More focus needed on issues affecting families

Dear editor,

I read Christy Zito’s letter to the Mountain Home News, published on July 10, with great interest, as she is my opponent for the Senate seat here in Legislative District 8.

My immediate reaction was to recall something from the film “The American President.”

“He is interested in two things and two things only: Making you afraid of it and telling you who’s to blame for it,” the movie quotes. “That, ladies and gentlemen, is how you win elections.”

It seems that Ms. Zito has taken this lesson to heart and has chosen to make blaming the men, women, and children who seek a better life in the United States a focal point in her campaign.

Railing against immigrants is not new, but it is unusual in a country that prides itself as being “a nation of immigrants.” Neither Ms. Zito nor I am a Native American… both of our families came here from somewhere else.

We should expect more from our leaders than the kind of negativity embodied in Ms. Zito’s letter.

It has been 38 years since our last successful legislative effort at immigration reform. Recent efforts in 2005, 2006, 2009 and again this year all failed to gain the bipartisan support needed for legislation of this nature. Those efforts failed, in part, because of the noise and negativity that ultimately ensued.

While comprehensive immigration reform would be welcome, it isn’t something that is going to happen in the Idaho Legislature.

Rather than spending time on issues that are out of our control, I believe that we should be focusing on issues that most directly impact Idaho families, such as public safety, the quality of our schools, health care, and our precious environment.

That is where my focus will be. I hope you will join me in that effort.

-- David A. Hoag, Mountain Home