New Health Director

* With a profound sense of anger and sadness, I am writing to describe my frustration with the appointment of Kimberly Belshe as the new director of state health services (Nov. 10). She not only does not deserve that job, but she should be dismissed immediately from any state-financed health post, and Gov. Pete Wilson should be censured for her appointment.

The director of the Department of Health Services is in charge of administering the state’s complex and costly health programs to all Californians. The person in that position should be absolutely beyond reproach in ethical standards and political agendas. Belshe is blatantly not. In 1988, she worked as a paid propagandist for the tobacco industry in its disgusting attempts to defeat Proposition 99, the anti-smoking initiative.

Her comments that concern about her role in the anti-Proposition 99 campaign might become “overblown” were ludicrous. Her active support for an industry that plies our country with a highly addictive legal drug (tobacco), which has become the No. 1 killer of Americans, has made her totally unqualified for any government health-related job.

The last three directors of the Department of Health Services have served this state with distinction in their attempts to rid us of major health menaces like tobacco. The people of California deserve much better than Belshe.

DANIEL LEVY MD

Oxnard