Editor:

This is in response to Keith Goodenough's "Decades pay candidate's dues" letter to the editor July 21. Keith asks that voters choose him as the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in the August 19th primary.

Keith has been a loyal democrat for 26 years. I've been a loyal Democrat since 1968 when I dropped out of school and worked for Eugene McCarthy.

That was, um, 40 years ago. I'm a tad older than Keith.

Being a Democrat in Wyoming has been as chilly (shall we say frigid) as the winter weather.

Keith has been in the forefront of many important initiatives in the last 20 years. Some of the things that we take for granted today were not very popular back in the '80s. But Keith had the tenacity to hang in there.

I first met Keith when the state Legislature was considering bills to expand coverage of Medicaid (aka title 19) to low-income working families and later to get a better shake for the 5,000-plus families in Wyoming who existed at 45 percent of the poverty level.

We wanted better educational opportunities and a sliding scale so people could transition to employment. Look at what is happening at the community colleges right now. It is hard to believe that there were people in Wyoming who actively opposed allowing welfare moms to attend college 20 years ago.

Keith had a goal of getting one person to register to vote each day. He would greet strangers on the street and try to get them to go to the court house and register. One reason that new voters can register at the polls is that Keith worked hard to expand the opportunities to vote.

Keith was, and still is, active with the Coalition Against Domestic Abuse. Keith had a lot to do with Wyoming's enhancement of protection for victims of abuse and the education and rehabilitation of abusers.

I worked with Keith and others (notably Ann Robinson) to end the sales tax on food. This initiative took years to accomplish.

Keith has followed his beliefs even when his opinion was not popular with the powers that be. He hasn't just paid his dues, he has proven himself to the voters over and over again.

I'm delighted that Nick Carter has decided to publicly proclaim as a Democrat. We need new blood.

But I just cannot help but remember that old rock and roll song "Where were you when we needed you?"

MARY ANN BUDENSKE, Casper