Better salaries and support for legislators
Re: “Legislators deserve more compensation,” March 21 editorial.
Thank you for taking up the cause of our underpaid legislators. It was a service to them, but also to the people of Colorado for the very reasons you mentioned in your editorial.
I would like to add that there is a need for more support services for legislators: legislative analysts who have time to research emerging issues like homeland security; a well-staffed communications office that can play a stronger role in educating the public about issues, costs and budget constraints; and professional committee staffers who are able to juggle the information from lobbyists and concerned citizen’s groups. These kinds of professional people would also need some clerical support as well as office space and equipment, all of which would cost significant amounts of money.
Citizen legislatures no doubt made sense in 1876, but they didn’t by the time of the Great Depression in the 1930s. We have managed fairly well, nonetheless, in large part because of many gifted and dedicated public servants who have made things work in spite of the odds. But now, with a global economy, immigration and a large surge in our own population, terrorism, and energy and water shortages, we should no longer expect elected officials to just use their basic common sense to make decisions that affect our own lives and the lives of generations yet to come.
I hope that as people prepare their taxes this year, they will give a great deal of thought to what they’re paying for and consider the possibility that their daily lives are affected by government – and that we need to support it with our money as well as our votes if we’re to have the kind of government we need.
Carol Andersen, Denver
Passage of state smoking ban
Re: “Smoking ban nears final OK,” March 17 news story.
The passing of the statewide smoking ban is close at hand. The state government is finally getting this desperately needed legislation done. I applaud them for taking this step. Colorado is again demonstrating its emphasis on health. Our citizens are some of the most healthy and fit people in the entire country. Those of us who treasure our excellent climate and opportunities for recreation don’t need individuals who don’t care about their health bringing us down with their slow form of group suicide.
The current patchwork of local smoking bans is unfair to restaurant and tavern owners. This statewide ban levels the playing field.
Many people opposed to the ban will say this is another example of the “nanny state.” I totally disagree; the law is protecting all of us from injury.
Ray Olson, Arvada
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Think of a world where cancer is gone. The American Cancer Society’s goal is to “eliminate suffering and death due to cancer by the year 2015.” I hope I live to see it. As a Stage IV breast cancer survivor, diagnosed as Stage II less than two years ago, the odds are against me. But just as House Bill 1175, the Clean Air Act of Colorado, was passed recently, I know I can beat these odds. Thank you, state Sen. Dan Grossman and Rep. Jack Pommer, for your work on this bill. It gives me hope that we will win this fight.
Regina M. Hathorne, Boulder
Showing respect for immigrant labor
I appreciate that immigration is a hot-button issue about which you hear many strong opinions. There are many sides to the story. I am concerned, then, that your headline “Illegals involved in crashes, traffic stops, say authorities” (March 21, Denver Post Online) comes across as narrow and racist.
The human beings involved in these accidents are just that – human beings. Our society benefits from the cheap labor they provide. Calling them “illegal” without recognizing the role their employers play in knowingly hiring them, and the role we all play by eating at restaurants, having our lawns manicured or taking our children to day care unfairly singles out the most vulnerable players in this complex web for blame. It perpetuates racism. More correct might be “undocumented workers.”
We live in the most prosperous country in the history of mankind, and this kind of narrowness makes us look stingy and denigrates the humanity of all of us. Let’s figure out how to act like neighbors and a family of man.
Mike Kingsbury, Denver
Dealing with disasters
Re: “Aid pours in to cyclone-ravaged town,” March 21 news story, and “2 more bodies found in Lower 9th Ward,” March 21 brief.
There was a strange irony in two articles in the March 21 Denver Post. Regarding Monday’s cyclone damage to the northeast coast of Australia, we learned that by Tuesday, troops with supply trucks and Qantas Airways were delivering water, meals and fuel. The prime minister had pledged government assistance in rebuilding.
In the U.S., however, we note that two more bodies have been found in the rubble of New Orleans. After all these months, we are still finding the dead. What will happen when the next major storm hits?
Kathryn Skosich, Littleton
Double standard for sex crimes
Re: “Teacher teen-sex case dropped,” March 22 news story.
What a hypocritical and disingenuous position for Florida teacher Debra Lafave to take during the sex-offender proceedings against her. To hide behind a claim of mental illness, and to essentially bill herself as a victim in this clear-cut crime against a child is pathetic. It’s also pathetic that the courts would cave in and let her off, dropping charges in one venue and extending a mere slap on the wrist in the other.
Of course, had she been a man, and the victim a female, the man would already be on his way up the river for decades. Our judicial system maintains a clear double standard in similar cases involving men and women as perpetrators.
When individuals are judged on their acts rather than gender, we will be able again to respect our courts. Unfortunately, don’t hold your breath waiting for this to take place.
Mike Fullerton, Highlands Ranch
Aurora election on mental health tax
Re: “Tax would help mentally ill,” March 13 news story.
According to “mental health experts,” the problems of mental illness have become a worldwide epidemic. The sole solution these so- called “experts” have is an immediate and massive increase in mental health appropriations. They warn that without such appropriations the situation will only deteriorate further.
Yet what these “experts” fail to mention is that their “diagnostic” and “classification” system is nothing more than modern-day charlatanism and they are nothing more than snake oil salesmen with college degrees. “Mental illnesses” such as tobacco withdrawal disorder and mathematics disorder are just a few of the snake oils these “experts” are trying to sell.
Now we, as taxpayers, are going to be expected to fund this “mental health” sideshow further?
More money is not what is needed to help the mentally ill of our city, of our nation, of our planet. What is needed are truly effective solutions.
Aaron R. Helgeson, Aurora
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It’s bad enough that mental health providers have free rein to label anyone mentally ill. Then they demand more money from the state budget to pay themselves to treat all these people. Now a mental health center is paying for a special election on a sales tax that will put their hands into the wallet of every shopper in Aurora, resulting in millions of public dollars into private coffers. Taxpayers should just say “no” to this highway robbery.
Shawn May, Aurora
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