I’ve been waiting for someone like Ms. Dustrude to cast my actions in a negative light – and just in time for the election. Thank you, Louise, for this opportunity to enlighten with the truth.

Only twice in my life have I been so outraged at elected officials that I stood on a street corner to express my opinions, April 15th, 2009, and 2010, “Tax Day.”

Months prior, I called senators and representatives from several states to voice disgust at George W. Bush for caving to the bank bail-out in order to cover $700 billion in bad loans with our tax dollars. But, like hogs at a trough, they voted to unfairly burden the taxpayers.

My second Tax Day protest occurred during Mr. Obama’s first term, when he piled on with billions in ‘stimulus’. You asserted my complaint was with the Affordable Care Act. My beef was with Congress loading up more ‘pork barrel politics’ in the Affordable Care Act with ‘earmarks’. And interviews at the time clearly show my views.

2009:

Jenny Ledford of San Juan Island said those politicians who voted in favor of the bailouts should be voted out of office. “Anybody who voted for bailouts needs to go,” she said. By Scott Rasmussen, Journal of the San Juans Editor, April 15, 2009.

2010:

They also opposed what protester Jenny Ledford called “the continued padding of all legislation with earmarks.” Government is “spending up into oblivion,” Ledford said. By Scott Rasmussen, Journal of the San Juans Editor, April 15, 2010.

The sign I held read, “I’m Anti-Incumbent”.

It takes courage to take a public stand as I did. Similar feelings that put me on the street corner those two days were also growing in the minds of other citizens across the nation and later we saw the ‘Occupy Wall Street’ movement appear.

Now voters know what a ‘hawk’ I am when it comes to watching for wasteful spending of taxpayer dollars. For the record, Richard and I are both Independents; not Republicans, not Democrats, not Tea Party.

Jenny Ledford

Candidate for PHD, Position 3