Letters to the Editor: 05/16/2008

May 17, 2008 04:00 am

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Nasty reminder

For a lot of people who have lived here most of their lives, the article about Grand Traverse County employees earning less is a nasty reminder of an old but real attitude of conditions here for a lot of years. We have had to endure living costs the same or higher than other parts of the state and take the view as being part of our pay.

Now we've spent $190,000 to remind us of that again.

And remember, we taxpayers approved the taxes to pay for the improved view and some people, if not all, are expected to accept that view as part of our pay.

Maybe that is also part of the grand "vision."

We have earned the view.

We also keep paying for the privilege.

Tom Vert
Traverse City

The buck stops here

President Truman emphasized that the tough decisions were his by a sign on his desk, "The buck stops here."

To make a good decision, the chief executive has to get solid facts and evaluate their significance and impact to the decision at hand; one has to make reasonable assumptions because there is probably never perfect knowledge; one has to evaluate the expenditure of resources versus alternative use of these resources.

What I am saying is, one has to look at a lot of pluses and minuses, and they are always present or the answer is obvious; there is no need for a decision.

All elected politicians' decisions affect us immensely, but when was the last time you heard a politician state all the pros and cons of their proposal and show you how they evaluated each item and assigned weighting or risk factors?

I'm 86 years old and if there ever was a time, I missed it!

So how are we to be informed so we can elect executive-type politicians?

My suggestion is we have astute executive head-hunters interview candidates on TV and conduct their debates.

Norman J. E. Roe
Elk Rapids

Look twice at McCain

According to Bloomberg News, John McCain is more hawkish than President Bush on Iraq, Russia and China.

Pat Buchanan says McCain "will make Cheney look like Gandhi."

His reputation is built on his opposition to torture, but he voted against a bill to ban waterboarding, and then applauded President Bush for vetoing that ban.

He talks a lot about challenging special interests, but his campaign manager and top advisers are lobbyists.

The government watchdog group Public Citizen says he has 59 lobbyists raising money for his campaign, more than any of the other presidential candidates.

Ralph F. Williams
Frankfort