Ex-congressmen urge end to partisanship

WASHINGTON, Oct. 4 (UPI) -- Former congressional members, in a letter, told current congressional candidates of both parties to stop the sniping and start on solving problems.

The 130-plus former members wrote that Congress now "appears gripped by zero-sum game partisanship," in which the goal seems to be more to "devastate the other side ... than to find common ground to solve problems," Politico reported Monday.

In the letter to all congressional candidates in both parties, the letter said it was time to stop "this sorry state of affairs" and start to "focus on problem solving." The signatories urged current members to show "decency and respect toward opponents," engage in an honest, good-faith debate and end personal attacks.

The letter was organized by the group Former Members of Congress for Common Ground, led by former Reps. John Porter, R-Ill., and David Skaggs, D-Colo., who both served on the House Appropriations Committee, were known for bipartisanship, and now are active professionally on Capitol Hill. The missive resulted from more than three months of discussions among the former members who signed the letter, Politico said.

The public is "hugely perplexed and dismayed" about the problems facing the nation, Skaggs said, adding he hoped the initiative would spark current and would-be lawmakers to know and respect one another.

"People are fed up," Skaggs said.