Coad’s Record, Not Mailers, Finished Her

Re “Mailers Gave Norby Break, Critics Charge,” March 17:

If the Voter Education Project slate mailers are being used to circumvent fair election laws, the loophole needs to be closed. But as nasty as the last-minute mailers were in the race between Cynthia P. Coad and Chris Norby, they didn’t sway some of us. Coad’s record did.

When the voters approved Measure H, which designated tobacco settlement money for health issues, Coad and two other supervisors ignored the will of the people. Logically, if Measure W passed and Coad had been reelected, voters would not have been able to count upon Coad to abide by it. Supervisors are supposed to represent the will of the voters. The two supervisors who voted with Coad on the health measure might want to think about that.

Jackie I. Brown

Fullerton

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How ironic that Coad supporters should cry foul over a legal maneuver used to level the playing field in the supervisor race. Coad bought her seat four years ago by acting as her own major contributor--a legal but questionable tactic.

Norby could not possibly match Coad’s campaign funding. Even with an inflated “fair market value” assigned to the contested slate mailers that supported Norby, the final analysis unquestionably will show that more money was spent promoting Coad.

It is ironic too that the past eight years of wasted effort and wrangling over El Toro also come down to deep pockets trying to pervert the election process. Measure A, which originally hijacked the base reuse process and mandated an airport at El Toro, was almost entirely financed by one deep pocket. It took thousands of small contributors to finally undo this travesty through Measure W.

Fairness in political campaigns is truly in the eye of the beholder.

Tristan Krogius

Monarch Beach