L.A. Teacher Negotiations

Gov. Pete Wilson calling teachers unethical for demanding real negotiation (Oct. 24) is as jarring as trying to imagine Attila promising “kinder and gentler” conquests. Since his election he has increased his staff size, taken a pay raise, insisted on making crony appointments to high-paying jobs and took the state into a gut-wrenching chasm without negotiating. Now he proclaims “there is no more money.”

States that prosper or at the very least compete offer two criteria: an attractive business climate and a healthy quality of life. California has for the duration of the Cold War thrived on defense contracts and has neglected emphasis on marketing itself beyond. Rather than inviting an alliance with his adversaries to negotiate reform, he played “my way or else.”

As for quality of life, he is the classic aristocrat. He wants money for prisons because he would rather spend $25,000 a year on incarcerating an illiterate criminal than to spend even $5,000 a year to equip that individual with skills to find better options. In fact, the governor isn’t satisfied with our low national ranking in education funding; he wants to cut it in half.

Obviously, to him a union is a nuisance that interferes with his goal of a two-class society. Look at Prop. 165 and you will see that autocracy is his ethic.

STEVEN K. PRINGLE

Los Angeles