Letters: State government, water safety, marriage, 'securitizing'

No fan of liberals or Legislature

Re "The initiative road to terminal government gridlock," July 8: One of Peter Schrag's favorite recurring themes is to make a false connection between California's active initiative process and our dysfunctional Legislature. The fact that we have lots of initiatives doesn't stop the Legislature from doing anything.

Don't get me wrong – I love gridlock! Every day that the Legislature does nothing is a day that my constitutional freedoms are less eroded. But why is it that liberals like Schrag are always looking for ways to stop the democratic process? Right now liberals are spending millions to keep same-sex marriage from being voted on by the people. Remember the millions spent to keep us from deciding whether to continue the divisive practice of racial preferences? Elitist liberals would rather have a single unaccountable (liberal) judge decide what's best.

I do agree with part of Schrag's comments: It's true that our Legislature, our courts and our governor are incompetent at managing the people's business. But stop blaming the initiative process for this state of affairs. Stopping people from voting will not make our government any less incompetent. We should enact a part-time Legislature. As long as they aren't doing anything, we could at least free up some parking spaces downtown.

- Richard Lavallee, Sacramento

Full-time legislators must go

Re "Assembly adjourns – deficit doesn't," July 4: The article demonstrates the incompetence and arrogance of the expensive, full-time professional legislators we unfortunately created in 1966. Their passing of a budget on time is a rarity, and they are completely unable to hold spending in line with income.

We should return our legislators to part-timers, perhaps similar to Texas, whose legislators meet every other year for 120 days, then go back home to their jobs. Our Founding Fathers never envisioned full-time leaders, and neither should we. Instead, we should use the right that the Declaration of Independence afforded us wherein it states, "when any Form of Government becomes destructive – it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it."

We should energize Ted Costa, of the People's Advocate, who led the recall of Gov. Gray Davis, to form a coalition to return our legislators to part-timers, aimed at the November ballot, or as soon thereafter as possible. We must change the impotent group of people we have selected to govern us.

- Joe Sullivan, Sacramento

Director, Sacramento County Taxpayers League

State doesn't inspire confidence

Re "No one tracks state's fuel bill," July 5: This article angered me. State agencies routinely inspect businesses, hospitals and restaurants for myriad details, not the least of which is accountability. To learn the state of California does not even know how much fuel its vehicles are using shows a disregard for the public trust.

How can we citizens be expected to comply with state requirements for procedures, safety and accountability if the very people inspecting us are not accountable for the use of public funds? The state is in financial trouble. If this obvious area is not being properly tracked, what other areas of potential waste are unaccounted for? If the state's fuel consumption is unwatched, what other areas are wasting our tax dollars?

- Kaoru Gardner, Sacramento

Brace yourself for profiling

Re "Terror profile plan in works," July 3: We learn, just in time for Independence Day, that the Justice Department is tasking the FBI to launch a major data mining and profiling project "to root out terrorists before they can strike." This project will exploit racial and religious profiling. Employment, travel habits and military experience will be noted. Other profile factors are not divulged, but financial activities and communication patterns are certain to be scrutinized.

I have no doubt that political and policy advocacy will also be triggers for closer surveillance. Persons considered suspect until proved innocent will include civil liberties advocates, union leaders, environmentalists, anti-war activists, 9/11 truth-seekers, impeachment supporters and free-trade opponents, to name a few.