In defense of Scanlon

Your recent editorial regarding Sean Scanlon (Nov. 19, “The Sean Scanlon school of politics”) serves as a great example of why good people shy away from public service and why we hold our public officials with such low esteem. As far as I can tell, Sean Scanlon is one of the truly fine public servants who has sought public office to solve problems and create opportunities for his constituents. Knowing him just from media accounts I read and the issues that I follow, I have been impressed with his determination to solve often difficult and historically intractable problems that many other office holders have long left unattended. He has worked on health care issues (capping the cost of insulin), tax relief, mental health issues and the unemployment trust fund often reaching across the aisle to find bi-partisan solutions that actually get implemented.

Your editorial takes an off-hand comment that he made at some gathering regarding the popularity of Gov. Ned Lamont and extrapolates it into a major shift in his position on the public option for health insurance. The piece concedes that it might be too much to find that this comment represents a major change in his views, but it creates a harmful perception of those public officials that do try to solve problems and try to make things better.

If I were to extrapolate from your editorial in the same careless way, I might think that Hearst Media has some ax to grind against a young, energetic public servant who has proven to be a problem-solver. Having our information processed and presented in this way by your editors creates the very cynicism that the opinion rails against. Please try to hold yourself to a higher standard.