San Bruno’s mayor; the lack of a state budget; Meg Whitman versus Jerry Brown

A stand-up mayor

Re “San Bruno officials steadied city in crisis,” Sept. 20

Mayor Jim Ruane of San Bruno earns $486 a month as part-time mayor. You reported that he did a wonderful job calming San Bruno residents during the recent gas-line explosion. This unassuming man also reportedly does a fine job performing his other duties for the city.

Former Bell City Manager Robert Rizzo made hundreds of thousands of dollars.

And we are told that we must pay astronomical salaries to attract talented people to public and private positions?

Bob Lentz

Sylmar

No way to pass a budget

Re “Legislators rake in cash while state awaits a budget,” Sept. 21

What boggles the mind is the fact that voters will vote these same people back into office, and the legislators seem to know this or else they would be doing their job taking care of state business.

Brings to mind the saying about Nero fiddling while Rome burned.

Betty Vanole

Burbank

I almost lost my breakfast reading the part in which the fat-cat lobbyists cry that the timing of their donations to pending legislation has “no connection with legislative actions.”As you wrote, AT&T has donated roughly “$70,000 to more than 40 lawmakers” since July 1 while legislation that would save “all phone carriers $100 million” is on the governor’s desk.

I am crying through the laughter as I picture

Afghan President Hamid Karzai telling the world that there was no serious fraud going on in his country’s elections or about the millions of taxpayer dollars “missing” there. How is our state any more functional than Karzai’s country? It’s sickening.

David Scaletta

Beverly Hills

I am at a complete loss as to why the Legislature is in recess. It is mandatory that a budget be in place by July 1. Why are they not summarily thrown out of office when they fail to meet the requirements of the state Constitution? While others on the state payroll must take furloughs, the Legislature proceeds on its merry way.

Surely there must be some way to remove the entire bunch over their contempt for the Constitution.

Patricia Diaz

Victorville

The toll in Bell

Re “Bell leaders hauled off in cuffs,” Sept. 22

Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley has called the case unfolding in Bell an example of “corruption on steroids.”

The defendants stand accused of essentially raiding the town, using various tricks to enhance their already grotesque salaries. Each act of official malfeasance weakens the city, the state and the nation just as much as the death of a soldier or police officer.

I propose that we meet this egregious case with the equivalent “justice on steroids.”

Christopher Nutter

Corona

The political hacks who are so energetically beating up on the Bell officials have been standing by for ages while this went on. Only when The Times slapped it on the front page did they wake up.

William A. Pace

Rolling Hills Estates

The Times is to be congratulated on its coverage of the Bell fiasco. You uncovered the story in the summer and, more important, followed it up to what could be a satisfactory conclusion. The outcome will depend on the citizens of Bell; will they now assume responsibility for governing themselves?

Robert Banning

Pasadena

Can anyone run this state?

Re “Three peas in a pod,” Editorial, Sept. 21

As a lifelong Californian, I recall that about every time a candidate has run, he (more lately she) has promised to rid us of “government waste, fraud and abuse.”

Now that I’ve passed age 60, it must just about all be gone, right?

Thomas D. Penfield

Cardiff by the Sea

California voters should remember what happened when our current governor first ran for office. He was a political outsider who, like Meg Whitman, had not voted for a good portion of his adult life, and like Whitman, made grand promises and proposals, few of which ever became reality.

In the real world of politics and economic realities, he couldn’t solve the problems facing California.

We have job insecurity for state employees, uncertainty of fire, law enforcement and other public services, a poor credit rating and, as of this writing, no state budget.

I don’t know anyone who says our current governor did a good job. Why let the state continue to deteriorate? All partisan politics aside, Whitman is a risk I won’t take.

Carl Irby

Beaumont

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s 22% approval rating suggests people do not like his performance or his ideas.

If Jerry Brown and Meg Whitman are very similar to him, we probably need new candidates with different ideas.

I disagree with your assertion that these three politicians’ ideas on public employee pensions have been identified as necessary steps to improve the state’s fiscal health.

Solving the state’s problems by punishing workers is not the solution. Asking people who are well-off is.

Do any of these politicians have the courage to ask those with money to make a contribution to keep the state in good shape?

Domenico Maceri

San Luis Obispo

The editorial hit the nail on the head. No one running for governor is going to change things as long as we have the same legislators.

Does Whitman think she can come in and change the Legislature into a part-time body? She has no experience in the political world.

I don’t like either candidate, but I think I’m leaning toward the one who has at least had a background in California politics, knows how things run and how to get things done and might be able to do the most.

And complaining that Brown is “suing the city of Bell” as a political maneuver is even more ludicrous — isn’t he our elected state attorney general? Isn’t this part of his job?

The bottom line here is that whichever candidate we put in that position has a tough job ahead.

Michele Deady-Paano

Lakewood

It has become obvious to me, and hopefully to everyone else by now, that in a state whose greatest issue is and has been our budget, Whitman’s record-setting $119-million campaign outlay is a poor example of fiscal prudence and indicates a willingness to solve problems by throwing money at them.

Brown’s minimalist campaign spending, on the other hand, speaks volumes about minimal spending. His approach to campaigning suggests he is far better prepared to do what is necessary to bring economic responsibility to government here.

Gerald G. Schwanke

Ojai

No place for bullying

Re “Father lashes out at bullies,” Sept. 18

With respect to your story, which described James Willie Jones confronting boys who were continually teasing his 13-year-old daughter who has cerebral palsy:Both school officials, who reportedly were notified, and parents, who should have taught their children better, should be ashamed, along with the adolescents who acted so cruelly.

There can be no excuse for school officials and parents to sit on their hands when something like this is taking place.

As for Jones, there is only one word that describes his actions: heroic.

Matt Duggan

Long Beach