Pay for Judges

Poor Judge Carrigan! It was all I could do to hold back the tears upon reading about the terrible life of Carrigan.

First, he had to liquidate many of his financial holdings in order to send his children “through college and graduate school”; and only the finest private schools like Notre Dame sufficed. Welcome to the real world, Judge Carrigan! How about the thousands upon thousands of parents who earn but a small percentage of Carrigan’s salary and yet manage to sacrifice virtually everything in life in order to help provide some degree of access to the educational system? Worse yet, how many tens of thousands of willing young people are forced to forgo a college education due to the severe financial structures such an undertaking entails? Is it just only recently that Carrigan has learned that capitalism is inherently unfair; that our society is replete with a myriad of institutionalized inequities?

Tears also welled up in my eyes upon reading that Carrigan had to sell of “half interest in the family’s Rocky Mountain retreat.” I have heard this sad tale of woe countless times from many of the families in the inner-city in Los Angeles whose children attend our public schools. Their hearts go out to you, Judge Carrigan!

And lest we be accused of being sexist, let’s hear it for poor Beverly Carrigan. I mean, sure she could return to a menial and “low-paying occupation” like “social work.” But, alas, being a “bride of the ‘50s” who likes “traditional things,” it is simply not possible for her to work in order to supplement the family income. Again, I believe that I can speak for thousands of working mothers--many of them single--when I say that our hearts go out to you!

One last point, Judge Carrigan. If you think you are not being paid adequately for your abilities and worth, I suggest that you try teaching for a while in the public school system for a starting salary in the low $20,000 range.

CECIL BURNS

Long Beach