In his letter to the editor (Sunday, April 22), Rick Poillon defends Randy Ramsey’s substantial donations to Democrat candidates and the NC Democrat party.  Mr Poillon says that as a business owner,  Mr. Ramsey’  way of looking out for his own business interests, a way for him to grease the skids to gain favorable treatment for his business.  Mr. Ramsey himself made similar comments at a recent GOP meeting in which he said that he is a business man, and that in an effort to develop a “conduit” between his business and the people in Raleigh, and to gain “inroads” in Raleigh for his business, he had contributed heavily to Democrat candidates, but that he had “been disappointed in them” (although he continued to contribute to their campaigns).  Mr. Poillon defends Mr. Ramsey’s actions as “just the way politics work”. But I beg to differ.  Norman Sanderson and his wife Linda have been small business owners for more than 20 years.  But there is no record of them making huge political contributions to candidates and a political party that they simply don’t agree with in an effort to curry favor from Raleigh.  So, is it “politics as usual”, or is Randy Ramsey just “looking out for number one”?  And as your Senator, will he look out for the interests of all of eastern North Carolina, or will he still “look out for number one”?  You decide.

Jennifer Hudson