It is always interesting to see the hypocrisy of left-leaning writers. This was very evident in Milton Hinton Jr.'s March 11 column, "U.S. Rep.'s pricey-party crashers deserved better."
Hinton wrote about a recent re-election fundraiser for U.S. Rep. Tom McArthur, R-3rd Dist., which required up to $15,000 per person to attend. The writer correlates this to only the wealthy and connected having the "ear" of McArthur and other politicians -- and that neither political party should engage in this kind of expensive event for access.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't recall Hinton writing anything about the numerous Hollywood elites, including Eva Longoria, Katy Perry and Barbra Streisand, who hosted fundraisers during President Barack Obama's campaigns. Attending many of these events cost considerably more than $15,000. More recently, the same kind of fundraisers were held for Hillary Clinton. Hinton was mum on that, too.
Later in the column, Hinton wrote about four immigration activists who showed up to the MacArthur event uninvited. They supposedly were not aggressive, but were escorted out by police. Hinton added that, having once lived under Southern hospitality, the activists should have been welcomed to stay and have dinner.
Well, there is a time and place for everything, and it certainly was not at this private-home fundraiser. I don't think Hinton would have been so hospitable to, say, four people who crashed a wedding reception he was holding for his daughter.
When MacArthur and other elected officials held recent town meetings that were open to their political opponents, the officeholders were met by angry mobs who shouted them down and did not allow discourse. Can you blame our elected leaders for not wanting to hold town meetings?
Joseph Naples, Mullica Hill
Russia oil deal collapse likely doomed Tillerson
A couple of interesting headlines, both from Reuters, may illuminate recent events at the White House:
First, from April 18, 2012; "Exxon, Rosneft unveil $500 billion offshore venture." We all know ExxonMobil as an international oil company, whose CEO at the time was Rex Tillerson. Rosneft is a state-run Russian oil company with close ties to Vladmir Putin's government.
Then, there was this headline from Feb. 28 of this year: "Exxon quits some Russian joint ventures citing sanctions." Curiously, Tillerson, whom President Donald Trump had mysteriously hired from Exxon as his secretary of state, was fired less than two weeks after this headline appeared.
Interestingly, none of the mainstream media are connecting what I think are some obvious dots. My guess is that, without substantial sanctions relief, Tillerson's role at the State Department was no longer valuable to Putin, so Trump canned Tillerson via Twitter.
Conspiracy theory? Not necessarily, in a world with our "businessman" president. Collusion? Let's see what Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller finds.
Roy Lehman, Woolwich Township
Choppers need quick-exit strategy
We were horrified a few days ago to see a tourist helicopter crash into the East River in New York City. The only survivor was the pilot, who was able to release himself from his harness. Everyone else was unable to get out of their harnesses, into which they were tightly strapped, and drowned.
During my military service, I volunteered for paratrooper training. Each of us on the aircraft had an easy-to-use, quick-release mechanism so that, when we landed, we were able to get out of our harnesses in a matter of seconds. This was necessary to avoid be dragged along the ground, or to prevent us from drowning in case of a water landing.
It's astonishing to me that there wasn't a quick-release mechanism that could have saved the passengers from a terrible death or, if there was one, its use by all passengers was not mandatory. I'm willing to bet that such mechanisms will be required as a result of this avoidable tragedy.
Paul Bunkin, Turnersville
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