Immigrants Cause Rise in Spending
* Fountain Valley Mayor Pro Tem Laurann Cook writes in your Orange County Voices column of Sept. 21 that Gov. Pete Wilson and state legislators purposefully rip off municipalities to avoid tough decisions regarding the state budget.
Cook makes blanket charges that Sacramento is engaging in “the rip-off of local revenue for state programs.” Cook is loath to specifically identify these state programs, i.e. schools, prisons, welfare, Medi-Cal, etc. Which of these would she give less money to support?
The majority of the people in California are aware that the rise in state budget needs is driven by the unprecedented influx of foreign immigration to our state. These explosive population increases have wreaked havoc on state financial resources. Cook makes a plea for the citizenry to speak out to their Sacramento legislators to “stop the rip-off of local revenues.”
Let me remind Cook that the people did speak out when they overwhelmingly voted to approve Proposition 187, the 1994 state initiative that would deny public benefits to undocumented immigrants.
THOMAS P. LOGAN
Fountain Valley
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