As a proud member of IBEW Local 2327 for 21 years, I take issue with Anthony Ronzio’s August 24 column, “Campaigns need to lighten up.” I agree that “politics is theater,” but these grossly distorted anti-union ads running on the television, radio and in the newspaper are nothing to laugh at.

It isn’t that these ads are everywhere. Sure, that’s annoying. It isn’t even that we’re depicted as Mafia bosses – we’re not. The problem I, and thousands of working people throughout Maine have, is these ads are simply a lie.

The Employee Free Choice Act is a key piece of legislation that would level the playing field between workers and employers. It would provide an additional way for workers to organize – if they so choose – and it would provide stiff penalties for corporations who break the rules and try to harass, coerce, intimidate or illegally fire workers who seek to form a union.

If people are not entertained by the issues and the facts that separate Tom Allen from Susan Collins, that’s unfortunate. Thousands of Mainers who’ve seen jobs sent overseas care about whether we’ll be able to keep good jobs in Maine, whether we’ll have a senator who will make health care more affordable and who wonder why some D.C.-based lobbyists are taking potshots at Maine workers who already have a union.

I am a proud union member, and I vote.

And this union member is voting for candidates who support EFCA.

Michael J. Beecy, Auburn