Kinder, Hanaway gave employees more days off than governor did

To the editor:

If giving state employees who have not received a raise in three years two extra days off is so repugnant to you, why did you not heap criticism on state Sen. Peter Kinder and state Rep. Catherine Hanaway, who issued memos long before the governor's executive order giving all 560 Senate and House employees the day off after Thanksgiving and Christmas as well as giving all their employees even more days off with pay? Hanaway gave all House employees the Monday before Veterans Day and Christmas Eve off, and Kinder gave Senate employees Christmas Eve off.

Perhaps you would like to write another editorial criticizing President Bush for giving all federal employees the same days off Holden did. You might even want to go back and criticize Kit Bond and John Ashcroft for giving state employees similar days off when holidays fell on Thursdays, even though they too were governor during tough budget times.

The biased journalism you practice in your paper has become such common knowledge and so widespread that most readers don't even bother to respond with the facts. But this editorial was so blatantly slanted and unfair to the governor that I felt compelled to let all your readers know that the question should not be why the governor gave state employees two days off but why Kinder and Hanaway are giving their state employees even more days off with pay.

CHUCK MILLER

Cape Girardeau