I had to laugh when I read the Aug. 3 letter, "There's a double standard in Cravaack residence question." The letter writer claimed our previous congressman, U.S. Rep. Jim Oberstar, wasn't questioned frequently about his maintaining a home near Washington, D.C. But I distinctly recall that one of Cravaack's and his supporters' main talking points when he ran for office was that Oberstar had lost touch with his constituents because he spent little time in the district. Cravaack even accused Oberstar to his face at the public forum at the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center of not living in the district.
Indeed, there is a double standard -- but it's on the part of Cravaack and those who support an elected official whose family has moved out of state.
He's promising to spend one day a week (if that) traveling about a 27,583-square-mile district by car from his new second home in North Branch, which is about 45 minutes north of Minneapolis/St. Paul. He and his supporters are the same people who criticized Oberstar's spending so much time in D.C. and flying about the district in a plane, meeting with constituents. I'd say Oberstar used his time pretty wisely; and he didn't spread himself thin by maintaining three different residences all over the country.
I honor Cravaack's commitment to furthering his wife's career, but he and Mrs. Cravaack should have discussed before the election adequate child-care arrangements for their young children should he win the race, not afterwards.
The Cravaack family's move to New Hampshire six months after the election doesn't just affect them. Sadly, due to Cravaack's and his wife's lack of forethought, it affects 600,000 Minnesotans who now have a congressman who splits his weekends between his family in New Hampshire and his constituents 1,500 miles away in Minnesota.
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Claire Kirch
Duluth
