Finalist for Phoenix police chief bound to stir controversy

The one question Phoenix residents didn’t ask of the candidates for Phoenix Chief of Police, is how undocumented immigrants would be handled (”Chief finalists answer questions,” June 7).

Phoenix is looking for trouble if Jeri Williams, who is the police chief of Oxnard, California is chosen as police chief. Oxnard is a major sanctuary city for undocumented immigrants. The city has a reputation that in that city, it is legal to be illegal.

Whether you are for open borders or not, choosing Williams for Chief of the PPD is bound to cause chaotic political controversy.

— Hal Netkin, Phoenix

The reason why conservatives are perceived to be racist

Republicans over and over are expressing pained outrage because so many people accuse them of being racists. Maybe the GOP needs to ask themselves WHY this perception is so widespread.

During the last 20 years at least (many would say it is much longer), whenever any kind of racial incident happens in America, conservatives without exception always side with the whites in the dispute.

Whether it is a police brutality incident or drunken frat jocks dressing in Klan robes as a party gag, conservatives always side with the whites involved. In some cases and circumstances, that might be correct, but ALL of them?

Conservatives says they examine all such incidents impartially ...and then take the side against minorities 100 percent of the time. That is simply not believable, and there is only one explanation — simple racism.

— Parker Anderson, Prescott

How utility regulators vote will reveal who APS supports

I ask – and feel we all should demand – the names of those on the Arizona Corporation Commission who vote “yes” on this proposed APS rate increase, for 2 simple reasons:

1. It will prove to us consumers exactly who was “bought and paid for” by APS;

2. It will answer questions about the still unrevealed APS political “donations” (aside from the rates we consumers pay APS, from what source does APS gleen profits for political actions?).

— Noralee Urban, Surprise

Writer neglects key points in opposing national monument

A few thoughts and a question for Kurt Davis regarding his My Turn, “Reasons to oppose National Monument” (June 7).

Isn’t Game and Fish responsible for the wildlife in the existing area? Yes, there are assurances that the hunting and recreational opportunities will be grandfathered in if 1.7 million acres surrounding the Grand Canyon and the Colorado River watershed are named a national monument.

He failed to mention that the moratorium on uranium mining will expire in 2020 or that the Colorado River is in serious trouble, that a (I believe Japanese or Chinese company wants to build) resort outside Tuseyan would decimate the water supply there.

A poll is only as good as the way they ask the question. I would bet that if the question was asked in a way that people understood what exactly is at risk (uranium mining, the canyon, the river), those polled would answer differently.

If the public hasn’t figured out that greedy politicians will do whatever they can get away with regardless of the harm, then we are in deep trouble and our children, grandchildren, future generations and millions of visitors that come to Arizona will lose out. I am not willing to take that chance and will write regularly to President Obama encouraging him to use the Antiquities Act to protect what our Republican representatives in Congress refuse to protect.

— Patricia Abraham, Mesa

Dog’s agonizing death calls for change in our privacy laws

A young dog is left out on a 113-degree day on a concrete patio with no water or shade. The 911 call is released and the dog is heard in the background crying out in agony.

Law enforcement’s hands are tied due to “privacy laws” which prevent them from entering the apartment to rescue the suffering dog that’s near death.By the time the fire department arrives with ladder, it is too late, the dog is dead.

The dog’s temperature is so high it does not register on a thermometer which tops out at 111 degrees. What does that say about us as a society when a living creature in obvious agony and near death is not allowed rescue due to “privacy laws”? The law needs to change.

— Judy Kachelmeyer, Surprise

Capitalism would be well-served if profit isn’t the be-all end-all

In answer to the letter by Larry Brewer (June 8), I would like to show a definite linkage between employee’s pay and that of the CEO. A CEO is judged by whether the stock of the company goes up: more profits, higher stock price.

A way for a CEO to increase profits in the short term, is to keep employee pay as low as possible. I am convinced the way to avoid revolution and socialism is for capitalists to be ethical and not have profit be their sole motive.

When I took a business ethics course at ASU, we learned that making money should never be the primary motive of a business. That should come after quality of service and/or product. I would add treatment of employees as an important criteria of being ethical.

— Marge Thornton, Tempe