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Those who represent Mainers here could do better than they are now doing, say readers.

This was a remarkable puff piece on Sen. Susan Collins by the Maine Sunday Telegram ("County follows Collins to Senate," Oct. 25). Has the paper become a public relations outlet for the Republican Party in Maine?

There was zero attempt by the reporter or the editors at presenting a balanced view on Susan Collins and her performance in the U.S. Senate.

Why didn't the reporter ask the senator why she opposes health care reform that contains a "public option," even though every poll shows that the majority of Mainers support a public plan that competes against the private insurers?

Why didn't the paper ask Susan Collins why she insisted on stripping pandemic preparedness funding from the federal stimulus package in exchange for her "yes" vote? The nation is now facing a serious health crisis with a shortage of H1N1 vaccine.

During the Bush years, Collins was a reliable supporter of every GOP initiative from the rush to war in Iraq to the tax cuts that benefited disproportionately the wealthiest Americans. To characterize her record as "centrist" is a distortion of the facts.

David Vickrey

Cape Elizabeth

I recently received a newsletter from Sen. Susan Collins headlining her hearings on President Obama's use of special advisers, called "czars," in coordinating policy.

It reminded me of a letter Sen. Collins wrote back to me after I urged her to reject the nomination of Alberto Gonzales as President George W. Bush's attorney general, in which she argued that the Senate "should defer to the president's judgment" on Cabinet appointments.

Now that we actually have a president with good judgment, she is questioning his efforts to deal with the myriad problems bequeathed by the Snowe-Collins-Bush years (e.g. votes to search for WMDs, to break the federal budget with ill-conceived tax cuts, and lax financial oversight). I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

Senator Collins: Instead of criticizing the president's managerial decisions, please focus on your responsibilities to tackle the serious problems like health care reform, getting our troops out of Afghanistan and Iraq, and promoting clean energy.

Bill Savedoff

Portland

I continue to be annoyed by the gushing love affair between your newspaper and our two U.S. senators.

Sens. Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe are praised with accolades such as centrist and moderate.

What you consider moderate, others interpret as two individuals devoid of strong principles regarding public policy. Their default position is to sit on the fence sticking a finger in the air to see which way the political winds are blowing.

Their electoral success is used as an affirmation of this approach. The tremendous financial advantage of incumbency and a string of weak election opponents are conveniently ignored. What percentage of Collins and Snowe voters supported them simply because the alternative candidate was even worse?

Like most career politicians, Sens. Collins and Snowe are serving themselves as much as their constituents. They seem to relish being courted by both sides of the political aisle, not to mention competing with each other for media attention.

I was not surprised that two weeks after a front page Olympia Snowe puff piece appeared in the Sunday Telegram, Susan Collins was granted the same consideration. I compare them to two young siblings fighting for the front seat of the car.

Do recent important votes demonstrate sound judgment and independence? Both supported President Bush's folly in Iraq. Both supported bailing out unrepentant Wall Street bankers. Let us not forget the key role both played in passing the biggest pork barrel bonanza in human history, commonly referred to as the stimulus package.

Why praise the work ethic of two Beltway politicians...