Traficant’s sins pale in comparison to Clinton’s

Traficant’s sins pale in comparison to Clinton’s

In his Oct. 16 opinion piece, Bertram de Souza was horrified that I quoted the late Jim Traficant in a recent GOP fundraising appeal, suggesting I was a hypocrite for criticizing Valley corruption, then quoting from one of our most prominent politicians who got caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

The letter de Souza refers to was 1,443 words in length, spanning three pages. The Traficant quote was 41 words. To understand the context, the reader needs to review the complete letter, which made clear that Traficant had a checkered past and was no stranger to the federal prison system.

Traficant was certainly “ethically challenged,” but he was also a gifted writer and speaker who had a talent for telling it like it is. Therefore, I make no apologies for using his words to make a point.

Congressman Traficant, notwithstanding his legal issues, represented a legitimate political point of view that was very popular in the Valley. Residents who in the past had faithfully supported Democratic nominees for president are now being subjected to ridicule and disdain by Hillary Clinton, who calls them “deplorable.” If the Democratic Party doesn’t want these fine folks, we will gladly welcome them into our home.

Traficant sinned for sure, but it was a walk in the park compared to the corruption of Hillary Clinton and her demonstrated contempt for the institutions and citizens of this great nation.

From destruction of evidence, to breaches in national security, to pay-for-play schemes through her corrupt foundation and her treatment of the families of those proud Americans who died in Benghazi, I will proudly stand with those in the Mahoning Valley who stand for hard work, fair play, respect for the law and love of country.

Mark E. Munroe, Youngstown

Mark E. Munroe is chairman of the Mahoning County Republican Party.

Munroe deserves praise for his many good deeds

This letter is written regarding Bertram de Souza’s column of Oct. 16.

After reading the column, I dug Mark Munroe’s letter out of the trash and couldn’t see anything wrong with it except if I were a Hillary Clinton supporter. But the article did work me up from Mr. Money’s calling Mark Munroe a hypocrite.

I sat down and wrote a sarcastic answer to you in regard to Mr. Money’s terrible name of Munroe, but after umpteen changes in editing of my sarcastic answer, I realized by not knowing him, I was doing the same thing as he was doing to Mark. I ripped it up.

If I knew who Mr. Money is, I probably wouldn’t even think of writing such terrible things about him, so by the same token, if he knew the real Mark Munroe and his good deeds he wouldn’t have called him such a dastardly name. I could fill a whole page with Mark’s good deeds and how much he has done for this Valley.

So Mr. Money, I publicly apologize for even thinking about maligning you, and I feel if you knew the real Mark Munroe you would do the same.

Mark is a great American.

Bill Wade, Poland