Republicans want to withhold LA disaster relief for partisan reasons. Have they no decency? | Opinion

Cruel political game

“Republicans want to prevent wildfires. But GOP leaders are making it hard to get disaster aid,” (sacbee.com, Jan. 22)

A horrendous disaster has struck in Los Angeles County; thousands have lost their homes and at least 27 have died. Many families in our area know that kind of devastation.

Once, there was a time when people from across the country would help communities that had been struck by disaster. Now, a cruel political game from House Republicans might delay aid to those left with nothing.

Can you imagine staring at the burned rubble of your home or burying a loved one and hearing a Republican congressman plotting to use your losses for their political gain by further enriching their billionaire donors?

Cheryl Davis

Folsom

Frustrated with city management

“Howard Chan needs to back off the city manager job. There’s a new boss in Sacramento | Opinion,” (sacbee.com, Jan. 17)

I hope the clause in Howard Chan’s contract that gives him “64 weeks of vacation in a single year” was a typo. No, Councilman Phil Pluckebaum, Chan’s “immensely valuable” services are not worth $1,363 each business day. Whoever negotiated his contract for the city should never be allowed to negotiate employment contracts again.

Sacramento’s City Hall needs a major overhaul.

David Bach

Sacramento

I don’t envy Leyne Milstein

“Howard Chan needs to back off the city manager job. There’s a new boss in Sacramento | Opinion,” (sacbee.com, Jan. 17)

Think you’ve got a tough job? How would you like to be Interim-City Manager Leyne Milstein, now tasked with supervising her former boss, Howard Chan?

Chan, who earned $593,240 in 2023, has now deemed himself a “special advisor” to his new boss, before any definition of his duties has been undertaken.

Bill Motmans

Sacramento

Carter’s legacy in action

“Sacramento man: Jimmy Carter’s decisions on Iran altered the course of my family’s history | Opinion,” (sacbee.com, Jan. 19)

Californians confront horrendous fires, the late President Jimmy Carter’s domestic legacy is proving his strong vision.

In 1979, building upon the New Deal’s Federal Emergency Relief Agency, Carter created the more efficient and better-structured Federal Emergency Management Agency. He consolidated existing disaster recovery and financing programs while mandating that this federal support system only intervene at the request of the state government or a federally-recognized Indian tribal government.

Seeing how federal capacity interfaced with local powers, magnifying the United States’ concerted response to a calamity, America owes gratitude to Carter.

Itai Sneh

Associate professor, City University of New York