To The Editor, Knoxville News-Sentinel:

According to a recent report issued by the state comptroller's office, TennCare had 130,767 people who provided only post office boxes for receiving checks, many instances of duplicate and bogus use of Social Security numbers and a serious lack of internal control and procedures for determining eligibility.

Yet, House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh refuses to talk about this. I wonder why. TennCare clearly needs to be reformed if not dismantled altogether.

Some more examples of fraud and wasteful spending are the use of taxpayer money to buy University of Tennessee football tickets for legislators, commissioning a state jet to fly to a golf game in Alabama, organizing a pro-income tax demonstration at the capitol on May 1 and numerous road-building projects that deprive people of their property and destroy the environment. With a record like this, why shouldn't the people just be allowed to write out a check to their Legislature each month?

As for me, I will be voting in November for a new governor: independent candidate Ray Ledford.

Chris Fortner

Knoxville