Questions Sun editorial
Editor: Your paen of praise to Mr. Riebli (editorial, July 10) may be justified for his service to Sonoma Hospital, but his reason for resignation hardly qualifies him as “a model for citizen leadership.”
Riebli’s resignation was to find time to oppose Proposition 2, The Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act. According to your article he is “strenuously working to amend or overturn the law.” In other words, he apparently is opposed to humane treatment of animals, and wishes to continue the often cruel and squalid conditions of farm animals for his own personal gain.
This rather negates your editorial statement: “Not to serve any interests of his own, but to serve the interests of his community.”
Hugh Trutton
Sonoma
State work force is vital
Editor: Much comment about the state budget crisis compares the state to a family. As regards furloughing state workers, may I suggest an appropriate analogy, such as the following?
A family contracts to have a weekly gardening service and agrees upon a monthly fee. Subsequently, the family finds it cannot afford a gardener, but it still wants the gardening work done. The family tells the gardener: “I can no longer pay you for a full day, but I’ll pay you for part of a day. But I want you to keep doing the same quality work you have been doing. In other words, I don’t want any weeds to grow, and I want the roses fertilized, etc…everything as usual, but just do it in less time.”
The analogy of the state to a family works only if it is recognized that the state workers are not part of the family’s recreational budget, which they may cut in hard times. The state workers are a vital part of the state’s operating budget, which cannot be cut without drastic consequences.
The weeds will grow, and the roses will not be fertilized.
It should be clear by now that the state workers are not part of discretionary spending. Do not expect to find waste in the performance of the state workers. The state’s “gardeners” are not leaning on their shovels.
Catherine Beatty
Sonoma