Hunter’s Mail

Your (June 23) story on Congressman Duncan Hunter’s mailings to constituents didn’t mention that he was 66th in Congress in use of the franking privilege until the last paragraph. The impression given by the headline was different.

Why is it wrong for a congressman to use mailings to advise his constituents that he will hold a series of town hall meetings throughout the district? Aren’t they entitled to know? Your paper is not read by everyone in the district, and you never print the town hall schedule anyway. You also criticized Hunter for mailing his constituents a breakdown of 1991 expenditures by Congress. Why was that bad?

The third mailer he sent reported the progress of the fence being built on the border with Mexico. Congressman Hunter has the whole California-Mexico border in his district. Drugs are a major problem in our country. His legislation using military means to erect the border fence is the first effective measure to cut down smuggling of drugs into the U.S. It seems reasonable that the people here want to be kept informed on the progress of this project. Instead of keeping people here in the dark, outside of the slanted news available in the local papers, you should commend Congressman Hunter for keeping his district informed on these important activities.

J.P. GARNER, San Diego