Spat Indicates Who Loses Under ‘Gentlemanly Rules’

The article about the upcoming primary election for the 67th Assembly District seat between Tom Mays and Nolan Frizzelle suggested that old political ties should somehow carry weight in a candidate’s decision to run for office. The only loyalty that interests me is between the voter and the elected official.

In past campaigns, we voters heard too much about the old game of politics and not enough about the differences between candidates. Once again we are hearing about an entrenched politician who has served over a decade in the Assembly.

Frizzelle is complaining that Mays, the former mayor of Huntington Beach and a man half Frizzelle’s age, is breaking the “gentlemanly rules” of politics by choosing to run against a fellow Republican and former employer. More of these “rules” should be broken if it means that young, intelligent candidates with a constructive approach to governing will run for office in their hometowns.

Buried in the article was a glimpse of the differences between Mays and Frizzelle. One difference that wasn’t pointed out is the candidates’ conviction about public service. Both Mays and Frizzelle supported Proposition 140, which limits assemblymen to three terms in office, but Frizzelle is quite willing to violate the spirit of this “rule” by running for his seventh term.

The people passed Proposition 140 as a notice that politicians ought to be loyal to the people first and not other politicians. Frizzelle does not seem to understand this. Maybe The Times could educate him through campaign coverage that addresses voter interests and not inside politics.

BARBARA KUNASEK, Fullerton