This week I submitted a Letter To The Editor to a number of different Boston area newspapers. Yesterday I discovered one paper that printed it. Hopefully, this will be the start of many more Letters To The Editor in the future:

To the Editor:

John Kerry may be running for president, but at the same time he’s been running from the job he was elected to do in the U.S. Senate.

During the first session of the 108th Congress, he missed 64 percent, or 292 of the votes. Some votes were on major issues like the partial-birth-abortion ban, which Kerry said last November was “a dangerous effort to undermine a woman’s right to choose, which is a constitutional amendment I will always fight to protect.”

But he wasn’t there to fight against it.

Some votes were even so close that Kerry’s presence could have actually impacted the results. In April, Kerry was pushing for the extension of unemployment benefits but wasn’t there to vote for it. It was rejected by one vote — John Kerry’s vote. In fact, he was the only senator to miss that vote.

Regardless of whether or not you agree with Kerry’s policies, he’s not doing the job he was elected to do at the expense of the taxpayers.

The people of Massachusetts deserve more than an MIA senator. As the final months of the presidential campaign approach, it’s safe to say Kerry will be even less inclined to do the job we pay him to do.

It’s time for John Kerry to stop getting paid to spend all his time campaigning. It’s time for John Kerry to resign from the U.S. Senate.