During the debate at Southwestern Michigan College Monday, Rep. Aaron Miller played a great Wizard of Oz, but if you look behind the curtain of his pleasant personality you can see his true colors.

Three issues were especially telling:

• Guns — Aaron co-sponsored a bill to allow concealed carry without a permit. Is this what we really want in Michigan? Do you want to be concerned that any person you meet might be carrying a gun, no matter their background, such as felonies, mental illness or domestic abuse?

• Renewable power versus coal — Although Aaron did not say directly that he does not believe climate change is real, he did not seem to think there is any urgency to reduce the amount of fossil fuels we use.

• Aaron is for automatic retention for third graders who don’t pass a reading test. He thinks it is a good idea because it worked for his younger sister. There are many reasons a child might not be able to pass a reading test in third grade but keeping them in third grade a second year is not likely to help the problem unless some additional or different instruction is given.

Too often we are dazzled by the surface of a good-looking face and nice personality, but we need to pay attention to what’s actually going on behind the curtain. Look into Aaron’s voting record on michiganvotes.org to get a sense of the real man.

The League of Women Voters will be posting a video of the debate on their website, www.lwvbcc.org.

LIN POLLARD

Dowagiac