tried to provide in our community. com-munity. I realize Congress has saved all of its most important tasks for October. Oc-tober. Doubtless Hansen has. many pressing responsibilities in Wash ington right now. However, we began asking Hansen's office for a scheduled date way back in mid-August, mid-August, and even then they were unable to come up with an hour and a half in the following ten weeks where the Congressman could come answer questions from the public. They were also unable to come up with dates for open public meetings with the League of Women Voters in Ogden and Logan. I adamantly refute the notion that the League was in any way responding respon-ding to a request from Kenley Brunsdale, Hansen's opponent, for a debate. Brunsdale, nor any of his staff, has never made any such request re-quest that I'm aware of. In the democratic process, however, Brunsdale certainly has the right to be in an open public setting with his opponent, and unfortunately, Hansen has made this impossible. Margaret Mayer Bountiful |
