The Star’s May 10 editorial, “Down goes Lugar,” warrants rebuttal. The editorial contains a cherry-picked comparison of Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama and Dick Lugar, the Indiana senator who recently lost his primary race in his bid for a seventh term. Curiously omitted are stark points of contrast that were central to Sen. Lugar’s ouster.

1,742. That’s the running total of town hall meetings that Sen. Shelby has held in Alabama over his Senate career. He doesn’t use accountability as a talking point; he faces it in each county every year. Sen. Lugar, on the other hand, rarely visited his state, let alone faced his constituents. His primary opponent made this a big campaign issue; in turn, the voters of Indiana held him accountable.

Lugar also voted to bail out Wall Street and Detroit. This angered conservatives in Indiana, and they didn’t forget. As the top Republican on the committee of jurisdiction for these issues, Shelby led the charge against bailouts — under Presidents Bush and Obama. In fact, he opposed the Chrysler bailout in 1979 under President Carter, as well.

The Star’s readers deserve full context, not a forced comparison.

Jonathan Graffeo
Communications Director
U.S. Senator Richard Shelby
Washington