Letters on Pompeo supporter, integrity of voting, Clinton e-mails, drug prices

Letter to editor had false name

A recent letter appeared on these pages supporting my campaign (“Pompeo stood out,” Sept. 30 Letters to the Editor). That letter was written by a member of my campaign under a false name. I first learned of this misconduct on the afternoon of the day the letter was published. The individual responsible for this action is no longer involved in my campaign.

As the leader of the organization, I accept full responsibility for this unacceptable behavior. I want to personally apologize to The Eagle’s publisher, editorial team and readers. In my service as a member of Congress, I have prided myself on telling the truth and shooting straight. My team and I failed to live up to that standard last week, and for that I am most sorry.

Lack confidence

The county election commissioner’s comment about not having enough workers to staff polling places was unnerving (Sept. 29 Eagle). Tabitha Lehman said: “We will take just about anybody.” Well, that certainly makes me feel confident in the integrity of our local election office.

Secretary of State Kris Kobach’s battle to block lifelong Kansans from voting has undermined my faith in Kansas’ registration and voting process.

Once, when I voted early at Grace Presbyterian Church, the voting machine didn’t work. It did not register my votes as cast and switched them to other candidates. The polling supervisor was unable to rectify the problem. He told me to pull the final lever: Everything would be OK. The votes weren’t for candidates I wanted. And, he didn’t see that as a problem! Finally, I cast a paper ballot.

Former Secretaries of State Jack Brier and Bill Graves and former Sedgwick County Election Commissioner Marilyn Chapman were trusted and efficient when it came to registration, voting and ballot counting. I encourage Kansans to vote and to use a paper ballot if anything is wrong at the polls. This is one way to send a message that incompetence and ideology will not be tolerated when it comes to our right to vote.

Ignored security

I spent more than 33 years working in a classified shop for the United State military, the last 11 as the section supervisor. Everyone in the buildings had to obtain and keep a secret clearance to have their position to repair and operate classified avionics systems.

I cannot comprehend a person not understanding the basics of classified security measures that Hillary Clinton claims, and the way the public is being misled on the severity of the mishandling of classified documents.

Clinton sat as a U.S. senator during a time of war yet apparently never understood what the instructions at the beginning of every classified briefing meant.

She then was secretary of state, also while at war, and was briefed daily on security matters. Did she never understand the system, or never care to ask?

If I were still supervising the shop at this time, I would not allow Clinton into my classified building because of her handling of classified documents. How can she become commander in chief without lowering the standards and requirements that keep us safe?

Important news

I appreciated the article “Westar to get half its energy from zero-emission sources” (Oct. 2 Eagle). I hope The Eagle will report on such important environmental stories on a continuing basis.

As we transition from nonrenewable fossil fuels to renewable sources of energy, such as solar and wind, it is important that the public be kept up to date on progress as goals are met.

Congratulations to Westar Energy for seeking nonpolluting energy alternatives that clean up our community.

Unethical pricing

CBS News reported several weeks ago that a representative from Mylan Laboratories said the price increase of EpiPen reflected significant improvement of the product and “has changed over time to better reflect important product features and the value the product provides.” A six- to seven-fold increase in cost surely doesn’t reflect an increase in that much research and development.

It seems that greed has more to do with the increase in cost of this particular product. This is especially true after it was discovered that the CEO of Mylan received an increase of about $15 million in salary and benefits from the previous year.

I’m a pharmacist, and many topical pharmaceutical products have jumped in price exponentially over the past few years. There seems no logical explanation except that the manufacturer could charge more. Cialis and Viagra are two erectile dysfunction drugs that have risen in price unreasonably since their release. The wholesale price of these two are in excess of $1,200 for 30 tablets to the pharmacy. We once sold them for less than $10 per dose; now they cost the pharmacy more than $40 per dose. These are only a few examples.

Mylan seems to say: We’re going to charge more because it saves lives, and we know you’ll have to buy it. Where is the sense of right in this? When do we as a society say “Enough is enough”?

Where is the company that provides reliable products at a fair price to the customer? Are ethics and virtues ideas that no longer guide us?

This story was originally published October 5, 2016 at 5:03 AM with the headline "Letters on Pompeo supporter, integrity of voting, Clinton e-mails, drug prices."