Useless Criticism

If Orange County is looking for minds that are open to new approaches to easing traffic and air pollution problems, it will not find them at the Orange County Board of Supervisors. The board hardly showed much tolerance for new thinking in its vituperative response to the draft of a regional smog-control plan prepared by the South Coast Air Quality Management District and Southern California Assn. of Governments.

Board Chairman Harriett M. Wieder, who sits on the AQMD board, said it lacks reality. If true, one wonders if she has contributed enough to provide that reality. And Supervisor Roger R. Stanton, who is often quick to offer biting criticism on reports to the board, caustically suggested that “they might be better off employed in other pursuits, considering the quality of their work.”

Criticism is fine. But it ought to be constructive and be offered hand in hand with possible alternatives. It was Sam Rayburn, the Texas politician, who said: “Any jackass can kick down a barn, but it takes a good carpenter to build one.”