Are elected officials owed respect no matter how offensive their behavior?

To the editor:

On March 3, 2013, my husband and I were on board the state ferry traveling from Bellingham to Juneau. On that day, Rep. Don Young was on board between Wrangell and Petersburg, greeting constituents and shaking hands. When he came to our table in the cafeteria, I told him that I was disappointed that he and other members of his party showed so little respect to President Barack Obama. His response was that they didn't show him respect because he didn't respect them.

I've thought about that encounter a lot since then, especially since I heard about Representative Young's recent appearance at Wasilla High School. I don't know in what way Representative Young felt that President Obama had "dissed" him and other Republicans, but I have a hard time believing that our President has ever shown the disrespect that Representative Young displayed toward the entire community of Wasilla in front of their students in a school setting.

Gov. Sean Parnell has given a lot of time and effort to his "Choose Respect" slogan; yet because of the predatory behavior of some National Guard recruiters, the Mat-Su and Anchorage school districts have, at least temporarily, banned recruiters from their public schools.

School districts throughout the state and country have also put a lot of time and effort in teaching students to show respect to other students and fight bullying. Must our elected officials now be banned from public schools so that those anti-bullying lessons are not counteracted by those who think they have a lifetime right to elective office and are owed "respect" no matter how offensive, hurtful and profane their behavior?

Judy Crondahl

Juneau