To the Editor,

On Monday, January 8, 2024 I sent an email to Rhode Island Speaker of the House K. Joseph Shekarchi. My email was in reference to restoring meaningful cost-of-living adjustments to retired state employees and school teachers. I received a response in under an hour.

The response was identical in both wording and punctuation to emails that others have sent to the Speaker on the same issue. There was a full page advertisement in the January 4, 2024 issue of the “Warwick Beacon” that was “Paid for by Friends of Joe Shekarchi.” According to the ad, Speaker Shekarchi said “I would like to hear from you in 2024.” Does Speaker Shekarchi really want “to hear from you in 2024?” If so then why is an identical response being sent to multiple individuals who contact the Speaker on the same issue? It looks like a simple exercise in “cutting and pasting.”

Joann Lombardi, Warwick