PUBLIC FORUM.

Alarcon rerun 

Re ``Alarcon to seek old seat on City Council'' (Nov. 22):

The title should be ``Alarcon to seek a pay raise and a city pension.'' There is no public service in self-serving greed and that is what you see in most elected officials nowadays; a good example is the recently ``voters''-approved Measure R.

Once again our illustrious, respectful and experienced elected officials with the help of special-interest groups managed to deceive the voters in Los Angeles. Sadly enough, we all share their self-serving failure, some by not taking the time to vote and some by voting to keep them in office. Is L.A. willing to take a chance on less experienced community-oriented candidates or is it that much fun to constantly complain to the deaf ears of the City Council? I guess we will find out in March.

-- Edwin Ramirez

Pacoima

Slap them twice

Re ``Election could be major rerun'' (Viewpoint, Nov. 19):

How could L.A. voters be so ----- to pass Measure R? Whatever the answer, they can take full credit for the shameful and despicable plan Richard Alarcon has for a rerun for councilman in District 7. His plan of action shows no respect for the voters who elected him to fill the Assembly seat this past election.

I hope the voters won't turn the other cheek, by making it possible for him to return to District 7. He doesn't deserve the opportunity to slap them twice. Nor did he leave our community with good memories of positive contributions. Is this the type of character, one with no integrity, we want as a leader of our community?

-- Cynthia Y. Wilson

Pacoima

Renters beware

Re ``Property rights fight on again'' (Nov. 25):

A new sleazy attempt to eliminate rent control is under way. As reported, failed Proposition 90 supporters are now trying to qualify the California Property Owners Protection Act for the ballot. What's not reported is this is another thinly veiled attempt to wipe out rent control in California.

The measure prohibits damaging private property for ``private use,'' which is defined as ``use which provides an economic benefit to one or more private persons at the expense of the private property owner such as a limitation on the amount a property owner may charge another private person to purchase or use his or her property.'' This means, if passed, a municipality could not limit the rent a landlord could charge a tenant for the use of his/her property. Rent control throughout the state would be abolished.

-- Larry Gross 

Coalition for Economic Survival

Los Angeles

Anti-social O'Reilly

Re ``Logic, tolerance have left the country'' (Viewpoint, Nov. 26):

Always a bundle of disinformation, entertainer Bill O'Reilly should stay out of the dictionary business and leave the defining of words up to the educated folks. Maybe the Fox News Dictionary, 2001 edition, defines ``socialism'' as the belief that ``the government has the right to seize private property and do whatever it wants to it,'' but my American Heritage Dictionary defines it as ``a social system in which the producers possess both political power and the means of producing and distributing goods.'' And it would probably surprise the people at Fox and O'Reilly that Thomas Jefferson called for an ongoing dialectic between socialism and capitalism, so as to balance each other.

-- Rick Kellis

Woodland Hills

Democratic apologists

Re ``Nobody knows how to exit Iraq'' (Nov. 24):

With the Democrats now possessing the power, come January, to do all those things that Maureen Dowd has been whining about since the Republicans ``stole'' the election(s) over the past several years, Dowd now finds herself in the position of having to begin defending the Democrats' failure to do anything over the next several years by establishing, even now, the Dems' excuse to continue in Iraq.

I am curious as to why the Democrats won't be able to stop suicide bombings, nuclear proliferation, warlords in Africa, Soviet murders of dissidents and, oh yes, let's see why the Dems cannot get gasoline back down to $1.25 per gallon.

-- Patrick Weir

Chatsworth

Yaroslavsky responds

Re ``Lesson unlearned'' (Our Opinions, Nov. 22):

The county has traditionally granted the same salary increases to both its unionized and nonunionized employees. This is not only a matter of simple fairness, or even excessive generosity, to hard-working managers. The taxpayers have a very real interest in this, too: We must avoid creating the kind of disparities and resentment that might spur efforts to unionize the management ranks of county government. Over the long run, that would prove far more disruptive and costly to taxpayers than the kind of pay equity our board approved unanimously in these county contracts.

Your editorial ignores several other inconvenient facts: Nonunionized county employees have gone without any annual salary increases a number of times, sometimes for several years at a stretch, during tough fiscal times over the past 15 years.

-- Zev Yaroslavsky 

Supervisor, Los Angeles County

Not all workers equal

Has anyone noticed that the nonunion hotel workers who do not have a political action fund have been excluded from the Los Angeles minimum-wage law for hotel workers?

-- Raiford L. Langford

Sherman Oaks

Not so poor O.J.

I am delighted that Fox pulled the plug on the Simpson interview and book, but was troubled as to why Simpson is in financial difficulty so that he needed to do this.

My understanding, from reported stories, is that he receives a pension of $25,000 a month ($300,000 a year). This pension can't be touched by civil lawsuits, so he doesn't have to pay the civil judgment against him from these funds. Perhaps it is a matter of perspective, but when people mention that Simpson is in a financial bind, and ignore his income, it seems to be only half the story.

-- Barry Levy

Redondo Beach 

Different view of cops

For three years I was employed as a driver/guard with a company that employed exotic dancers. In that time I encountered many men, who upon learning the girls were dancers only and not hookers, would refuse to let the girls leave unless they were given a refund of the hourly fee they paid up front. My job was to get the girls out of any such hostile situation.

The average guy would always back off when I intervened. The only times I had guns pulled on me or had to remove a girl from an attempted rape situation were with law enforcement personnel. Guys who would show a badge and say things like ``I'm a cop so you're safe but I'm going to get what I want, so you should just relax and go with it.'' So I'm really sick of hearing how cops are misunderstood and falsely criticized.

-- Jess Oliver

Thousand Oaks 

The Kramer diatribe 

The Jewish community can stop vilifying Mel Gibson. All they have to do is look in their own backyard and find Michael Richards. My god, at least Mel Gibson had an excuse. He was drunk. What's Richards' excuse? Richards' three-minute racist diatribe personally offended me as an African-American beyond comprehension.

I don't care how many black leaders he plans to meet with or how many times he apologizes. He will never ever be forgiven or redeemed in my book. Also, various news reports claim that Richards is seeking psychiatric help for his anger and racist outburst. What an excuse of convenience. Since when is being a racist a psychiatric problem?

-- Sophia Sherman

Sherman Oaks