Editor:

Regarding Martin Sullivan's Letter "If Defazio can't run his own office..." (Pilot, June 23). Here's some back story.

When I saw the story and ad about Congressman DeFazio being "invited" to the TEA Party (Pilot June 13), I learned from his campaign office that no letter had been received nor had any follow-up call or e-mail checking on the status of said invitation, been attempted. So, I wrote my letter (Pilot June 16th).

At the TEA Party event, also on June 16, Sue Gold showed me the receipt for her certified letter sent June 1 to "Congressman DeFazio, Eugene, OR", the city of his congressional office, not his campaign office.

Art Robinson used this opportunity to claim that Congressman DeFazio won't debate him. That's simply not true. They participated in four debates prior to the last election. And, in mid-May of this year, Congressman DeFazio repeated his position of neutral venues for these kinds of meetings and challenged Mr. Robinson to repeat that process again this election year.

For my part, I apologize for not contacting all five DeFazio offices to see if any of them had received such an invitation. And I hope that, because of the importance of staying within the Congress' Laws on Ethics (http://1.usa.gov/MUnbp0) designed to keep congressional and campaign activities and funds totally separate, others will use the appropriate channels for campaign correspondence and invitations which is DeFazio for Congress, PO Box 1316, Springfield, OR 97477 or 541-485-1622.

Anyone who is interested in being "informed" on this issue, a timeline concerning this situation is available at http://bit.ly/L5WH1n

Gordon Clay
Brookings