Mailbag: Lawsuit over ballot argument is not over a ‘disagreement’

At a recent Costa Mesa City Council meeting, the mayor pro tem complained from the dais that I was suing five citizens for signing a ballot argument because I disagreed with their opinions.

“You’ve got a group suing five residents over their language because of their disagreement,” he said.

None of that is true. I am not suing anyone. I would not sue anyone because of their opinions. He is abusing his official position to publicly accuse me of something I did not do.

The truth is, I filed a petition in Superior Court, asking the court to order the elections officials of the city and county to delete from the November sample ballot pamphlet certain false and misleading statements. Those statements are in a rebuttal authored by the mayor pro tem and four other people.

The elections law requires that I give the authors of the document the opportunity to defend their statements in court. The way to do this is to name them as real parties in interest. I named them in my petition because the law required it. If they choose not to participate, they lose nothing but that opportunity.

It is high time the citizens of Costa Mesa hold their public officials accountable, at least to the extent of not letting them put blatant falsehoods in the ballot pamphlet. We also must not be silent when elected officials make false accusations against citizens who work to protect the integrity of the ballot.

Eleanor Egan

Costa Mesa

Trump isn’t the one who made sacrifices

Drop in to any nearby coffee shop and you’ll hear people talking about it. No, not the hot weather, the Sawdust Festival in Laguna or the U.S. Open of Surfing in Huntington Beach.

The topic that’s generating all the buzz is Donald Trump’s attacks on Khizr Khan, the father of a Muslim American soldier killed in action, for questioning his (Trump’s) sacrifice to America.

With so much turmoil swirling around Mr. Khan’s speech at the Democratic Convention, I decided to Google “sacrifice.” Here are the facts: The Khans lost a son in war, and Trump says he sacrificed for his employees.

The definition is clear. Sacrifice is, “The act of giving up something that you want to keep, especially in order to get or do something else or to help someone.”

I leave it to the voters to decide which party and presidential candidate best embodies the spirit of the word.

Denny Freidenrich

Laguna Beach