A fond Chester County memory of Barbara Bush

Letters to the editor

As I watched the funeral of Barbara Bush last week, a sudden surge of nostalgia occurred for her as I remembered a specific set of events in Chester County during the presidential election of 1980. I was county commissioner at the time, and was also the Reagan-Bush campaign chairman for the county. I put in a request for an appearance from the candidates and suddenly there was a call: “Okay, Earl. You’ve got Barbara Bush.”

As these things go during campaigns often you do not get much notice about an appearance of a VIP like the vice presidential candidate’s wife, and you just have to put it together as fast as you can. I think I had about a week’s notice, so I swung into high gear, lined up a quiet fund raiser at the elegant home of a couple in an upscale area, and was successful in getting a good number of attendees, around 25 as I recall for $500 a couple.

I can still picture Mrs. Bush sitting on a couch with my wife, Jackie, and few other women, her head thrown back laughing and easily leading the conversation in the most personal friendly way.

However before that event I had also arranged with Mrs. Bush’s — Barbara — own suggestion for a session at the Chester County Library with her reading to children. Typical of her constant belief in promoting literacy even during a campaign.

But here is the kicker: The couple who had agreed to host the event were living together but were not yet married.

Between the time I told them she was coming and the day of the event they had gone out and become quietly married! As they told me afterward, they just felt better, and perhaps a bit more proper, hosting Barbara Bush as a married couple. They had a strong subsequent marriage and in a way Barbara Bush bringing this about was a tribute to the positive strength of her character and influence in the lives of others. Earl Baker, Malvern

Message to governor

To Gov. Wolf: You are apparently tone deaf or indifferent to your constituency. You didn’t listen when we came with our children in October. You didn’t stop the corporate overreach by the oil and gas industry, just the opposite. You have bolstered them by inviting highly controversial cracker plants to our state, and destroying a massive amount of our fresh water by supporting more wells, more pipelines. To this I say:

#NoEminentDomain4PrivateGain #NatGasIsNotABridgeFuel http://www.BetterPathCoalition.org

Say No to pollution, weak compromises and empty promises. The evidence is clear that fracking is a threat to public health and safety. Your energy policy for our state is horrendous. It goes against the science and conscience. Your actions are immoral abuses of our resources, and we call them out. We will not stop.

Our air and water are our most precious resources. Uphold our State Constitution Article 27 on environmental protection and Title 35- 77, especially for our kids.

Gov. Wolf , you are a wolf in sheep’s clothing, so I must call “B.S.”

You have no viable excuses for allowing the national gas industry in PA to determine policies that harm our citizens when we have #BetterChoices. You have Ignored the Facts and betrayed us. I am deeply disappointed in your lack of leadership. Susan Britton Seyler Chester Springs

President’s finances

Imagine hiring someone into a position of responsibility without verifying their qualifications. A babysitter for your children, a renovator for your bathroom, a pilot for your flight . . . .

With regard to our Presidential elections, we voters have taken some comfort for decades in checking the financial qualifications of candidates provided by their tax returns. The wealthier the candidate and the more extensive the business they may be tied to, then the more important it is to have details of their financial situations, practices, and especially relationships and entanglements.

Candidate Trump vowed to release his returns, and obviously he still hasn’t. Even worse, his party is blocking attempts to require this disclosure. This past week, House Republicans voted unanimously to block a bill requiring disclosure of presidential tax returns. Is this just another mindless partisan refusal to deny even the most reasonable check of a major job qualification or is this a mindful – maybe even knowing – defense against some truly problematic facts that would be disclosed?

This highest office in the land (like all jobs) needs explicit job qualifications and a process to confirm them. With only two years remaining before the next screening of Presidential candidates, this lack of a process and job standards must be remedied.

John Conrad, West Chester