It sometimes amazes me how little some candidates understand about the Legislature when they decide to run for office. I just have to address the statement from Michelle Rylands’ story in the May 5 Auburn Reporter wherein she wrote, “I’m tired of watching the Republicans and Phil Fortunato play games with our children’s future.”

There is no question she and most Democrats blame the Republicans not only for the problems in our education system, but all problems in the state in general. This is patently absurd and reveals a complete lack of knowledge of the present state of the Legislature and its recent history.

The Democrats have completely controlled both houses of the Legislature for 57 of the last 84 years and the Republicans only six – the last time in 1997-98. There is no way a bill sponsored by a Republican can ever pass unless it has strong bipartisan support. In only 21 of the past 84 years the houses have been split, as they are now, and the representatives from both parties were/are forced to compromise.

So you members of the teachers unions who are told to blame the Republicans for your problems and directed your union leaders to only vote for Democrats need to recognize it is not the Republicans who have given you what you have today but rather the Democrats.

In fact, the current Republican Senate controlled by a single vote has provided the education system billions more than the Democrats were offering. If education were so important, why is it the Democrat-controlled House always tries to fund everything else in its budget before education and then tell us it needs more taxes to fund education?

If there are problems in this state that could have been resolved by the Legislature, I would suggest that it is the Democrats who have been in control for most of the past 85 years who are really the reason they have not been resolved.

– Orin Wells