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6A – Daily News – Saturday, December 11, 2010 Opinion Capital (sic) Hill D NEWSAILY RED BLUFF TEHAMACOUNTY T H E V O I C E O F T E H A M A C O U N T Y S I N C E 1 8 8 5 Greg Stevens, Publisher gstevens@redbluffdailynews.com Chip Thompson, Editor editor@redbluffdailynews.com Editorial policy The Daily News opinion is expressed in the editorial. The opinions expressed in columns, letters and cartoons are those of the authors and artists. Letter policy The Daily News welcomes let- ters from its readers on timely topics of public interest. All let- ters must be signed and pro- vide the writer’s home street address and home phone num- ber. Anonymous letters, open letters to others, pen names and petition-style letters will not be allowed. Letters should be typed and cannot exceed two double-spaced pages or 500 words. When several letters address the same issue, a cross section of those submit- ted will be considered for publi- cation. Letters will be edited. 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How to reach us Main office: 527-2151 Classified: 527-2151 Circulation: 527-2151 News tips: 527-2153 Sports: 527-2153 Obituaries: 527-2151 Photo: 527-2153 On the Web www.redbluffdailynews.com Fax Newsroom: 527-9251 Classified: 527-5774 Retail Adv.: 527-5774 Legal Adv.: 527-5774 Business Office: 527-3719 Address 545 Diamond Ave. Red Bluff, CA 96080, or P.O. Box 220 Red Bluff, CA 96080 As the debate over taxes raged, one compromise the Senate rejected would have extended tax cuts for all Americans except those who are millionaires. In the words of the bill's author, Democ- rat Chuck Schumer of New York, "Do we want to extend those tax breaks for millionaires and bil- lionaires at a time of huge deficits? I would argue vocifer- ously we shouldn't." But did you know that 261 members of the current Congress – nearly half the House and Sen- ate – are millionaires? Did you know that 58 of them have assets worth over $10 million? When Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell states enthusiastically, "I think it's pretty clear now that taxes are not going up on anybody in the middle of this recession," including million- aires, perhaps it's worth noting that McConnell's personal fortune is about $30 million. When soon-to-be House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) describes as "chicken crap" the notion of even talking about allowing Bush-era tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans to expire, it may be relevant to point out that Boehner's net worth is between $2 and $5 million. By Congressional standards Boehner is a virtual pauper, listed as only the 87th richest member of the House. These figures come from the legislators' own disclosures, as required by law, and published by the Center for Responsive Poli- tics. They don’t include the value of the lawmakers’ homes or their government salaries, which for members of Congress start at $174,000 a year. According to the data, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) is the wealthiest in Congress, with a net worth of between $156 million and $451 million. The range is so wide due to a quirk in the require- ments that allows lawmakers to estimate certain assets at both their lowest and highest likely value. John Kerry (D-Mass.) is the most affluent member of the Sen- ate. His assets, when combined with those of his wife Teresa Heinz Kerry and her ketchup for- tune, give the couple about $239 million net worth. It’s tempting to say that such enormous wealth among so many elected officials makes them inclined to look more favorably on things that benefit the wealthy, such as tax breaks for million- aires, although that’s not the case with Kerry and many Democrats. On the other hand, it’s often argued that if a politician is wealthy, he or she is less vulnera- ble to financial pressure from powerful special interests. Regardless, the per- sonal wealth of Con- gressional members continues to expand year after year, typically at rates well beyond inflation and any tax increases. This is par- ticularly vexing when you consider the nature of personal investments lawmakers have in pri- vate industry. Just among banks, for exam- ple, 69 members of Congress are investors in Bank of America, 45 in Wells Fargo, and 44 in J. P. Morgan Chase. that extraordinary affluence among lawmakers distances them from the average citizens they represent. This will be tested when the new Congress convenes. The lame ducks will be replaced by a flock that, according to finan- cial disclosures, includes quite a few lucky ducks. Most of the freshman are Republicans who campaigned as Peter Funt Fundamental to all concerns is champions of Main Street, yet the group includes many millionaires. Diane Black, for example, newly elected in Tennessee, has combined assets with her husband worth upwards of $33 million. Richard Berg from North Dakota lists assets above $20 mil- lion. According to an analysis by The Politico newspaper, 25 percent of the newly-elected Republicans in Con- gress are millionaires. It would be quite a sight if every time a vote came up affecting the finances of wealthy Americans, the million- aires on Capitol Hill Per- had to recuse themselves. haps, as a more practical alterna- tive, our richest lawmakers could at least imagine on such occasions that they weren’t quite so fortu- nate. Peter Funt is a writer and public speaker and may be reached at CandidCamera.com, he's also the long-time host of "Candid Camera." A collection of his DVDs is available at www.candidcamera.com. Your officials STATE ASSEMBLYMAN — Jim Nielsen (R) State Capitol Bldg., Room 6031 Sacramento, CA 95814 (916) 