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Attacks on Senator Ernie López backfire

April 20, 2018

Well it looks as though Sen. Ernie López has put yet another bee in the bonnet of some local liberal Democrats by not doing everything they want all the time.

As evidenced by the recent haranguing and snarky letters to the editor in local papers, the Progressive Democrats of Sussex County are back in full negative attack mode hyperventilating about Sen. Lopez's articulate and balanced commentary on bipartisan efforts to improve school safety and coming out in strong support of the Beau Biden Gun Violence Prevention Act.

As Sen. López explained in his recent column: "In just the last six years, Delaware has become a model of sensible and prudent legislation to address gun violence and enhance public safety with much of it passed on a bipartisan basis."

I could not agree with Sen. López more strongly, and the facts point to this being the case in Delaware. President John Adams once said, "Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence." The prudent wisdom of President Adams is clear in the efforts of Sen. López and his colleagues, who have worked across the aisle to keep our Delaware school children safe.

From the tenor and tone of the attack letters being printed, you would think Delaware schools were the Wild West, and some kind of heresy or hypocrisy had taken place, with its main culprit being the senator from the 6th District, Dr. López.

It is quite obvious that the "progressive left," particularly in Eastern Sussex County, is being driven by a very vocal minority who insist on political purity and the annihilation of the "good" in order to achieve some sort of ideological "perfect" that exists only in their misguided imaginations.

Once again, the facts prove this to be the case.

As legislation banning bump stocks languishes in the General Assembly, House Democrats bicker with Senate Democrats over revised language passed in an overwhelmingly bipartisan fashion in the upper chamber. A thoughtful amendment to House Bill 330, which would allow adults between the ages of 18-21 to purchase a long gun only when they have successfully completed a hunter safety education course, caused the bill to stall instead of allowing its passage on a bipartisan basis.

A bill with similar language was just passed with bipartisan support by a Republican governor working across the aisle with Democratic legislators in Vermont, and hailed as a victory by gun control advocates across America. If a similar bill was good enough for the "progressive left" in the home state of Bernie Sanders, why isn't it good enough here in Delaware?

To these "progressives" I say, stop letting your Washington, D.C. brand of "resist at all costs" politics besmirch the long tradition of bipartisanship that has always benefited Delawareans and for which Sen. López, in particular, has been a champion. You can be sure that I, along with scores of other volunteers, will continue to work hard to ensure that Sen. López is re-elected.

If the recent letters are any indication of your campaign strategy, his margin of victory will be even greater than before, while the voters will surely suffer at the negativity of your efforts in trying to trash one of the most competent legislators we have in Dover.

Continue the great work, Sen. López, and keep showing up just as you have for six years all over the district in support of meaningful causes and programs. It only makes your opponents angrier and your supporters prouder and resolved to volunteer on your behalf and cast ballots in support of your victory this coming November.

Cathy Watts
Milton

 

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