Letters to the editor

Tax help still around Dear editor:

AARP Tax-Aide volunteer service was interrupted by the COVID-19 virus, but not before we completed 960 tax returns for low-to-moderate-income residents of Garland County. We could not have done this without the wonderful partnership we have with Director Adam Webb and the Garland County Library. This was our 20th year providing tax assistance using the accommodation resources provided by our wonderful library. Our success is a direct result of the library’s staff and their support for the Hot Springs community. We just want to thank them very very much.

For those that still needing tax assistance, IRS.gov “Get Your Taxes for Free” is working great and for those that are non-filers that want to get the Economic Impact Payment, use IRS.gov, “Non-Filers: Enter Payment Info here,” to get the stimulus check. Bill Davidson AARP Tax-Aide Local Coordinator

A pattern of abuses Dear editor:

Thank you to Mr. Alexander this week for highlighting yet another in a long line of Donald Trump’s abuses of office, this time the order using $45,000 worth of taxpayer funds to rent golf carts from a resort he owns during a national medical crisis. I’m waiting for the outcry from our local congressman, Bruce Westerman, about this. I suspect I’ll continue waiting, as Westerman, who campaigned as a deficit hawk, has turned out to be nothing but a silent tool for this president. We certainly won’t hear from Sen. Tom Cotton, who recently blamed the impeachment hearings on the administration’s lack of preparedness for the coronavirus.

Alexander pointed out one small, but excellent, example. The truth is, Donald Trump has been in violation of numerous laws and legislation that prohibit a person from using public office to personally enrich themselves from his first day in the White House. CFR 2635.702 is but one law that very clearly points out what defines “use of public office for private gain.” And yet Bruce Westerman, Tom Cotton, and others sit silent and meek, refusing to do their jobs as elected officials and oath takers. In the past four years, they’ve proven time and again they work for Donald Trump, not the people of Arkansas. They can explain that to their grandchildren, if we still have a country.

As of July 10, 2019, Forbes magazine reported that Trump’s golf trips to his own resorts — which have been billed to taxpayers — had cost $133.8 million. That figure includes the cost of Air Force One, Secret Service details, green and cart fees, and room and board. By Forbes’ account, if Trump is reelected and continues on the same pace, by the time he leaves office, he will have run up a tab of just over $340 million of taxpayer money which his own companies will have collected. Congressman Westerman, do you not have a problem with that? If not, an actual violation of law and a criminal act, does the appearance of impropriety and conflict of interest not both you, Congressman Westerman?

The examples of Trump’s malfeasance are too numerous to mention in one letter, such as the renting of rooms for Air Force pilots at one of his golf resorts in Scotland at nearly double the normal room rate, or his attempt to hold the Republican National Convention at Mar Lago in Florida, again at a room rate much higher than the norm. As Mr. Alexander so succinctly noted, in 2016 Americans elected not a Republican, but a reality television real estate mogul with a proven track record of deceit, immorality, and a complete lack of ethics. And this is the man Bruce Westerman has aligned himself with, and through his continuing obedience to, has placed before the needs of his own constituents. Something for Arkansans to think about. Noah Little Hot Springs