There is a malodorous scent coming from the West Virginia Senate Finance Committee that covers all of the state. The failure of the Smokeless Tobacco Tax Bill to get out of this committee to a floor vote is disgusting.

The real reasons may never be known, for deception is the practice of shady politicians. Not allowing a vote on this bill is a direct slap in the face of the state's veterans because this would have helped fund a veterans' nursing home. The members of the Senate Finance Committee should be voted out of office for their inaction.

Some states choose to have a unicameral legislature, so perhaps we should follow suit and end the state Senate's days of folly. If this would be too hard to accomplish with our state Constitutiion, maybe we could require all Senate candidates to take an IQ test.

Harold V. Tate

Clarksburg