Not surprisingly, Allen Shirley (Globe, Aug. 4) defended a local Republican lawmaker (Steve Hunter) who has recently accepted more than his peers in the way of lobbyist gifts while supporting cutting assistance to the poor and disabled. First, we can agree that because an activity is legal doesn't make it moral. Second, it is one thing to live a privileged lifestyle and quite another to live a privileged lifestyle while cutting assistance for the poor and disabled.
We don't want assistance going to people who will waste it on drugs or who don't need it. The mentally ill, the poor and the disabled should not have been the baby that got thrown out with the bath water. The rich and powerful have a unique opportunity to assist others that many do not have. Steve Hunter had that same opportunity and he chose what Rep. Frank Barnitz called, "the legislative equivalent of pushing someone in a wheelchair down a flight of stairs."
The next time Rep. Hunter has a free dinner paid for by lobbyists, I suggest he do the following: "When you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous." (Luke 14:13-14)
http://www.joplinglobe.com/story.php?story_id=201046&c=96