Readers Write for Sunday, April 19

Lori Sturdevant's April 14 explanation of Norm Coleman's "odd" argument for appealing the election trial to the state Supreme Court seems overly complicated and even a bit disingenuous. It would appear that she may be more interested in trying to sow the seeds of voter impatience rather than acknowledging Coleman's legal right to due process in a razor-close election.

The Coleman camp's argument is really quite simple: that the eligibility of an absentee ballot be determined according to uniform statewide criteria, not on county-by-county criteria. Once that criteria is first determined, only then can all absentee ballots of every county (including those previously counted on election night, added during the recount, recently added during the election trial, and potentially many more thousands that have yet to be opened) be scrutinized for eligibility and counted.

Instead, the "quagmire" we find ourselves in has each county deciding its own criteria for determining eligibility of absentee ballots, and as you might expect, Democratic-leaning counties were more liberal in their eligibility standards than were Republican-leaning counties. This has the effect of disenfranchising Republican votes.

CHRIS GARDNER, MINNEAPOLIS

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People and their institutions are not robots. Whether Norma used a black pen in Carver County and Virgil a blue pen in Beltrami County when marking absentee ballots is immaterial. If anything it illustrates that Minnesotans, thankfully, are not identical.

If Norm doesn't trust Minnesota's dedicated election judges who painstakingly counted -- then, recounted -- all of the votes, how on Earth could he be trusted to represent us in Washington? Norm, you lost. It's over. Now please take your ball and go home.

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Does Norm Coleman really want to become the new Harold Stassen, remembered much more for his persistence than any of his other political accomplishments?

JULIE KELLY, MINNEAPOLIS

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Even though I did not vote for Norm Coleman, I have no problem with him pursuing his case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. This country's legal system is based on the rule of law, not on somebody's opinion that the process is taking too long or that he is deliberately drawing this out to deprive the Democrats of 60 votes in the Senate.

Franken said recently that he was focused "on getting ready to do the job I've been elected to do ..."

Not yet, Al. Not yet.

WAYNE MOSTEK, ROSEVILLE

What unpaid leave days does Gov. Pawlenty plan to take off?

HELEN L. KLANDERUD, BLOOMINGTON

You do, however, have no problem articulating the necessity of increasing just about every regressive tax out there. You call them consumer taxes; they include sales taxes on clothing and services and a cigarette tax increase. These, of course, are more onerous and fall heavier on the lowest earners.

Couple this with reductions in Local Government Aid and cuts to human services and you have a trifecta of costs and benefits that will impact the poor the most. That is always the focus of any Pawlenty budget.

WILLIAM PAPPAS, STILLWATER

I have no moral objection to the use of contraception for preventing or timing procreation. But I worry that the April 12 front-page feature "Economy is down, and birth control up" reinforces a cultural trend that strikes at the heart of any just and humane society.

Babies are added to the list of unaffordable expenses for cash-strapped couples -- after restaurant meals and the annual vacation. This is a dangerous way to talk about our children.

ELISIA MEYER, BURNSVILLE

Regarding "The doctor will see you -- log on now" (April 13): Certainly we can all recognize the benefits to employers like Blue Cross and Blue Shield and its employees of saving both time away from work and money while addressing health concerns that may not require a face-to-face visit.

I am concerned, however, that these one-time tele-visits with rotating online physicians may further erode the primary care provider-patient relationship and may unintentionally undermine the concept of the primary care medical home.

Many clinics in the area allow patients to e-mail medical related concerns to a physician who knows them personally and has access to complete medical records and laboratory data (not just the insurance claims data available for the tele-visits). The provider then has the capacity to follow up with them in the future should the problem become one for which the patient needs to be seen in person or fails to resolve as expected.