Letter to the editor: Cooper will work across party lines

In the letter “Lingg will defend our values” (Feb. 9, TribLive) regarding the “uniparty,” I found it most interesting that the writer’s supported candidate, Jamie Lingg, is against the bipartisan “meet-me-in-the-middle” caucus collaborating across party lines. Is not the work on behalf of all constituents exactly what we send our elected officials to Harrisburg to do?

Together, co-chairs of the caucus, state Reps. Jill Cooper and Jamie Flick (Republicans), are worlds apart on a variety of politically polarizing topics being advanced by the agenda of state Reps. Stephen Kinsey and Patty Kim (Democrats). A review of their respective, publicly available voting records can attest to this.

As was stated in Cooper’s newsletter, she and Flick agreed that the purpose of their caucus is to allow members to work collaboratively on legislation that has widespread appeal, while still allowing lawmakers to remain true to their core beliefs on other issues. In fact, many challenges that lawmakers confront are not exclusively Democrat or Republican issues, and resolving them necessitates setting aside partisan differences and working together. This was evident in the work on the dual- enrollment bill that Kinsey and Cooper co-prime-sponsored, which passed unanimously in the General Assembly and was signed into law.

Please vote to reelect Jill Cooper on April 23. Not only does she have a conservative voting record, but she also is willing to work across party lines to get things done that help all Pennsylvanians.

Thomas Wubben

Murrysville