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Summit Daily letters: Political endorsements and Trump takeaways

Clinton’s corruption overshadows Trump’s crassness

As a wife and mother of a teenage daughter, I find Donald Trump’s comments sickening. But I’m not looking for a President to share a beer with me. If I was, I would be throwing my vote away on one of the other 20 candidates on the ballot who are probably much more fun, interesting and professional. How dare we, the American people, who have pretty much checked our moral authority at the door, cast judgement on Trump for the crass things he’s said. We can forgive Bill Clinton for using his political power to physically abuse women, and we can’t forgive Trump for his language? There are a lot of unknowns about a Trump presidency, but contrast that to what we know about a Hilary Clinton presidency. She may be the most corrupt candidate we’ve ever had. She is a master at obstructing justice, made a mess of the Middle East as secretary of state, called for open borders and Wall Street influence in her speeches, and would nominate Supreme Court justices who will further degrade our religious freedom and gun rights. I will hold my nose, and cast my vote for Trump because of his policy positions, not his personality, and because of my grave concern about the future of our country if Hilary Clinton is elected.

Garnett Payne



Frisco

A lesson lost on Donald Trump !



Like many, I am the husband of a wonderful woman. I have a sister and I am the son of a woman. I am also the father of two outstanding, successful and respectful young men and the uncle of a similarly respectful nephew I like to consider a third son. I’m also a father-in-law and a grandfather to two young adolescent girls and a younger grandson.

I am flabbergasted and disgusted by Donald Trump’s ridiculous, sub-teen, bully in the gutter sexist comments — comments finally unpeeling the stench of the rotten onion I’ve always suspected him to be.

I stand by the long standing mantra that I believe and often drove into my boys’ heads during their teen and young adulthood years: “Never say anything to or about … nor ever do anything to a woman that you wouldn’t want someone to do to your mother!”

It is evident to me, Donald Trump wouldn’t understand. Nor would anyone stupid enough to vote for him!

Ted Pilling

Breckenridge

A doctor in support of Amendment 69

Four Summit County healthcare providers that I respect and admire will be serving on a panel on Oct. 11 to speak against Amendment 69, healthcare payment reform for the State of Colorado. I was not informed or invited (except via the ad in the Summit Daily) although I am the regional coordinator for ColoradoCare. I cannot attend since I have a prior commitment to the community supper offered by St. John the Baptist Church and sponsored/served by the Ebert Family Clinic.

I have served for years on four committees and organizations dealing with physician payment by insurance: CMS United Healthcare Physician Advisory Committee, Centura Health Neighborhood Board, Colorado Medical Society review of Amendment 69, and the Central Rockies Physician Practice Association, of which I have been president for 10 years. I have invested countless hours driving to Denver and Vail for these meetings. Still, I have to write off thousands of dollars of unpaid insurance claims for care I have given. Still I have to see grown men cry in my waiting room when my staff informs them their insurance was cancelled. Still I hear stories everyday about people with and without insurance who have been saddled with years of debt from one hospital visit.

Summit County Dr. Andrew Catron admits the current system is broken, but mangled is my word for it. Many people including doctors, psychologists, social workers, and economists worked for over 8 years with no pay, even mortgaging their homes, to develop and promote Amendment 69. Colorado for Coloradoans is funded with millions of dollars by giant out-of-state, for-profit insurance companies, the Koch brothers, and pharmaceutical companies. Doctors Sain, Catron, Osbourne, and Heggland, if Amendment 69 is defeated will you commit to investing your time and money to devise/construct a new healthcare payment system that we can all live with?

Christine Ebert-Santos, M.D.

Silverthorne

Vote against Bruce Brown

Last week, I read the story on Bruce Brown, who is running for re-election as District Attorney, and it left me horrified. As someone who looks at the candidate before party affiliation, it befuddled me how a sitting DA could (A) wreck a taxpayer owned car without any recourse — monetarily or otherwise, (B) lose over $1,000 in charitable contributions, (C) be seemingly proud that he overcharges petty offenses, and (D) at the age of 21 be charged with larceny in the very district he represents. None of this even goes to the front page Denver Post article discussing how he was not present in his office or in court for much of his tenure.

While I haven’t decided which of his two opponents I’ll be supporting in a few weeks, I strongly urge that all voters not support Bruce Brown.

Dave Wakefield

Vail

The Summit Foundation endorses 3A and 3B

High quality education is critical to the fabric of our community and the future for our children. The Summit School District’s ballot initiatives 3A and 3B would fund high-priority capital infrastructure to provide a safe and enriching learning environment, as well as looking ahead to our community’s growth and the associated needs. The Summit Foundation Board of Trustees endorses 3A and 3B and encourages support of these ballot initiatives to provide resources for infrastructure and access to technology for all students.

Mark Spiers

President, Board of Trustees

The Summit Foundation

Jeanne Bistranin

Executive Director

The Summit Foundation

The Summit Foundation Endorses 5A

Addressing the workforce housing shortage in our community will require innovative strategies and collaboration among a variety of entities. Ballot Question 5A is a critical component to help fund the construction of affordable housing units so that working families can continue to live here and be an integral part of our community. The Summit Foundation Board of Trustees endorses 5A and encourages your support of this important measure.

Mark Spiers

President, Board of Trustees

The Summit Foundation

Jeanne Bistranin

Executive Director

The Summit Foundation

Prop. 106 violates a doctor’s oath

With the current Proposition 106, physicians are being asked, for the sake of a very few patients, to abandon 2500 years of Hippocratic tradition which says that we “do not give a drug to kill a patient, even when asked to do so.” Perhaps it is because we physicians have been too quick to give in to technique and “fixing our patients” instead of true compassion (meaning “suffering with”). Perhaps we have become uncaring as we chase after better compensation and ignore our responsibility to care for the poor and marginalized.

As a professional, what I find most disturbing in this initiative is that any physician or other participant in the “medical aid in dying” process is granted by fiat complete immunity. Doctors will give up the one element of our profession that sets us apart from many others in the healing arts: that we hold each other accountable for our actions.

We do this in many ways. Clinic staff meetings are about how to serve our patients better. As professionals, we serve on hospital peer review boards that examine untoward outcomes. Every specialty has standards to be met and continuing medical education requirements and testing.

We are responsible and as professionals we need to hold each other to that responsibility in all of our practice and prescribing. We need to speak out against this poorly written and ill-conceived legislation. Unfortunately, a majority of physician members of the Colorado Medical Society seem to have drunk the Kool-aid offered by Compassion and Choices, the former “Hemlock Society,” which boiler-plated this initiative and which is funding its support. At stake is the trust we have built with our patients who depend on the fact that we are committed to “do no harm” and to never, ever intentionally end their lives.

William Bolthouse MD

Former chair and volunteer for Summit Community Care Clinic

Littleton


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