Last month I was taken to task for my letter about Joe Knollenberg. Knollenberg's professional letter writers, some of them volunteers for his campaign and employees of the Michigan Republican party, focused entirely on the wrong issue.
I wasn't criticizing Knollenberg's urging women to do self-exams and to get their mammograms. My point was the hypocrisy of Joe Knollenberg sponsoring a health conference for women when he has such a terrible voting record on health issues. Joe Knollenberg received a 0 rating from the National Breast Cancer Coalition in 2006 and 2007 and voted against expanding SCHIP. Knollenberg sponsoring a women's health conference is like the NRA sponsoring a conference on gun control. (Knollenberg did vote to extend SCHIP, but not expand it) Even when many of his Republican colleagues voted to expand SCHIP to cover an additional 10 million children, Joe voted against it.
Families across Oakland County live in fear that they will have a major health issue that they won't be able to afford to get treated because they have no insurance. Health care should be a right in America, not a privilege of only wealthy Congressmen and women. Doesn't every American deserve the same health care coverage Joe Knollenberg gets?
Some other issues that Joe should pay attention to:
Joe Knollenberg should do something about the outrageous profits of America's oil companies that rip Americans off at the pump, and the speculators that are driving prices up, regardless of supply.
Joe Knollenberg should vote for funding to screen every soldier for post-traumatic stress disorder.
Joe Knollenberg should vote to stop funding a war that our president lied us into and is charging hundreds of billions on our Bank of China credit card to support. Joe Knollenberg and the Republicans have not been fiscally responsible.
Why won't Joe Knollenberg come out in public and let his constituents ask him about his record on important issues and his plans to solve the problems facing them?
Other people have noticed Joe Knollenberg's voting record on health care issues too. In 2007 the Children's Health Fund gave Knollenberg a 0 rating; in 2006 American Public Health Association ranked Knollenberg with a 0 rating; in 2005-2006 American Academy of Emergency Medicine ranked Knollenberg - 50 percent; in 2005-2006 American Nurses Association ranked Knollenberg with a 0 percent.
Those are failing grades in anyone's book.
Disclaimer: I do not work for MoveOn.org or Joe Knollenberg's opponent.
Bruce Fealk
Rochester Hills
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