Craig Gartman the best choice for mayor
Residents should appreciate those willing to ask necessary questions
Dear Editor,
I have read several letters to the editor recently whose authors leap to the defense of the Gilroy city administration.
The clear message from these authors is that “because Craig Gartman poses hard and uncomfortable questions in public and makes the hard-working city government look bad, he is not fit to be mayor.”
I’m afraid there are still some of us who do want hard questions asked. Not too long ago we saw what happened when the retirement of the police chief and the assistant police chief were kept private … seems like a little publicity much earlier was appropriate then.
We have witnessed the city budget (the budget deficit) not provided at city council meetings until after a sizeable pay increase was granted to city administrators. Speaking as a tax-paying citizen of Gilroy, I certainly would have appreciated genuine representation of my questions and concerns about the accountability of our city leaders at that time. Frankly it was a good time for a blunt public question. Did those administrators deserve a pay raise … I think so – I don’t doubt that our city employees work hard – but why can’t we have all the facts provided upfront and publicly to the council – you know, like Craig Gartman requested?
Certainly Craig Gartman has ruffled some feathers by boldly asking some questions determined to be off-limits by some folks who are quite comfortable with the current city politics. Ruffling those feathers is probably a good thing. A great question asked bluntly can save the taxpayers lots of money in the future. That is where my vote is going.
John Mummert, Gilroy
Columnist nailed endorsement; Favorite former mayor for Gartman
Dear Editor,
Just finished reading Ben Anderson’s Oct. 24 Dispatch column, “Weighing the decisions for Gilroy Council and mayor” – fantastic article.
Mr. Anderson certainly did significant research, interviews and e-mails on all the candidates to make his selections. We feel proud to have made the same choices, although we did not do his intense investigation, but now are even more comfortable with our decisions.
We believe Craig Gartman and the three new council members will make a great team along with existing council members in cleaning up the existing problems at City Hall – one of the most serious conditions we have observed in our many years as residents of Gilroy.
These candidates will use common sense which appears to have been lacking in the previous years. We are also happy to learn that our favorite all time Gilroy mayor, Mike Gilroy, has endorsed Craig Gartman.
Bob and Pat Lesko, Gilroy
‘Nice job of reformatting the newspaper, but where’s my comic?
Dear Editor,
Dear Dispatch, you have done a nice job of re formatting, BUT where is “Over the hedge”?
Alice Herbert, Gilroy
Editor’s note: Thank you for the kind words, and we’re sorry but we had to choose a comic to cut in the redesign of the page to make it more readable. Perhaps in the future we can ad another full page of comics.
Tattoo flesh inappropriate photo subject for the local newspaper
Dear Editor,
Wow! Is it possible that our Dispatch “redesigned” newspaper (debut edition 10/23) is now going the way of the National Inquirer, specifically showing more flesh for Gilroy viewers’ delight (10/24 front-page photos)?
A few more inches down, and Ms. Lopez’s tattoo would have mooned us. Speaking of tattoos, the fact is that many of today’s tattoos contain unknown conglomerations of metallic salts (oxides, sulphides, selenides), organic dyes or plastics that are suspended in a carrier solution for consistency of application.
While the FDA regulates ingredients in cosmetics worn on the skin, it does not regulate these toxic inks young people are putting under their skin. The FDA’s official stance is “Because of other public health priorities and a previous lack of evidence of safety concerns, FDA has not traditionally regulated tattoo inks or the pigments used in them.”
The FDA also does not require ingredient disclosure on the inks – they are considered proprietary trade secrets – and so tattoo inks may contain any chemical, including those known to be mutagenic (causing mutations), teratogenic (causing birth defects), and carcinogenic (causing cancer), or involved in other biochemical reactions in the body that might take years to appear. So while “fashion” might dictate that getting tattooed is the “in thing”, the fruit of such a decision might be a very unhealthy future.
James Fennell, Gilroy
