AARP: Be wary of organization

I'm writing to comment on your editorial on the appearance by David Irwin from AARP. What is the basis of your endorsement?

He's going to have a hard time convincing me, and possibly others too, of AARP's commitment to the seniors it professes to represent and whose interests it claims to protect.

A couple of years ago they were found to be contributing to political campaigns and unions with the membership dues of the retired people who signed on with AARP, against and without their knowledge. They lost thousands of members over this.

AARP is supposed to be a non-political institution. They have endorsed the Health Care Plan that was forced through against the will of approximately 60 percent of the population. Traveling the country trying to get support for this plan goes against the grain of many of the seniors who are at the mercy of this decision. For myself, nothing he says is going to convince me that the elderly are going to benefit from this monstrosity. It's 2,100 pages ensure that no one is going to understand it to begin with. Even Nancy Pelosi said that the bill had to pass before anyone would be able to understand its content.

While the issue at hand is one that needs attention, I don't trust the policies of AARP. Have they denounced their affiliations, and stopped their contributions to political causes? I haven't heard that they have.

LORI WHITE

Hayden