If incumbent Dave Reichert, knows the issues and is “clearly right” for the 8th Congressional District, why won’t he debate his opponent, Jason Ritchie? On issue after issue, Reichert has voted against what the majority in the 8th District want. Here are a few examples:

1. No government shutdowns: Reichert voted with the Tea Party to shut down the government.

2. Strengthening Social Security: Reichert appears to support privatizing.

3. Ethics and corruption in politics: Reichert just brought the ethics idiot, Newt Gingrich, to Issaquah for a $2,500 a plate dinner. Clearly, ethics is not a Reichert priority.

4. Keeping guns out of the hands of criminals: Quiet on I-594, Reichert is endorsed by the NRA.

5. Obamacare: Reichert voted 54 times to repeal.

6. Wasting tax dollars on suing the president: Reichert voted to sue for not enforcing Obamacare fast enough. Huh?

7. Raising the federal minimum wage: Reichert voted against it, but workers know it is lower than it was decades ago.

8. Equal pay for women: Reichert voted against it.

9. Marriage equality: Reichert opposed this.

10. Corporations are not people: Reichert thinks they are.

11. Money is property, not speech: Reichert believes in the best government money can buy.

12. Women’s health: He has made anti-choice votes.

By contrast, Jason Ritchie’s positions are a better fit for the 8th. Ritchie is intelligent, extremely well informed, and a humble guy who cares about people. The more I get to know him, the better I like him.

Roger Ledbetter, Snoqualmie