To the editor:

This is actually an open letter to our Kansas congressional delegation, especially Sens. Roberts and Brownback.

I just heard on the news that AIG, the company recently bailed out with 85 billion taxpayer dollars, is continuing to keep the executive who designed its failed policies on retainer at a million dollars a month. That’s taxpayer dollars. At the same time, say NPR and CNN, AIG executives went to a half-million dollar luxury retreat, again using post-bailout dollars.

So what I want to tell you, elected officials from Kansas, is that I better read in the paper or hear on the news that you have protested in outrage against this waste and fraud. I want to hear that you have demanded the end of that million-dollar stipend and the end of the many similar payments going out from our bailout money. You know where there’s one that’s come to light, there’s 10 more that haven’t. I want to hear that you demanded those freeloading AIG people repay the taxpayers every cent of that squandered half-million, and that you saw it was done.

While you’re bailing out these unbelievably rich people, I’ve watched my retirement fund go backward over the past 18 months, and believe me, it wasn’t that much to start. So how about bailing out me and the rest of the honest taxpayers who pay your salaries by calling loudly – whether you mean it or not – for ACCOUNTABILITY.

I’m just one voter, but I’m confident I’m not alone in these sentiments.

Gary Henry,
Lawrence