To the Editor:

I first met Al Gore 35 years ago when he was 17 years old. We were classmates in college and became friends. I have supported him as a member of the House of Representatives (elected 4 times), as a senator (elected twice) and as vice president (elected twice), less because of our friendship than because he has consistently and selflessly worked in behalf of American children, families, and the nation’s seniors.

Four years ago, when it became clear to the opposition that he would be the next presidential candidate of his party, his character assassination began in earnest. The August 21st issue of Time magazine debunked each and every outrageous charge against his character. For example, he never said that he “invented the Internet.” He said that he “took the initiative” in creating it by sponsoring the bill that transformed the Defense Department computer network into the Internet we know today. The truth is that no one else in Congress had his vision on the long-term issues that will impact our children and grandchildren in this new century. His book Earth in the Balance is another example of his concern for our country and the fate of the planet. This is the kind of man we need as our leader.

Al Gore is not a natural politician. He is, in fact, an almost shy person who has worked very hard every day for the last 24 years for Americans like us. He was one of only 11 from the Harvard Class of 1969 who served in Vietnam and the only one who went as an enlisted private, not as an officer. He has a profound sense of duty and respect for our system of government. He knows the terrible toll Big Money has had on Washington and has endorsed the McCain-Feingold Bill to restrict its influence on our political system. His opponent does not support reform in this area.

The facts:

1) 11 million jobs have been created in the past eight years,

2) We have the lowest unemployment in the past 26 years,

3) We have the lowest core inflation in over 30 years,

4) Personal incomes have risen steadily since 1992,

5) Americans also enjoy the highest home ownership in history,

6) Our nation now has budget surpluses instead of annual deficits,

7) And Welfare rolls have been cut in half since 1992.

Contrast this record to the Reagan-Bush years 1980-1992 when the number of children living below the poverty level doubled from 12 percent to 24 percent.

Al Gore has more experience and is better qualified to lead this nation than any vice president in our history. You many or may not like Bill Clinton, but Al Gore is not Bill Clinton. Al Gore has not so much as looked at another woman since he met Tipper 35 years ago. He is an amazing father and has more character than any man I have known. Please don’t fall for all the bunk. I know the man.

One other thing. Al Gore has grown with each and every new responsibility he has accepted over the last three decades. His views have evolved; some have even changed, as he has represented larger and larger constituencies of Americans and as America has changed. Do we want someone fixed in position and so influenced by the NRA that even in the face of seven school massacres in the past two years he would still oppose sensible handgun laws?

Do we want someone as President who says he “trusts Americans to make their own decisions” except for the right of a woman to make her own reproductive choices? Or do we want a man who has been our vice president for eight years (not Bill Clinton’s) and who has far more experience and intelligence to lead this great nation and the Free World than his opponent?

Tom Belli

Taunton Hill Road, Newtown                                      October 30, 2000