To the Editor:

I am also thinking about the upcoming elections.

As a matter of fact, I take the time out of my busy real estate schedule to perform my duty for my country by working the election polls during each election.

I open the Newsoms District polls at 6 a.m. and close the polls at 7 p.m. That counts for a very long day.

It seems not very many people want to take the time from their workday to volunteer to work for their country.

Mr. Ash Cutchin’s article (“Vote to put common sense back in control in Washington,” Oct. 24) is only half true — that is why I am writing this response. Every interested reader should take the time and go to http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/firstlady.asp.

I also have downloaded an official White House Annual Report to Congress dated July 1, 2009, and I also downloaded the same report for Laura Bush, Hillary Clinton and Lady Bird Johnson.

Laura Bush had between 24 and 26 staff attendants by the end of President George W. Bush’s term in 2009, according to Anita McBride, Mrs. Bush’s chief of staff.

Lady Bird Johnson had a staff of 30, said Stacy A. Cordery, a history professor at Montmouth College in Illinois, who studies first ladies.

Jacqueline Kennedy had 40 people on staff, Cordery said.

So per this information, First Lady Michele Obama does not have any more staff attendants than any other first lady in the White House.

Now where does “Vote to put the common sense back in control in Washington” come from? It seems like a personal issue to me.

Vera Barnes
Newsoms