Tuesday’s Letters to the Editor

Trump bashing

EDITOR: There hasn’t been a day where there has not been Trump bashing by the media. It seems each page of every newspaper and other news outlet bashes him for each and every ill this country is experiencing.

Is Donald Trump deserving of all of this negative press? Regardless of whether you love him or hate him, none of our nation’s problems (i.e., homelessness, health care, workers’ rights, global warming, education) magically appeared when Trump took office; they were decades in the making.

Who is the media going to bash when somebody else sits in the Oval Office and all of these issues remain unresolved?

ANISA THOMSEN

Petaluma

Barrett and climate

EDITOR: During her Supreme Court confirmation hearing, Judge Amy Coney Barrett refused to state an opinion on the settled science of climate change, calling it “controversial.” How is it that Barrett, a mother of seven children, a champion for the pro-life movement, can have no “firm views” on an accelerating climate catastrophe? Why is she unable to acknowledge that the climate crisis is an existential threat to the very lives of her children and all others?

And why do pro-life adherents refuse to extend their beliefs to protecting the lives of all the nonhuman species on Earth? Biodiverse ecosystems upon which people (including newborn children) depend for their survival are being widely extinguished — aborted — by global warming.

In Julianna vs. United States, the landmark climate lawsuit advancing through the Ninth Circuit to the U.S. Supreme Court, 21 young plaintiffs are asking the courts to secure their legal rights to life and liberty in a safe climate. Let’s hope Barrett will find climate science “settled” and reach an opinion favorable to the youths’ lawsuit, indeed to her own children’s future on our imperiled planet.

JOHN DONNELLY

Sonoma

Voting for Pocekay

EDITOR: I cast my ballot for the November election, and of all the votes I cast the one which may have the greatest impact on the life of my family and friends is the one I cast for Dennis Pocekay for Petaluma City Council.

Pocekay moved to Petaluma 29 years ago, and, as a 21-year resident myself, I think it is extremely useful to have that kind of long-term understanding of the city and the varying forces that have been influencing it over time.

Most notably, Pocekay is, well, a doctor. A medical doctor who understands what makes a person and a community healthy. His platform is on his campaign website: pocekayforcouncil2020.com

DAVID DODD

Petaluma

Measure P: Bad policy

EDITOR: The transparency of Sheriff’s Office discipline the proponents of Measure P wish for is unattainable.

It is the elected sheriff’s job to bring disciplinary charges against deputies, if warranted. Employees may appeal most discipline to the Civil Service Commission if they believe just cause didn’t exist for the action. Other than the outcome, proceedings are confidential.

The requirement for just cause is rooted in the concept of merit-based civil service. Hiring on the basis of merit is the antidote to Tammany Hall-style patronage; just cause for termination is the flip side of merit-based hiring. The idea is to remove politics from public service. The confidentiality of the process is rooted in the right to privacy established by Article I of the California Constitution.

Citizens already may file complaints with the Sheriff’s Office, but Measure P provides that an additional investigation, with full access to personnel files, begins when an investigation is “incomplete or deficient” in the opinion of the director of the Independent Office of Law Enforcement Review and Outreach. It is questionable whether it is lawful for the director of another county department to access these documents; it would be unlawful for the director to report back to the community regarding them.

Measure P is bad, unworkable policy. Please vote no.

TOM DRUMM

Sebastopol

Redemption for Feinstein

EDITOR: Sen. Dianne Feinstein has been roundly criticized for her recent praise of Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina. Now there is an opportunity for her to make good use of her cozy relationship with Republican members of the Judiciary Committee.

Donald Trump has nominated a group of white male, hard-on-crime former prosecutors to run the U.S. Sentencing Commission, which sets rules for all federal courts. Feinstein can use her influence to stop Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell from pushing through these appointments and thus redeem herself (to some extent) by preventing a grave setback to the cause of sentencing reform.

PAUL EKLOF

Petaluma

You can send letters to the editor to letters@pressdemocrat.com.