Scheurer: I reflect district's values

(This letter is in response to a Daily Herald editorial endorsing Ms. Scheurer's opponent.)

Newspapers and politicians like to label our district as "conservative" and say people like me do not "reflect" our values. How dare they?

I have lived here for 30 years. I raised my family here. I am just like my neighbors. We are the district!

Our district is not a gated community. We may have many wealthy neighborhoods, but we also have thousands of regular working families struggling to get by.

I want to have guaranteed health care for all. Seventy percent of my neighbors in our district want this too.

I want to have a fair deal for working families. Most of the people in our district are working families.

I want to bring our troops home and take care of them when they get here. Seventy percent want this too.

The incumbent Melissa Bean lives in a gated community. Maybe Internet safety is the biggest problem in her world. But, not in ours.

Yes, we care about Internet safety. But, we also care about the loss of jobs from the free-wheeling trade deals and lax immigration policies that she and her wealthy campaign contributors are responsible for.

We also care about losing our homes to rising medical bills. Even bankruptcy protection is no longer an option. Melissa Bean and her credit card banks took care of that.

We also care about our civil liberties that make us Americans. Melissa Bean and her Republican allies stripped those away too. Patriot Act, warrantless surveillance, secret arrests, secret trials, secret search and seizures--she voted for them all.

We also care about fair taxation. Nobody likes taxes. But somebody has to pay them. Melissa Bean and her Republican allies have made sure that their wealthy donors are not the ones who do.

Don't let these people tell us who we are anymore!

Randi Scheurer

Lindenhurst

Candidate for Congress

8th District