Gov. Wilson

By depriving state employees of a long-overdue and well-deserved cost-of-living increase, Gov. Pete Wilson has added another line to the sorry list of Californians he has hurt (Aug. 22). A fair-minded Legislature added a reasonable 9% salary increase to the state budget to make up for inflation since our last raise nearly four years ago. Wilson vetoed it to a meager 3%--even that contingent on our giving up important Civil Service protections.

Our union is composed of the primary care-givers for the 10,000 severely mentally ill and developmentally disabled in state health care facilities. As always, we will continue to provide them with excellent care, despite Wilson’s lack of fairness toward us.

So, what has Wilson accomplished with his mean-spirited attitude toward his own 200,000 employees? He will not have the Civil Service “reform” he wants for future political ads and he will have left a legacy of bitterness on the part of state workers.

DON GOTTLIEB, President

Metropolitan State Hospital

Chapter, California Assn.

of Psychiatric Technicians

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Re “Wilson Agrees to Pay Raises for Prison Guards,” Aug. 25:

Gov. Wilson wants “pay for performance” to be the criteria for pay raises for state workers. The Peace Officers Assn. “performed” in donating $667,000 directly to the governor, and members just got paid for it in the form of a 12% pay raise. Well, Wilson fits the definition of an honest politician: When he’s bought, he stays bought.

JED H. BELCHER

Los Angeles