Recall Effort Resulted From Years of Abuses

* I am appalled at your misleading editorial (“Reserve the Recall for Serious Misdeeds,” July 16) regarding the recall drive against Agoura Hills Councilwoman Fran Pavley.

This recall effort was not only the result of the utility tax; that was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Years of closed and arrogant governance by a pack of power-hungry would-be politicos have resulted in poor services, overpaid city employees and an overtaxed citizenry. Our local government has a well-deserved reputation for being anti-business and also for being indifferent to the basic needs of the taxpayer. No, this recall is not a single-issue action.

Your editorial goes on to state the signature collectors flopped on getting the requisite number of signatures on the other four council members. Not true; the numbers were there. Only the lowest form of manipulation on the part of the City Council voided the public’s desire for change.

Finally, you made no mention in your editorial about the harassment by the council and their supporters of the recall effort. And I mean physical harassment and the like. I was there, I saw it and I will not forget it. This wonderful merry band of city fathers / mothers and their loyal followers behaved like fascist street thugs, making a mockery of our basic freedoms.

No, you care not for the facts, but the voters of Agoura Hills do, and you shall soon see the results of their wrath.

IRV SCHNITTMAN

Agoura Hills