Letters To The Editor

UH dirty laundry

The opinion expressed by Garrett F. Saikley, MD, in his letter decrying the public airing of UH’s dirty laundry in a public forum surely puts him in the minority.

To me, it looks like a replay of the Bishop Estate/Kamehameha Schools outrage. People with no accountability will invariably take advantage of their positions. Worse, in this case it is everyone’s tax dollars that have been wasted on far too many things for far too long.

All of the higher powers-that-be (president/chancellors/regents, plus far too many coaches – and, of course, all the damned attor neys involved) are obscenely overpaid and have been gorging themselves at the tax trough with impugnity.

We need a Sunshine Law that makes everything involving public monies spent in this state to be published on a regular basis for public scrutiny. Not to mention the need for a system of internal (and external) checks and balances.

I suspect further scrutiny will bring to light even more improprieties and force extensive changes for the better.

Allison Evans Hauula

Romney’s ’47’

I have enjoyed reading Jade Moon’s column in MidWeek over the years. But I do not agree with some of the implications in her article about once being one of the “47 percent.”

All of us struggled through our own personal challenges. To her credit, Ms. Moon was able to take advantage of support services to struggle toward an education, allowing her to rise above her circumstances.

She has every right to be proud of her accomplishments as she used them as a stepping stone. My problem is that too many people use government support as a lifestyle.

There was nothing in Gov. Romney’s quoted statement to imply he would cut social support services.

Gov. Romney’s point was clearly that he must focus his message on those who remain “undecided” as it is they who will determine the results of this election.

Rick Moss Honolulu

Hitting the nail

While appreciating MidWeek‘s allowing its columnists as well as letters-to-the-editor writers more “freedom of speech” than most publications, I wish more editorial restraint had been used in editing Pat Saiki’s letter complimenting Jerry Coffee on his column – especially the reference to calling a spade a spade. Knowing Pat, I can assure you that she would never refer to the president’s ethnicity in such a way. A better term would have been “hitting the nail on the head.”

Richard Walker Honolulu