I was amazed and saddened by Rich Elfers’ Opinion piece in the Oct. 5 Courier-Herald, “I support Patty Murray, despite her fear tactics over Social Security, Medicare”.

Elfers begins by asking, “Does Senator Patty Murray deserve four Pinocchios?” He seems to answer his own question at the start of the third paragraph of the piece by asking another question followed by a statement: “Was Senator Murray lying? Yes, but the facts are more nuanced than the…(news)…article suggests.”

Elfers had just shared with your readers that Murray had tweeted, “Republicans plan to end Social Security and Medicare if they take back the Senate.”

That’s the lie.

So what was Murray’s justification for saying such a thing, in Elfers’ view?

“Murray was fear mongering to gain herself votes.” I won’t argue with that assessment.

As far as I could discern, Elfers’ strongest argument for retuning Murray to D.C. again rests on her “…30 years of seniority. That’s power that no resident of Washington State should want to give up easily.”

Well, Elfers had a couple of questions. Now I have a few of my own.

Murray has had a 30 year stint in the other Washington, so can you name one thing that she’s done to make your life better?

Will you vote for a career politician who’s biggest selling point is the ability to stay in power?

Are you really happy with the direction the Democrat Party is leading this country?

Are you voting for Murray just because your family has “always voted Democratic”?

Aren’t you tired of a party that controls the White House, the House and the Senate, but is inept at solving the problems of rampant inflation, an open boarder, crime, homelessness, fentanyl abuse and human trafficking?

But, back to Elfers’ opinion. You may have grown weary wading through the two columns of Elfers’ piece and, thinking “I get the gist”, neglected to dig a few pages further to his closing paragraph which really summed up his bias quite concisely: “My vote is for Murray, no matter how long her nose grew by fear mongering about losing Social Security and Medicare if she loses to Smiley.”

Will you, like Elfers, vote for a 30 year fixture in D.C., even after he documented that she felt it necessary lie to stay another six years?

Murray does not represent my views, regardless of how many times she’s circled the Capitol dome in the other Washington.

At the risk of making this seem like some sort of quiz show, please indulge me in asking a couple of more questions:

Do any of you remember when Murray ran as, “The Mom in Tennis Shoes”? Doesn’t that seem a bit like ancient history?

I believe it’s time to give another “outsider” a chance. And yes, she happens to be a mom too.

I hope you’ll join me in voting for a fresh face in the U.S. Senate.

Unlike Elfers, my vote is for Tiffany Smiley.

J. M. Akers Sr.

Enumclaw