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Mamma mia! This is my reaction when I read Paul Mulshines columns in defense of President Donald Trumps corruption and abuse of power.

Mulshine is worse than even the Republicans in the impeachment inquiry, who day after day spent the time allotted to them trying to discredit the process, asking about the whistleblower (whose identity is protected by law), obfuscating and denying the facts, and showing a total disregard for the truth and the rule of law.

In his recent column (The whistleblower blew up a non-story, Nov, 24), Mulshine puts a new spin on it: The whistleblower revealed nothing that was not already known, and the president can do whatever he wants, including bribery.

Sorry, but nobody is above the law, not even the president. Trump has committed a serious crime, and the impeachment inquiry is a tool and a duty that the Congress has to defend our country from corruption and protect our democratic values.

Republicans in Congress too have sworn to defend the law and the Constitution, not to trump them every day in their defense of a lawless president.

Chiara Nappi, Princeton

The Russians are coming ... for N.J. elections

Longtime Russia expert Fiona Hill warned in her testimony in the impeachment inquiry that the Russians are going to hack into the 2020 election.

In 2018, the Democrats won almost all of the congressional seats in New Jersey, some by a very thin margin. The Republicans have vowed to take back those seats, so 2020 will see hard-fought races and potentially close elections. Because most of New Jersey votes on touchscreen machines without paper, a recount or audit is impossible. We will not be able to identify any hacking of the machines, foreign or domestic, and the machines themselves are very old and subject to breakdown or errors.

For 15 years, the Coalition for Peace Action has been calling for a transition to hand-marked paper ballots, optical scan machines to tabulate the votes, and ballot-marking devices for the disabled.

Neither Republican nor Democratic administrations have heeded this call, even though Gov. Phil Murphy made a signed campaign pledge to fund paper ballots and optical scan machines. It is time for the governor to fulfill his campaign promise.

I urge all those concerned to contact the governor and their county freeholders and demand hand-marked paper ballots for the 2020 primary.

Stephanie Harris, Hopewell; chair, Voting Integrity Task Force, Coalition for Peace Action

State bank is smart money for N.J.

A New Jersey state bank is an excellent step to take to begin bringing the power of capital back to the people and making their own tax money available for student loans, job creation and small businesses in the Garden State (Murphy starts ball rolling on a taxpayer-funded bank for N.J., Nov. 14). Kudos to Gov. Phil Murphy for taking this step. I look forward to being a depositor.

Anne Stires, Verona

Standardized testing benefits us all

Guest columnist Ikechukwu Onyema (Dump standardized testing programs in New Jersey schools, Nov. 17) effectively makes the case for standardized achievement testing, not against it.

Whether PARCC is properly designed is not the whole question. The high school teacher indicates he alone should be the arbiter of what and how well he teaches. Standardized achievement tests establish a basis for judging education and educators, not just students.

The extent that test scores merely reflect socioeconomic issues is vital in determining the need to improve life in this country and also identifying which approaches work. That is separate from assuring that a diploma has a meaning other than adequate attendance.

Leonard Gordy, South Orange

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Mamma mia! This defense of Trump is worse than the Republicans efforts | Letters - NJ.com