Gov. John Kasich’s proposed budget is enough to make the angels weep (Jan. 31, ‘‘Kasich vows to reduce tax brackets”).
With streets, schools, transit, education, and health all in need of investment, he proposes an income-tax cut only millionaires will notice and an increase in the sales tax, proven to hit the working poor hardest of all.
Mr. Kasich wants to use $45 million in taxpayer money to develop driverless trucks, destroying some of the few remaining jobs that pay a living wage. Don’t complain ... it’s “progress.”
And the angels wept.
MIKE FERNER
113th Street
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Lt. governor made misstep at auto show
I was amazed when I saw the photo in The Blade on Jan. 26 of Ohio Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor sitting in a Mazda at the Toledo Auto Show.
I took the photo as an affront, and I am not and never have been associated with the auto industry. I can imagine how our local auto workers must have felt.
In addition to being a foreign automobile, Mazda does not have a manufacturing or assembly plant in the United States. In contrast, the auto industry in the Toledo area is the area’s largest employer.
If the lieutenant governor wants to remain in politics, she has a lot to learn. If she were running for any political office today, she would not get my vote.
BILL McKIMMY
Sylvania
Immigration halt emboldens foes
Donald Trump’s executive order suspending immigration from seven countries does not reflect our true American values (Jan. 29, ‘‘Trump refugee halt stirs chaos”).
We are a nation of immigrants, and we’re better than this.
This makes us unsafe. Reaching out to people of all nations to request their help in fighting ISIS is not appeasement, it is sensible. Suggesting that entire nations are terrorists or may be terrorists emboldens real terrorists and weakens the resolve of good people everywhere to aid our battle for safety.
STUART CUBBON
Corey Creek Road
Judge Gorsuch is illegitimate
Last March, Republicans said they would not consider any nominee of a “lame duck” president. They did so even though Barack Obama still had 10 months left in his term and even though other justices, including conservative Justice Anthony Kennedy, had been confirmed during a president’s final year.
The GOP refusal was a raw power grab. Coupled with Republican hints that no Hillary Clinton nominee would be confirmed either, their refusal signaled a radical and unprecedented changing of the rules: The GOP rewrote the rules to suit their current circumstances.
Now, only a party that controls the White House and the Senate will be permitted to name a nominee and schedule hearings.
Judge Neil Gorsuch does not deserve confirmation because the process that led to his nomination was illegitimate. Until hearings are scheduled for Merrick Garland’s nomination, no other nominees should be considered.
SUSAN MATZ
Sylvania
First Published February 6, 2017, 5:00 a.m.
