To the editor:
For those of you still sitting on the fence, please don’t sacrifice your privilege to vote. Like all human beings, candidates have feet of clay, some more than others. We have to step up and choose even when it is difficult.
What I find so unfair this time around is the use of the Big Lie. Tell it often enough and people will believe it. The term Crooked Hillary is one of the biggest lies in this campaign. They point the finger at her three ways -– classified material, personal emails and responding to big donors. She did nothing criminal or unethical in any of those situations.
First, classified information cannot be sent by email, even on the government server. It must be delivered by courier or sent over the secure document transfer system run by the Department of Defense.
The information must have a header, signed by whoever is classifying it, and have bold lettering at the top and bottom of every page. It is not the responsibility of the reader to guess if it classified. The sender is responsible.
If it comes over an email system and is unmarked, it is always unclassified to the reader. The letter “C” is meaningless in the classification system. There is no such thing as shorthand for labeling classified information. If there was anything criminal, it was on the part of the sender, not the reader, Secretary Clinton.
Second, it was not illegal to delete personal emails. Presidents are supposed to keep all emails, but not their cabinet officers. Bush’s cabinet deleted tens of thousands of personal emails. There was nothing illegal no matter who points the finger. Some historians and journalists may not like it but that is the way it is.
Third, referring big donors to other government offices or officials has been going on since George Washington. Do large donations open doors? Yes -– in the university, in the church, in charities, in city and state governments, and yes, in the hallowed halls of Washington. It is only criminal when they buy a vote.
I think stiffing vendors, cheating customers and groping women is more disgusting than being a life-long politician and public servant. I personally think Hillary is the only qualified candidate.
Donald A. Smith
Franklin
