Help subs out

Gov. Gavin Newsom releases a new budget proposal soon. I have a suggestion — instead of continuing to deny EDD to substitute teachers, hire them.

This week, we learned that unemployment insurance fraud in the state could top $8 billion in taxpayer funded benefits that have gone to people who fraudulently filed claims and collected benefits, while hundreds of thousands of substitute teachers have been unable to get much-needed financial relief.

One EDD rep recently admitted that the paperwork sent to a substitute appealing a rejection was deliberately written in legalese that even the EDD rep could not understand.

Representatives of one’s local assemblymen and women statewide have been helping out. But now EDD refuses to accept documentation sent by them on behalf of their constituents.

Substitute teachers are the mainstay of the state’s educational system. Most of them are retired teachers who have more experience than the regular teachers, care about students, but cannot survive on their meager retirement benefits. It’s no secret that hundreds of state employees from other divisions who were shifted from their jobs work for EDD and were given negligible training.

We trust substitute teachers with our youth. We can certainly trust them with our money.

— Skye Dent, Bakersfield

WAITING ON MCCARTHY

Most or all Democrats and Republicans, including Kevin McCarthy, rebuke the violence that took place in our nation’s capital during Wednesday’s insurrection. As The Californian reported, Rep. McCarthy said, “This is not the American way” (“McCarthy rebukes violence at the Capitol,” Jan. 6). So far, only a handful of responsible Republicans in high places have taken the obvious next step: rebuking the person who instigated the violence, President Trump. We’re still waiting for McCarthy to join this select group and cement his legacy as a patriotic statesman representing Kern County.

— Joe Traynor, Bakersfield

NICE WORK

Wednesday is the darkest day I’ve seen in my 75 years. But it actually started on a positive note. Early in the day, Vice President Mike Pence delivered a letter to every member of Congress. In the letter, Pence spoke of his own research into the Constitution that informed him that he had no role in the events to take place, other than ceremonial, and he would fulfill that role.

Then, after the senators moved to their chamber to debate the election result in Arizona, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell spoke to the assembled senators. He reminded them that Trump lost the legal cases. The election was over. This day should go well, I thought.

Next my cable station moved on to the House of Representatives. As Speaker Nancy Pelosi was leading from the dais, Rep. Steny Hoyer presented the case for Democrats. Then I expected to see the minority leader. But wait, Rep. Kevin McCarthy wasn’t there. Elbow problem? But he made himself available to cable news later to bemoan the actions of the domestic terrorists that had invaded the Capitol. He didn’t mention his own involvement as a surrogate for Trump.

Later, McCarthy’s statement on the floor of the House was ridiculous. Pleading for bipartisanship? Wow! But no words to acknowledge that his continual placing of partisan politics ahead of our Constitution contributed to the “deplorable” actions we saw Wednesday. Sixty percent of the Republicans in the House voted to void a legal election. You are by title, at least, their leader. Nice work. — Terry Beals, Bakersfield