Propaganda and juvenile writing

I’m curious; has Steve Urbanovich been given a column? It seems like he has an opinion piece in the Leader almost every week. I find it hard to believe that so few people write letters to the Leader that his are needed to fill empty space.

Actually, it’s not the quantity of his letters that is troublesome, but the quality — or rather the lack thereof. Time after time, he writes to tell us how Councilman Gordon is abused by the other members of the council. He tells us that Gordon is good and the other council members are all bad; Gordon is an individual and the other council members are all rubber stamps; Gordon is sane and the other council members are all crazy (“Gordon is council’s only voice of sanity,” May 9). The problem is, never does he give any specifics. All he ever does is make inflammatory accusations and declarations without ever giving one bit of support for his statements. This is juvenile writing at its worst (or propaganda at its best).

I would expect a professional newspaper of a respectable-sized city to require a minimum level of writing for any letter or article it published.

Robert Phipps

Burbank