In defense of Nottingham
Re: “FBI talks to judge’s ex-wife; She says work-computer probe follows allegation of strip club, dating website,” Aug. 12 news story.
As a former employee and law clerk to Judge Edward W. Nottingham, I am very disappointed in the media’s portrayal of the judge and their utter failure to present the full truth regarding his record.
In the workplace, in the chambers, and on the bench, Judge Nottingham is above reproach. He is completely professional and respectful to his employees. As a judge, he is apolitical and strives to apply the letter of the law. In my opinion, Judge Nottingham avoids all impropriety in his service of this country.
Shame on his ex-wife for throwing her dirty laundry on his judicial reputation.
Ashley S. Kane, Atlanta
The writer is an instructor at the Emory School of Law.
Naming the justice center
We see that Mayor Hickenlooper would like to name the new justice center in Denver after Gov. Ralph Carr. While Gov. Carr should be honored in some way, this is not the appropriate building for his monument. He served the entire state of Colorado, not just Denver, and should be memorialized with his name on some state-related edifice.
Why not name the building for Dale Tooley, who was Denver’s district attorney and devoted to Denver? Tooley brought an extremely high degree of professionalism and modernization to the office and gave attention to the prosecution of white-collar crime and consumer affairs for the first time in the history of the district attorney’s office.
Felicia and Michael Muftic, Fraser
American auto industry
Re: “Health and labor costs put brakes on U.S. automakers,” Aug. 7 editorial.
The proposition of your editorial that the high health costs and the high labor costs “put the brakes on U.S. automakers,” which seems to be the conventional wisdom, is false. Consumer Reports (April 2007), to which you refer, lists the prices of American and foreign cars. In almost every class of cars, such as family sedans, upscale sedans, wagons, SUVs and others, there are American cars which are less expensive than corresponding foreign cars – despite high health care costs and labor costs. Clearly, these costs have not priced American cars out of the market. The real reason for the loss of market share by American car manufacturers is their lower quality and worse reliability relative to some foreign cars, not the costs of health care and labor.
George F. Kuhn, Greenwood Village
Race and identification
Re: “How many hyphens do you have?” Aug. 10 David Harsanyi column.
History shows us that white people and the federal government created definitions of race – and disallowed people’s self-identification – as a means to obtain white privilege. It seems to me, a white person, that our (whites’) current interests in color- blindness serve, even if unconsciously, the same purpose, that is to reinforce and maintain white privilege. Why don’t many people of color self-identify as “American”? I believe it is because they are not treated equally by many people and institutions in the United States. When a large proportion of people of color begin to self-identify as American, we might know that we’ve finally made some progress in uniting across the racial divide and in addressing the lingering racism in our institutions and our psyches.
Lisa Pettitt, Evergreen
Failing state computers
Re: “Right the ship of state’s computers,” Aug. 15 editorial.
Your editorial regarding the need to improve the performance of the state of Colorado in the implementation of technology-based systems is mostly right on track. I’ve spent some time studying these projects, and each has many fatal flaws which must be addressed.
The time, opportunity and money wasted is stunning. Here’s another way to look at how stunning. (Analytical purists may not agree precisely, but the numbers are directionally correct.) The state income tax rate is 4.63 percent of an individual’s federal gross adjusted income. In order for the state to accumulate the $55 million wasted on these systems, the citizens of Colorado had to generate roughly $1.2 billion of income. Our 2006 Colorado per capita income was about $25,000. So basically, a city the size of Grand Junction or Broomfield had all of their income tax washed down the river on failed projects.
The problems were caused by a large number of issues. It will take a huge shift to change the performance. As the numbers above indicate, the impact is too large not to get it right in the future.
Dave Dirks, Arvada
Against the war in Iraq
Re: “4 suicide blasts rip Iraqi sect, kill 175,” Aug. 15 news story.
When will we ever learn? How could we go into a country to unseat a bad man and then think we were going to be loved and have flowers thrown at our military? We should have stayed in Afghanistan and Pakistan to find Osama bin Laden, who was responsible for the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on our country.
Recently, as I was driving, I saw a pickup truck with a bumper sticker that read, “Give war a chance.” I thought to myself: How sick is this? I know we live in a country of diversity, but to actually have people think this way really is sad.
Linda Rudzinskas, Aurora
