Removal of Smog Panelist

It was shocking to read in The Times (June 12) that Sen. Ruben Ayala (D-Chino) wants to remove Sabrina Schiller as the appointee of the Senate Rules Committee to the Air Quality Management District board because she has angered local politicians. It seems that Schiller has gone into their communities and criticized their voting records on air pollution issues.

According to Ayala, who is chairman of the Senate Agriculture and Water Resources Committee, Schiller is “a problem . . . we don’t need anyone coming into our area and agitating the troops, and that is exactly what this lady does.”

I think we need to question the motives of those officials who propose dismissal as a way to handle Schiller and her lobbying efforts to gain support for her program, however unpopular it is with other board members and with Ayala.

I have not studied her ride-sharing plan and take no stand for or against it. I do know that I immediately must ask, “Who are ‘the troops’ that Sen. Ayala doesn’t want agitated?”

Why are officials so upset if their votes on air pollution issues are publicized? We need to look more closely at these voting records and to explore the possibility that there are personal, economic and political motives behind this effort to get rid of an outspoken lobbyist for clean air.

She has a right to do her lobbying and the public has a right to have a person on the AQMD board who isn’t afraid of offending local officials.

I hope that Sen. David Roberti (D-Los Angeles), chairman of the Rules Committee, to whom Ayala has written requesting the removal of Sabrina Schiller, is not easily pressured into going along with this proposal.

MARTHA W. DRESHER

Pacific Palisades