LETTERS: EMERSON IS STILL INSURANCE LOBBYIST

To the editor:

Jo Ann Emerson's position as a lobbyist and the possibility of conflict of interest have not been issues in the congressional campaign. In the Republican-dominated media's efforts to protect Emerson from facing up to her history of conflicts of interest, they have been reluctant to reveal to the public facts that would affect all taxpaying citizens. Or perhaps the media are as confused as the average person would be in trying to understand such a complicate issue.

Public documents verify the following facts: HR 2727, also known as the Oxley Bill, shifts the responsibility of Superfund cleanup of toxic dump sites from polluters to taxpayers. The insurance companies who were originally responsible for paying for the cleanup hired Emerson Aug. 11, 1995, as their lobbyist to shift their burden of responsibility of payment to the American taxpayers. This gives new meaning to the word "dump." Three out of the 170 cleanup sites are in Sikeston, Malden and Cape Girardeau -- toxic sites that threaten the health and future of our district.

Now Congresswoman Emerson is a co-sponsor of the Oxley Bill, the very legislation she worked on as a paid lobbyist for the insurance companies. Most people would lose their jobs over a conflict of interest like this. The bill stands to cost taxpayers anywhere from $800 million a year to billions of dollars a year.

Emerson has received over $50,000 in campaign contributions from the insurance industry, and half her political war chest is from Washington, D.C., PACs. And why not? Emerson never quit working as a lobbyist.

If we had a representative who was from Southeast Missouri, he wouldn't put the interests of big insurance ahead of his neighbors.

JON P. TERRELL

Sikeston