Just How Much Did Baugh Really Know?

* Just as Reagan and Bush claimed to be unaware of what their subordinates were doing with the Iran-Contra affair, so claims Assemblyman Scott Baugh that he knew nothing of what everyone connected to him was up to in the campaign to recall Assemblywoman Doris Allen.

This is why the American public was not behind the Clinton prosecution. Not that we approved of his affairs, it’s just that the GOP was calling his cheap two-bit affairs high crimes while they routinely subvert core American beliefs on fairness and justice with their political actions and covert operations and think nothing of it.

Now Baugh is a hero for just stating he knew nothing of what was going on around him. Just as Reagan was a great president for claiming ignorance.

ROLAND LUCHINI

Santa Ana

* Assemblyman Scott Baugh should have done his homework before he spoke at the AARP Nursing Home Reform Speakout on April 10.

Baugh, the GOP leader, is a very personable politician but admitted that he had just seen the nursing home bill AB 1106 a week earlier.

We need methods for preventing harm to nursing home patients, rather than passing measures to punish crimes against the elderly being cared for in such homes.

California lacks an effective inspection system. AARP brought in relatives of victims in sensational cases to give testimony about their loved ones’ accidents in nursing homes. We need to concentrate on preventing such crimes by improving the day-to-day care.

The solution is more supervision. This cannot be done by the few inspectors. We need many volunteers who can get to the site of inspection often and unannounced.

The best place to go for volunteers is the nurses’ associations. No one knows more about patient care than the retired registered nurses.

MARY STOCKTON

Costa Mesa