Opinion: Some in Sacramento are still inexplicably afraid of Communists

To the editor: In 1998, I was a staffer for state Sen. Quentin L. Kopp (I-San Francisco). One of the several bills that I covered for him was known throughout the legislature as the “Communist bill,” which would have done precisely what current Assemblyman Rob Bonta (D-Oakland) wants to do with AB 22: to remove the illegal prohibitions on hiring Communists to work in state and local government positions. (“Being a Communist would no longer be cause for losing a state job under bill narrowly approved in Assembly,” May 8)

How can a law be illegal? When the U.S. Supreme Court says that the law defies the Constitution and must therefore not be enforced. But such laws do not therefore disappear; they remain on the books until removed, even if they cannot be enforced.

Kopp’s bill got through the Senate in spite of the fact that Republicans complained that California needed protection from the Red Chinese. The bill failed in the Assembly because several Democrats were afraid of appearing being “soft” on Communism. (It appears that Bonta’s bill has encountered the same “concern.”)

It is truly wondrous to see that the ridiculous fear of an all but extinct ideology hasn’t failed to diminish after two more decades have passed.

Nathan A. Paxton, Washington

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To the editor: Assemblyman Randy Voepel (R-Santee) wants to retain California’s 1953 law that provides for the dismissal of public employees who are members of the Communist Party because military veterans fought wars against communists.

I assume that, if he is a man of principle, his home and office contain no products made in Germany, Japan, Italy, Mexico, Spain or England.

Bob Niccum, Buena Park

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