Gov. Pete Wilson

* George Skelton’s April 6 piece on Gov. Pete Wilson’s facile explanation of why he is going back on his word not to run for the Presidency was right on target. No politician in my lifetime as a native Californian has disappointed me more than Wilson. That he is quite capable of playing footloose and fancy-free with the truth is not surprising. His decision to promote himself politically by playing into the worst kind of fears and latent racism among voters with Prop. 187 sets a new standard for opportunism in politics.

The bad news is that Wilson and his cohorts are setting the stage for profound and potentially violent racial and class division in our state and beyond. The good news is that a generation of young Latino and other marginated groups are being galvanized. They, the sons and daughters of Wilson’s maligned immigrants, are really California’s future. Bashing immigrants, documented or undocumented, is an exercise in shooting yourself in the foot. I was proud of my students at Loyola Marymount University, Latino and non-Latino, who marched and voted against Prop. 187. Gov. Wilson should be prepared to reap the harvest of racial and class bitterness being sown by self-promoting politicians willing to do anything just to get elected.

ALLAN FIGUEROA DECK

Los Angeles

* Gov. Wilson never misses an opportunity to use a scapegoat to mask his own incompetence. His reflex to call for making it easier to fire incompetent teachers as a solution for failing California education wouldn’t sound so hollow if we’d once hear him call for “making it easier to fire incompetent police” as a solution for a state awash in crime.

RAYMOND D. CARUSO

Laguna Beach