In an online response to Hap Gallin’s letter, printed July 11, Robert commented “Dems get elected because the voting public likes our policies and results vs. the other alternatives presented.”

Show me the Democrat in this state who ran an honest campaign by telling voters that he/she was going to vote to increase taxes and I’ll show you a Democrat out of a job.

I recall that Rep. Mike Carey ran on supporting a “reasonable level of taxation.” He is up to $110 million more money being sent to Augusta, and that’s just his first year up there. He’s in good company, as Sen. Peggy Rotundo and Rep. Margaret Craven and Rep. Elaine Makas all joined in the tax and fee fest.

I’ll give them some credit; $40 million is targeted to fixing bridges and roads. I wonder, though, if Democrats ran an honest campaign and told voters that raiding the highway fund, by circumventing the clear language of the state constitution, was an acceptable way to balance the general fund – would they have won election?

Perhaps without such raiding, the $40 million per year wouldn’t have been necessary.

Perhaps the next time a reporter hears a candidate, from either party, use a wimpy phrase such as “reasonable taxation,” or a generic “support affordable health care,” the reporter could ask a simple follow-up question so voters know what they are voting for.

The question would be: “What does that mean?”

David Hughes, Lewiston