How Can Progressives Back Katherine Smith?

Re “Anaheim’s Dark Horse Candidate for State Schools Job Is a Maverick,” March 11:

I am dumbfounded and dismayed by the “progressive” support for Katherine Smith, who thinks that the Latino community need to sit up straight, show good manners and button up the top of their shirts. Real progressives question prevailing institutions such as marriage, the role of men, women, children and the family.

Furthermore, I find Smith’s remarks that she isn’t a politician are very disingenuous. Anyone who can traverse the political spectrum from Barry Goldwater to Eldridge Cleaver is not only a politician but is someone with no real ethical center, and has decided, in the end, to become the ultimate politician, that is, a political broker.

Gary Akers

Anaheim