To the Editor:

In his April 25 letter to the editor, “Let me tell you why I'm a Democrat,” Ed Morris provides many reasons for his pride at being Macon County’s new Democratic Party Chair. While I take exception to his premise that his party holds exclusive rights to all that is politically righteous, pure and noble, I agree his party has reason to feel pride for its positive contributions to our democratic republic.

Morris’ letter provides many topics for reasonable discourse, but his false claims are not among those. For him to state he has heard me say, “Poor women have no business having children” is patently false. What I have said is that people should not procreate unless they are prepared  to support and nurture their offspring. Neither rich nor poor corner the market on parental irresponsibility. My position on this issue is based on the belief that freedom without responsibility does not work.

Morris also states that “Republican Sen. Jim Davis falsely wrote that teaching jobs had been fully funded.” What he has personally heard me say is the present state budget funded 2,100 more K-12 teaching jobs than the previous budget. Although we have about 800 fewer K-12 teaching jobs in the state this year, that is the result of the loss of $1.3 billion in federal stimulus money.

Morris’ letter is the latest in a series of attacks on my political philosophy and more importantly, my integrity. Since engaging in a stream of “he-said, he-said” is counterproductive, I offer Morris an alternative: organize a forum at a mutually acceptable time; choose the place; invite whomever you desire; no topic (other than my family) is out of bounds. My preconditions are that the press must be present, and I can have my assistant record questions for timely follow up should I be asked something for which I do not have factual data.

A forum such as the one described above will allow for the transparency vital to honest debate. I welcome the opportunity and invite Ed Morris to accept my offer.

Sen. Jim Davis

Franklin