319-2002; Fax (916) 319-2102 STATE SENATOR — Doug LaMalfa (R) State Capitol Bldg., Room 3063 Sacramento, CA 95814 (916) 651-4004; Fax (916) 445-7750 GOVERNOR — Arnold Schwarzenegger (R), State Capitol Bldg., Sacramento, CA 95814; (916) 445-2841; Fax (916) 558-3160; E-mail: gover- nor@governor.ca.gov. U.S. REPRESENTATIVE — Wally Herger (R), 2635 Forest Ave. Ste. 100, Chico, CA 95928; 893-8363. U.S.SENATORS — Dianne Feinstein (D), One Post Street, Suite 2450, San Francisco, CA 94104; (415) 393-0707. Fax (415) 393-0710. Barbara Boxer (D), 1700 Montgomery St., Suite 240, San Francisco, CA 94111; (415) 403-0100. Fax (202) 224- 0454. Travel journal, summer 2009 Commentary Some of you have asked what I write in my travel journal. Here is an excerpt from the summer of 2009 when we spent two and one half weeks in Eastern Europe, drifting down the Danube, visiting Prague, Salzburg, Vienna, Bratislava, Melk, and Budapest. We started in Prague and ended in Budapest and had a wonderful time. The journal recounts my thoughts and some of the events on the day we flew home. Our wakeup call was at 4:45 p.m. in Budapest, which was 7:45 p.m. in Red Bluff. I felt strange being up at that hour without any fishing equipment around. We put our bags out, got dressed, checked the room for forgotten items, brushed our teeth, packed our carryon bags, putting our liquids in a quart zip lock bag on top, and made our way to the lobby. We were handed a bag break- fast which included an apple juice box, a fresh banana, a fresh apple, a sandwich of ham, cheese, cucumber, onion, and paprika, and a variety of cookies and sweets. Just like kids from our elementary school days we began trading cookies for apples, or sandwiches for bananas. We verified our bags were on the sidewalk before we were ushered into our minivan, and drove from Buda to Pest across the Danube on the Chain Bridge for our forty minute trek to the airport. Most of us were flying to London’s Heathrow Airport, and we entered one of the three lines for that destination—we picked the slowest one of course. It took forty minutes to check in. After check in we passed through what was called securi- ty in Hungary, reminding me why the Hungarians had not won a war since 1456. The Airbus 230 was filled with obvious tourists, college age travelers, and a large Japan- ese contingent. The gentleman in front of me asked if he could recline his seat, a courtesy I had never been extended before [or since]. We landed in Heathrow on time; I am always impressed by how cosmopolitan it is. We saw women in berkas, harem wear, Indian garb, and high fashion, as well in “normal” travelers’ vanilla. There were men in three piece suits, turbans, galabeyas, dashikis, shorts, saffron robes, and ripped jeans with rude tee shirts. This variety of garb reminded me of the faded impe- rial glory of the British Empire. Heathrow was a jumble of construction, incomplete walk- ways, and dust when we flew through there in 2003 on our way home from Spain, but the airport was now whole, clean, and efficient. Although there are still requirements for long walks, those walks are possible without interruptions. Signage was still a problem for those of us not familiar with the airport. The screen displaying departure gates does not indicate the gate until one hour before boarding; this avoids the scrambling from terminal to terminal so common in Chicago’s O’Hare. One of the security staff at the first screening point was a young woman in a berka, and security was far more thorough than in Hun- gary. We had to open up one carryon to make sure some object was safe. This leg of the flight was on a Boeing 747- 400, a far larger plane than the Airbus 230. It took over half an hour to get all of us on board, and then we were told the baggage inspectors were delayed and we would be a little late for our takeoff to San Francis- co. “Little” in this case meant 50 minutes. During the flight the staff had to reboot the entertain- ment system twice because half of the individual seatback moni- tors were not working properly. Nevertheless, we were able to enjoy a couple of unmemorable movies and some music on the way. In between reboots we were served complimentary drinks, alcoholic and otherwise, in preparation for our meal. The flight was uneventful, and we landed in San Francisco on time, spent the night at a park and fly motel, and drove home the next morning, arriving 37 hours after we left Budapest. On the drive up I-5 it occurred to me that entering Red Bluff would be a far different Joe Harrop experience from entering the ancient towns we had seen in Eastern Europe. We would not go through an old gate in a high wall to get into town. There is no castle or fortress on high ground overlook- ing our city; there are no ruins from ancient battles or civil wars; there was no endless line of drab, unmain- tained and un-land- scaped Soviet era apartments on the out- skirts of town. There are no monuments to conquest or defeat. In some ways our history has been very bland. We have been spared the ancient enmities between eth- nic and religious groups; we have not had to go through wars between princes and kings, invasions, and conflicts over succession to the throne. We have not experienced the feudal age. We forget we live under a Constitution which seeks to make a more perfect union; E Pluribus Unum is our motto. Our low election turnout in November, 45 million less than two years ago, betrays how much we take for granted. I was glad to arrive at home, smiling as I began to appreciate all we take for granted. Joe Harrop is a retired educator with more than 30 years of service to the North State. He can be reached at DrJoeHarrop@sbcglobal.net.