I was stunned to read that three days after he was sworn in as our state senator, you published a letter to the editor from one of your readers condemning Russ Huxtable.
The writer pointed out that Huxtable was not assigned a major committee, but he is wrong. The Agriculture Committee, which Huxtable chairs, is the committee that oversees the poultry industry, an important industry in Sussex. The writer fusses that the committee only met nine times during the 151st legislative session, so it cannot be significant. It is not how many times a committee meets that is important, but what the committee accomplishes.
Huxtable also is vice chair of the Environment Committee that oversees transportation, another important issue for Sussex. Mr. Huxtable has membership on four other committees, including the Housing Committee, which is a subject he has spent his adult life working to improve.
The writer did not take into account that Sussex has not had a committee chair in the state Senate since 2014, and although he praised the previous senator of the 6th District, he failed to point out that he never chaired a committee. This also is true for Steve Smyk, who lost the election to Huxtable and had been a state representative.
What was also missing from the writer’s letter was the fact that across the nation very few new elected officials get appointed as committee chairs in their first term. I am so pleased that Russ Huxtable is our state senator and will work on issues important to us.
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