Congress

Editor's note: The Herald-Mail invites readers to answer poll questions on its Web site, www.herald-mail.com. Readers also may submit comments when voting. A sampling of edited reader comments will run on The Herald-Mail's Opinion page on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. The question posted Friday on The Herald-Mail's Web site was: Do you agree with the decision by both houses of Congress to deny federal funding for ACORN? "It's about time. How much voter fraud, housing fraud and just all-around trouble can one group get into before it's not OK?

In his first run for public office, Congress candidate Dennis Janda said, "I want to bring representation back to the district. I feel alienated and everyone else feels alienated. " Janda, 61, of Frederick, is one of five Republicans running for Maryland's 6th District seat in Congress. The incumbent, Roscoe G. Bartlett, is seeking a 10th two-year term. The primary is Tuesday. The winner will face one of two Democrats -- Andrew Duck or J. Casey Clark -- in the Nov. 2 general election.

Daryl Simmons of Hagerstown said that although he planned to flip back and forth between watching sports and President Obama's State of the Union Address on Tuesday night, the address is important for the country. “It's important for us to see him communicate to Congress in front of the public,” Simmons, 35, said. Ralph Summers, of Altoona, Pa., said that he does not think the address is important, though, because of who is delivering it. “It is good under the right circumstances, but it only matters if the president has been honest with the American people,” Summers, 72, said.

A Brunswick, Md., man on Thursday unofficially declared his 2006 candidacy for Congress in the Sixth District, a seat currently held by Rep. Roscoe Bartlett. "My name is Andrew Duck. I'm from Brunswick and I'm gonna get Roscoe Bartlett out of Congress," he told guests at the Washington County Democratic Central Committee's annual Jefferson-Jackson Day Dinner. Retired from the U.S. Army, Duck said he'd gotten frustrated with the current administration while working in ground support for Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.

Jessica M. McMullen, 17, of Spring Run, Pa., was recently elected as secretary of the American Quarter Horse Youth Association headquartered in Amarillo, Texas, for 2007-08. Jessica was elected by her peers at the annual Youth Excellence Seminar and elections in Amarillo. Jessica will serve the association, which boasts a membership of more than 31,000 youths, including members from the United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe, Asia, Australia and South America. The group is the largest, single-breed youth association in the world and provides a variety of programs to youth 18 years old and younger, which encourage participation with the American Quarter Horse breed.

Wachter remembered as a great vice principal To the editor: I wish to pay tribute to a gentleman who passed away June 18, 2011. His name is Wayne Wachter and although he resided in West Virginia, he was a teacher and vice principal at Clear Spring Middle School for more than 25 years. Principals have many duties and obligations running their schools, but the discipline usually falls to the vice principal. Bob Wantz, our principal at that time, would agree that Wayne Wachter was very influential in helping to hold Clear Spring Middle School together with his strong but fair discipline.

There's about half a chance that November will see a landslide victory for one side or the other. I mean a victory where both houses of Congress get carried along with the top of the ticket. So now you have a government with no excuse to fail; it controls the House, the Senate and the White House. That's a lot of political capital. How should it be spent, if the election comes out with a really strong mandate for one side or the other? Here's my answer. For Obama, it would be a Revised War Powers Act. This would cover any future initiative by a U.S. president to put boots on the ground in combat roles for any purpose other than hostage rescue of U.S. diplomats.

chambersburg@herald-mail.com An $11.4 million appropriation to modernize missile storage magazines at Letterkenny Army Depot is a good indicator that Congress wants it to remain open, U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter said Tuesday. Specter, R-Pa., said the decision on whether to close Letterkenny should not be in the hands of the Base Realignment and Closure Commission. "It ought to be up to Congress to decide which bases to close," Pennsylvania's senior senator said Tuesday during a meeting with members of the Opportunity '05 Committee, formed more than two years ago to press the case for retaining and expanding the depot.

Commentary It was interesting to hear Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez go full-Khrushchev on President Bush last week, ranting and raving away in front of a United Nations audience. He howled that Bush was "the devil himself" and a "world dictator," and said the room "still smells of sulfur" from a Bush appearance earlier that day. But the more he postured, the more florid his hyperbole, the more partisan his speech, the more disjointed his logic, I couldn't help thinking: What a perfect member of Congress he'd make.

The following are the stances taken by Tri-State-area members of Congress on the immigration bill that stalled June 7. Maryland U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md. - Supported U.S. Sen. Benjamin Cardin, D-Md. - Supported U.S. Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, R-6th - Opposed Pennsylvania U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa. - Supported U.S. Sen. Robert Casey, D-Pa. - Supported U.S. Rep. Bill Shuster, R-9th - Opposed West Virginia U.S. Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va.