‘AIDS Bills Don’t Fare Well’
The Times story “AIDS Bills Don’t Fare Very Well at State Capitol” (Part I, Oct 4) aptly and vividly describes an appalling situation that exists in this state: The welfare of its citizens is subordinate to partisan considerations among elected officials.
The deadly AIDS epidemic is perhaps the costliest health-care crisis the nation has yet encountered. We have known very well for at least five years that its dimensions would grow dramatically. But as yet, California has no coherent plan for dealing with it.
Plans have been drafted (the “Myers Plan,” formally titled “California’s War on AIDS,” prepared by the Health Policy and Research Foundation of California last May) and rejected by Gov. George Deukmejian. His exercise of the veto has placed him in the role of an unbenevolent dictator.
The citizens of this state should take note of the diminutive moral stature of many of the people we have elected to state office: Far too many of them, the governor chief among them, lack the ethical perspective to set aside partisan power struggles for the sake of humanitarian values. They appear to be incapable of functioning as moral leaders for the well-being of the people.
The facts described in Richard Paddock’s article are shameful. Compassionate citizens of moral vision will not tolerate this kind of civic leadership.
ROBERT H. ILES
Coordinator
AIDS Services Center
All Saints Church
Pasadena
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