While I did not vote for Rep. Nick Langworthy, and never would, I am writing to ask those that did to reconsider who you vote for to represent our district. As a small business owner, I often hear conservatives say that the government should be run like a business. While I oppose this idea, I will say that if Langworthy were one of my employees, he would have been fired by now. Rep. Langworthy does not appear to understand or care that he is our employee. He would not have his job if he were not elected by NY23 to do it, and our tax dollars pay for his salary, pension/retirement, travel, and healthcare.

If you owned a business, would you keep an employee who:

– Tells a local group of students that he has never stepped foot in one of his office locations?

– Shuns meeting with those that employed him in person, while making time for those that pay him money on the side or are good for photo ops to further himself?

– Screens your calls and emails and then responds with form letters that contain lies that have been admitted to be false by DOGE and other Republicans, and then refuses to correct them when it’s pointed out many times?

– Takes numerous days off to “be in the district,” but then doesn’t show up for community events where he will be asked questions about his work?

– Becomes defensive, calls you a “radical” or “dangerous,” and then claims you are a paid actor when you try to hold him accountable?

– Gives poor excuses and lies about his support for cuts to programs that numerous citizens require to live month to month?

– Sneaks out of his Washington, DC office to avoid you when you have set a meeting with him to discuss his views on cutting Medicaid and his lies that it will not be touched despite the math not adding up?

Per 2023 numbers, 1 in 4 children and 1 in 5 adults in Chautauqua County live below the poverty line. The county continues to lose population at a higher rate than other areas in the region or similar areas in the country. We cannot afford to elect self serving individuals who say whatever they can to get elected, then vote against our County’s best interests and completely ignore calls for accountability. Especially when they do so by hiding behind phone town halls that are heavily screened or blaming everything on the previous administration or “woke leftists.”

This is not a sporting event where if your side wins you can gloat and move on without consequence. The people we vote in affect everyone’s lives, and we shouldn’t be comfortable sending someone to Washington to represent us that then votes against our best interests by supporting legislation/cuts such as reducing or eliminating meals for kids, ending federal grants for food pantries, and being willing to decrease and eliminate social safety nets and services. Langworthy is merely using NY23 as a stepping stone to further himself on the backs of all of us using our money. If that’s not literal fraud, waste, and abuse then I don’t know what is.

If you are inclined to never vote for the other party, then so be it. But at least encourage and vote for candidates that will represent everyone’s best interests in Chautauqua County. A rising tide lifts all boats, and a good leader will find ways to best represent most, if not all, of their constituents. Not just the ones that lined their pockets or are the most rabid of their base. Nick Langworthy is not a leader or good representative of who we are. He can’t even face his own electors let alone be honest in his communications. We deserve so much better. We deserve someone who knows that their role is to represent NY23, not someone who only wants to be elected so he can lie to us and enrich himself in the background.

Dave Whipple is a Greenhurst resident.