Letters: Time for McClintock to go
McClintock should listen or go
Re “McClintock exits with police escort after raucous town hall meeting in Roseville” (Local, Feb. 5): After Rep. Tom McClintock’s display of contempt for his constituents at a town hall meeting Saturday, it is clear that a change is needed in 2018.
Each time McClintock was asked a question, he dodged it. He hemmed and hawed, and pleaded ignorance, avoiding providing any clear or direct answers to the questions posed.
For example, if McClintock wants to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, why can he not articulate what the replacement will be? He has had years to come up with an answer, yet continues to have none.
McClintock is the classic example of a “do nothing” congressman, living off the government dime, but providing nothing to constituents other than empty promises and partisan talking points.
Taxpayers pay McClintock $174,000 a year, plus benefits – about 2 1/2 times the median income in the 4th District. Yet he can’t do us the courtesy of providing straightforward answers to simple questions? The 4th District deserves better. If McClintock won’t do his job, in 2018 we will elect someone who will.
Nick Shepard, Roseville
Rep. McClintock’s hypocrisy
Re “That’s not anarchy, Rep. McClintock, it’s democracy” (Editorial, Feb. 7): In 2009, Rep. McClintock encouraged constituents to “agitate and agitate and agitate everywhere we can in every forum we can find.” Yet when “seniors, families and middle-aged picketers” oppose him, they are an “anarchist element.”
Thirty-plus years in elected office, and he can’t differentiate his own brand of democracy from anarchy. Sad.
Steve McClaine, El Dorado Hills
Gorsuch has larger context
Re “Senate Democrats should give Gorsuch a fair hearing” (Editorial, Feb. 2): The call to Democratic senators to “give Gorsuch a fair hearing” ignores the larger context: The Republicans have changed the rules of the game.
They have obstructed consideration of Merrick Garland yet now threaten Democrats with the “nuclear option”; they change Senate rules to stop Democrats from using established parliamentary tactics; they refuse to obey federal court orders related to the immigrant ban, and many executive orders are based on “alternative facts.”
The Bee argues that “two wrongs don’t make a right” but this is not about two wrongs. Rather it’s about a new system in which such wrongs are the new normal: government by bullying.
The question of whether Democrats should continue to play fair and square must be considered in the context of this new Machiavellian reality in which the “rules” are superseded at the convenience of the government.
Milton Kalish, Davis
Elk Grove council was right
Re “Elk Grove council fills vacancy, but some upset” (Page 4A, Feb. 4): As an elected official for almost 30 years on local school boards, there have been many times where an individual resigned and we had the responsibility of replacement. Not once have we ever held a special election to fill a seat.
The Bee reported the cost could be close to a million dollars to have a special election. The individuals who want a special election rather than the Elk Grove City Council appointing someone should have been asked: If it cost almost a million dollars for a special election, where should we get the money to pay for it? From the police budget or fire? That money has to come from somewhere.
The Elk Grove City Council was right to appoint rather than cutting city programs to pay for a special election.
Gary Miller, Roseville City School District Board of Education
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This story was originally published February 7, 2017 at 4:33 PM with the headline "Letters: Time for McClintock to go."