PUBLIC FORUM.

Staggering salary

Re ``Political fee for all'' (Our Opinions, Nov. 1):

Now politicians are planning on collecting extra cash from those convicted of misdemeanors in order to get more money for the city? How much money do you think criminals have? Usually if a criminal can't pay his court fees, they get thrown into jail, which means that we, the taxpayers, have to pay for their stay. Or it means that criminals are just digging a bigger hole in credit debts.

Why not just take the extra cash flow out of incoming Superintendent David Brewer III's staggering six-figure salary or his ridiculous perks?

-- Kevin Long 

Northridge

Full of deception

Re ``Governor visits `Tonight Show,' riling Angelides'' (Nov. 1):

NBC should not be giving Arnold airtime and denying Angelides equal time on Jay Leno's show. Politics are full of deception, but this looks bad on the Republican Party because they are putting their bias into play. NBC needs to abide by the rules and give him the airtime he deserves.

NBC not inviting Angelides is not the biggest of concerns; these two candidates are taking a lot of hits at each other during the campaign. Angelides isn't the only one being treated unfairly; let's not forget when he began to put Arnold down, and claimed all of Arnold's good doing lately as all being his ideas.

-- Elizabeth Khodzabashyan

Glendale

Do it in eight

Re ``Vote for Measure R to restore integrity'' (Your Opinions, Nov. 2):

Our ex-mayor wrote a good article explaining the (theoretical) workings of Measure R. However, my take on it is that our City Council members should work a little harder and a little faster to make a difference and tackle the big issues in eight years.

An ethics reform by itself would have been a welcome reform and probably would win by a landslide without the term extension. How about working on and doing away with all that red tape that creates the snail's pace in City Hall instead? Why will it take years to extend the Orange Line to Chatsworth? (Just one example.)

-- Almut Bower

Woodland Hills

Salaries, term limits

Some years back we citizens of Los Angeles were asked to raise the salaries of our City Council so the job would attract better-quality candidates. We did so and salaries have since increased beyond all expectations ($176,000 in 2007).

So with this better quality of members, why is there a need for an ethics reform measure on the ballot? Since the salary increase didn't work, perhaps we should decrease the salaries to, say, $80,000 and reduce term limits to one six-year term in office. There would then be no need for the city unions to supply ``bribes'' (campaign contributions) to any council member and ethics would be in place.

-- Max Yost

Northridge

Canada tried that

I am voting against Prop. 86. In 1991, Canada had a large cigarette tax. The cost of a pack was $5 ($3.72 U.S.). They repealed it. Why? Smuggling. Big time!

It was not worth the police hours and money to combat it. They were forced to cut the tax in order to collect revenues. The same thing will happen here. And no, I do not smoke.

-- Richard Martin 

Burbank

It's over

The '60s are over! It seems everyone has moved on except the politicians. When was the last time you heard a family member, friend, co-worker or even overheard a conversation on the environment in California? Only wacko movie stars who hold themselves in such high respect and politicians keep trying to pass laws and taxes that the rest of us will have to pay.

Enforce the current laws on transportation and immigration and give us and the trees a break for a while.

-- Mark Gilbert

Palmdale

Showing his colors

Re ``Kerry, Bush spar over crack'' (Nov. 1):

Again President Bush is showing his hypocrisy and headline-grabbing ways by demanding that Senator Kerry apologize for a crudely worded dig directed at him. As a combat veteran I'm wondering when the commander in chief is going to apologize to the nation and the families of the more than 2,000 American troops killed in Iraq since he so brazenly declared ``mission accomplished.''

I regret that I have but one vote to give to return our country to sanity, I will vote straight Democratic this time around.

-- Philip Wilt

Van Nuys

Serial insulter

John Kerry is a serial insulter of the American military. In Vietnam he called them war criminals. In Iraq he calls them dummies.

-- Charles K. Sergis

Calabasas

The pros

Re ``Winning the election'' (Your Opinions, Nov. 2):

Which party was it that raised the big stink about ``hanging chad'' in the last presidential election -- and thereby promoted the use of easily altered electronic voting machines? Hint: It begins with a ``D.'' Which party continues to stonewall attempts to clear the voter rolls of deceased and departed citizens? Same letter.

Which party was the beneficiary, in 1996, of 16,000 fraudulent registration forms -- 40 percent of the total -- collected by ``groups associated with the Democratic Party''? Which party operated the machine that gave Illinois to Kennedy? Vote fraud: the Republicans are pikers compared with the pros.

-- James F. Glass

Chatsworth

Honest assessment

Re ``Kerry, Bush spar over crack'' (Nov. 1):

The GOP, desperate to hang on to power, has tried to twist John Kerry's words to mean that our troops are all a bunch of academic underachievers. This is simply preposterous. Kerry, who has himself served during the Vietnam War, knows that there are plenty of highly intelligent people in the military.

A more honest assessment of Kerry's comment is that those who do not apply themselves in school face a diminished set of options. To escape from the low-paying, dead-end jobs that are most likely in their future, many of these individuals opt for military service. Bush has aided that prospect by easing the standards for acceptance into the military. At present, most of the enlistees will wind up in the Bush-made hellholes of Iraq and Afghanistan.

-- David Holland

Northridge

Speaking of apologies

Re ``A Democrat if ...'' (Your Opinions, Oct. 2):

You have it all wrong, brother; try getting an apology or an admission of error from your president. Stop reading trash into Senator Kerry's ``words.''

-- Cynthia Y. Wilson

Pacoima

Insert foot

What an asset that John Kerry is to us conservative and moderate Republicans!

-- Margy Lee

Northridge

Proposition 86

I watched my mother die of lung cancer that was caused by her smoking. This was a terrible way for her to pass away. It is said that not all the money from the tax will go to anti-smoking programs and therefore we should not vote for this measure. Do voters think that other election measures for improvements will actually have all of the money collected go to the actual purpose without some being diverted into other avenues, some of which are questionable?

Has anyone noticed that the anti-Proposition 86 campaign is financed by the big tobacco companies? The only thing Prop. 86 hurts is big tobacco companies.

-- John Gonzalez

Saugus