Editor:

Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap raises some very troubling concerns in her letter "Voting Fail" (Mailbox, April 26), about congressional candidate Stacey Lawson's abysmal lack of a voting record. For this young multimillionaire, who now aspires to be our next elected representative to Congress, to have only voted in four of the last 12 elections (on top of her having zero experience as an elected official, which is very reminiscent of Meg Whitman, another multimillionaire who aspired to be elected with no experience and an embarrassing lack of a personal voting record), should be most troubling to anyone considering casting a vote for Ms. Lawson.

But it's even worse than that. What Kaitlin failed to point out is that while Stacey couldn't be bothered to vote in 2008, an election which included an opportunity for her to vote against Proposition 8, which outlawed marriage equality in this state, she did bother to donate $10,000 to multiple candidates in the same election cycle! So Stacey apparently feels that her money can buy votes, even when she can't be bothered to vote herself. None of this is very promising for a would-be Congress member who we would hope will study the issues and vote for us every time. I am also concerned, as I was with Meg Whitman, about Ms. Lawson's efforts now to try to buy your vote and mine with her heavy media blitz, which has only just begun.

I've studied the candidates and done a reasonable analysis of the race. The candidate of the status quo is clearly Jared Huffman, and he will undoubtedly make it into the runoff in November, so the competition in this "open primary" is for second place. Of the "alternative to the status quo" candidates, I feel the most qualified is third-term [Marin] County Supervisor Susan Adams. Of the major contenders she is also the candidate with the closest ties to the North Coast and the one who I feel would best represent Humboldt County in Congress. I hope you'll join me casting your vote on June 5 to make Adams the second name on the November ballot.

Pam Cahill, Bayside