Submit your letter to the editor via this form. Read more Letters to the Editor.

Plaudits for supervisors’
stand against sales tax hike

I appreciate Supervisor Joe Simitian’s stance and reasoning for his no vote on putting a 5/8 cent increase on the county sales tax before the electorate on the November ballot – plaudits, also, to Supervisor Mike Wasserman (“Supervisors again nix plan for a tax increase,” Aug. 5).

While I would not argue that those in favor of the tax are well-intentioned in how this new revenue could be used ( social programs), Supervisor Simitian points out that as a general tax there is no guarantee it will be spent where it is intended, but rather spent where the board majority so determines. He also points out that as a regressive tax it places an additional burden on an electorate that is reeling from the current economic impact caused by the COVID-19 crisis. The supervisor also points out that he is “concerned” about how much the county budget has grown over the past few years.

The time has come for governments (federal, state and local) to take a close look at how they spend the tax money that is currently allocated to them. I am hopeful that Supervisor Simitian will continue to work for his constituency and with the Board of Supervisors to find ways to serve the public interest within current budget revenue allocations, rather than continuously look for new taxes to augment an ever-increasing county budget.

Manny Morales
San Jose

California officials silent
on schools’ COVID-19 risk

Among guidelines issued by Gov. Gavin Newsom and health officials required for school openings this year (“Plenty of ‘gaps’ to opening school year in person,” Aug. 5), there is one omission that I think is most important, overlooked by everyone.

In most public buildings, offices, and schools, the HVAC system draws in air from all the rooms, combines it for cooling, and recirculates contaminated air to everyone. We already know this is how passengers on cruise ships, particularly on inside cabins with no fresh air, contracted the virus, although they never had any contact with other passengers or crew. And my theory why so many elderly residents at nursing homes fell ill and died, in spite of the best efforts to observe all the precautions, is they all live in buildings with central AC systems, spreading the virus from room to room, infecting the most vulnerable of occupants.

Ron Knapp
Los Gatos

State law doesn’t require
pursuing death penalty

In Ty Greaves’ letter (“DA’s death penalty stand was not ‘right,’” Aug. 5), he suggests that Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen is ignoring the law by taking the death penalty off the table. This is not true.

California law does not require the death penalty. It just allows for it as a punishment. District attorneys have discretion in deciding to make a prosecution a capital case.

Although I agree that his decision is not particularly courageous, I do wholeheartedly support it. Capital punishment is an immoral act by the state. The U.S. is in the same company as China, North Korea, Iran, and Syria. Nearly all western democratic countries have abolished it except the U.S. What does that say about our values? It is “cruel” punishment whether the Supreme Court thinks so or not. And as we’ve learned, there are innocent men on death row. It should be abolished.

Alan Zisser
Campbell

Thiessen twists words
of John Lewis and MLK

As the nation continues its long-overdue removal of confederate statues and other symbols of the unspeakable horrors of slavery, Marc Thiessen (“The fight for civil rights isn’t a rejection of America’s founding,” July 30) describes such efforts, incorrectly, as “an iconoclasm that seeks to cancel and discredit the founding of this country.”

As Donald Trump’s chief propagandist, Thiessen is merely continuing his desperate quest to score political points for his dear leader, but, by twisting the words of U.S. Rep. John Lewis and Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in support of this quest, his latest column crosses a line.

Lewis and King were selfless men of great moral courage who sought to unite the nation to its highest ideals. Trump is a coward and a liar, and seems hell-bent to divide and drive the nation to a second civil war. Thiessen should start a new quest. Grow a conscience, join the Lincoln Project, and help end the madness of this presidency.

Michael Rovero
San Jose

Electoral College
integral to system

Jack Markle’s letter (“Electoral College preserves system,” July 30) defending the Electoral College was spot on. It was not short of logic or historical perspective. It did what it was supposed to do, teach you.

The Electoral College has a purpose, and Jim Von De Bur does not remember what he was taught in his civics class. Von De Bur’s diatribe (“Electoral College needs to be toppled, too,” Aug. 5) on Donald Trump’s impeachment, constitutional checks and balances, party allegiances, upholding the Constitution, one-party rule, slave state rule, and white supremacy was not a responsible, educated response. It was illogical.

I suggest that you read “Blitz” by David Horowitz, who was once a very liberal thinker. It spells out how the current ultra-Democratic liberals want to change America. Von De Bur and liberal Democrats need to be educated.

John Ucovich
Hollister

GOP malice on pandemic
is hurting all Americans

Re. “Republicans couldn’t care less about the unemployed,” by Paul Krugman, Aug. 5:

The Hero’s Act passed by the House 2 1/2 months ago was never taken up for a vote by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Yale university economists using the data of small businesses all across our country have proven that those unemployed workers with enhanced benefits went back to work when offered the job back.

The GOP does not want to help laid-off workers but is willing to allow business lunches to be deducted from taxes as well as not managing the pandemic and treating it as a blue state issue. This is pure malice. Now the pandemic has hit the Sun Belt states and is quickly reaching the rural areas and Midwestern states and wrecking the economy with lots of lives lost.

Mohan Raj
San Jose