Opinion: The Leader recommends local voters return Assembly's Rudy Salas and Rep. T.J. Cox to their respective offices

As a local newspaper editor, I tend to avoid national and world issues. Instead, I prefer to focus on our community, mostly the exceptional elements, from its hard-working families and its good schools, to a small-town mentality that favors honesty and integrity in an increasingly divided world.

Rarely in these pages will you read about national and state issues, unless of course, the world and nation pass a law that affects towns like Lemoore or spends much of the year dealing with a world-wide pandemic, a scourge that could – and has had – obvious consequences on our quiet and friendly community.

The evidence is significant. From shutting down its schools to noticing a spike in local crime, COVID-19 has indeed invaded our community.

But as a small-town newspaper editor, I focus on the local issues. I believe that readers get enough of national and world news through television and the internet. Residents like and want to see local stories: the hometown young men or women who graduate from our country’s military academies, a Stratford organization that does what it can to improve its community, whether it’s a junkyard cleanup or a 5 K run, or the latest news from Lemoore’s elected officials.

Lemoore’s citizens will read about their annual Christmas Parade that – because of a pandemic – will transform itself but will continue to grace our downtown during the holiday season.

They are interested in that talented wrestler who earned a college scholarship, or a well-known woman, a former Citizen of the Year, and a friend, one of our town’s vaunted citizen of the year, who suddenly dies, leaving us much too soon.

These are just a few of the stories The Leader provides for its readers. As an editor, I’ve done my best to keep The Leader’s stories local instead of venturing into a world where major newspapers and cable television news organizations dominate a world and national view.

On that note, while The Leader may not make any local recommendations, it will single out a pair of state and federal representatives that we think go above and beyond in their desire to improve the lives of folks who live in communities like Lemoore, in Kings County and the San Joaquin Valley.

For starters, Assemblyman Rudy Salas, gunning for yet another two-year term in the California State Assembly, is a well-known figure in local circles. He often visits Lemoore and Kings County and does a credible job of bringing home “the bacon.” The talented legislator has recently been instrumental in obtaining funding for a Lemoore Police Department dispatch center and a new Kings County Sheriff’s Department's main office, among other achievements.

He is perhaps one of the hardest working assembly members in Sacramento; ask Kings County Sheriff David Robinson, who recently stood by him when the two broke ground for the new Kings County Sheriff’s administration building.

Salas has been a frequent visitor to Lemoore, whether he’s here to “Stuff the Bus” for school supplies for local students or in Lemoore to attend a groundbreaking for a local facility that he’s helped to fund.

At the federal level, first-term Congressman TJ Cox, despite a barrage of negative advertising, is working hard at the national level for everything from veterans to healthcare. In the last two years, Cox, who narrowly edged incumbent David Valadao in 2018, has worked on legislation on water, immigration, healthcare, prescription drugs, education, jobs, and of course, COVID-19 relief.

He’s also found time to visit his district and attend town halls, something his opponent declined to do during his last term. In 2017, as Republican representatives nationally faced angst and anger during the battle over the Affordable Health Care Act – often getting verbally pummeled during town hall meetings – our congressional representative instead held a very different forum.

During that period of health care angst, Kings County's representative avoided public gatherings and instead took a different approach when offering to meet with constituents. Instead of the give-and-take of a public forum, the local congressman required his constituents to wait in line to ask questions. Instead of a town hall,  Rep. David Valadao granted his constituents 10 minutes each in the sanctity of his office.

A “Profile in Courage?” I think not.

While Lemoore is traditionally a conservative community, it should look past the labels and put folks in office who care about the community and make the time to visit and answer constituent questions. Assemblyman Rudy Salas and Rep. TJ Cox proved that they would take the time.

 

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