What happens to politicians when they get elected and travel to Washington, D.C., for two years, four years, six years or more? It appears they lose contact with their home communities and the folks who elected them to office.

Take Rep. Rick Larsen, for instance. He was a local boy who we in the Second Congressional District sent to Washington to represent our best interests, hoping to find another Scoop Jackson or Jack Metcalf.

Here we are in Island, Snohomish, Skagit and Whatcom Counties trying to make ends meet; pay our mortgages, feed our families and buy gas for our cars. What do Rep. Larsen and the other members of the House Democratic majority do? They ignore that over 65 percent of voters support increased drilling, increased nuclear power, increased solar power and increased wind power as ways for the United States to meet its energy needs. They ignore the advice of no less an expert than T. Boone Pickens, who suggested we use all of the above and natural gas.

Larsen and the other Democrats in Congress must think that $4.22 per gallon gasoline is no big deal and that we can just wait a while longer for them to address the problem. After all, he and his fellow majority members have adjourned for a five-week vacation and took no action to solve the high gas prices that you and I are paying. So what if we can't afford to take a vacation because we can't afford the gas for our cars?

The Second District has elected better representatives in the past. I'm afraid Rep. Larsen isn't included in that group.

Rod R. Mourant