To the editor:
Watching the debate of the Republican candidates for the Presidency, my thoughts went to our late assemblyman Peter Biondi.
I was Pete’s opponent in the 1997 campaign, where we both competed at debates and newspaper editor’s interviews. In every election after that, the one Republican I consistently voted for was Peter Biondi.
There is no doubt that he was a dedicated Republican Conservative, but first and foremost he was concerned with the circumstances individuals found themselves in, and never turned away from requests for help. Dignified and well spoken, he put civic duty, and not partisanship, first.
The Republican who reminded me of Pete is the former governor of Utah, John Huntsman. His internal family culture of devotion to country is made clear by the service of his two sons in the U.S. Navy.
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Governor Huntsman, who speaks Mandarin, served as President Obama’s ambassador to China, which most of us recognize as our most important international relationship (while recognizing that Iran is the most dangerous one). His presentation was concise, dignified and devoid of the usual political over-hashed rhetoric.
Mitt Romney, showing one of his many-
sided attack modes, severely criticized John Huntsman for his willingness to work with the Obama administration. While touting his own patriotism, his attack on Huntsman is not just anti-patriotic, but politicking of the worst kind.
Were John Huntsman the Republican candidate, I would be very sorely tempted to vote against Pres. Obama, who in my opinion has been a good, if not great, president.
John Huntsman’s response to Romney was that it is precisely Romney’s approach to criticism without corresponding solutions that has caused the deep divisions in our country. We need more people in our political life with his
and Peter Biondi’s encompassing and compassionate philosophy.
Amedeo F.D’ Adamo Jr.
Hillsborough
