Letters to the editor

Commend, don’t villify, Dr. Cody for leadership

Re: “The high cost of fighting virus” (Page A1, June 21)

I read with dismay the articles about Dr. Sara Cody receiving threats. Yes, it’s hard to be shut down for three-plus months, but Santa Clara County has weathered the pandemic better than many parts of the country and the state thanks to her leadership.

If we all put on our masks and keep our distances, we’ll be more able to open up and avoid the spikes that we are seeing in so many places that have opened up too fast, or where people aren’t being sensible. Thank you, Dr. Cody, for your leadership.

— Debbi Behrman, San Jose

Grateful to county medical officials for helping save lives

The Bay Area owes a great debt of gratitude to our county medical officers, who had the expertise and foresight to issue the shelter-at-home order before anyplace else in the United States.

As a result, even though the Bay Area was the original epicenter of the pandemic in the United States, and the location of first known COVID-19 deaths in the country, we did not suffer the huge spikes in disease or in deaths that some other places in the nation and in the world did.

We can thank our county medical officers for saving many lives and keeping our intensive care capacity from being overwhelmed.

— Gary Bailey, Sunnyvale

Editorial was right about Becerra, police on reform

Re: “AG Becerra, police vow hypocritical post-Floyd reform” (Editorial, Opinion section, June 21):

Per your June 21 editorial, Attorney General Xavier Becerra has illegally refused to comply with Senate Bill 1421, effective Jan. 1, 2019, which required

him to disclose the records of bad cops who remain within their own police departments and/or are routinely rehired by other police departments.

As the editorial pointed out, he has done so while in cahoots with officers’ unions and police chiefs, including many Bay Area police chiefs. You would never suspect the latter, given the eloquent commitment to police reform expressed in the adjoining commentary written by the police chiefs of San Jose, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

They wrote, “Our police departments, like many others, have made tremendous strides to increase accountability, transparency and community engagement.” Really? True accountability and transparency would mean abiding fully with SB 1421. Chiefs, don’t wait for Becerra to take the lead. His duplicitousness seems to know no bounds.

— Steve Ode, San Jose

Time for college athletes to force change in programs

Re: “Wilner: History of tolerance provides opportunity for conference” (Page C1, Sports, June 21)

I agree with Jon Wilner that the racial equality movement provides the Pac-12 with a potential (and much needed) recruiting advantage.

Admittedly, football is a subordinate priority in these difficult times. But let’s face it, college football contributes consequentially to many universities’ finances. In the midst of the Black Lives Matter upheaval (and hopefully sustaining revolution), it is incomprehensible to me that a head coach at a major university (Oklahoma State’s Mike Gundy) would sponsor the ultra-conservative One America Network.

Or that it took this long for Clemson, a school reaping vast financial windfalls from the exploits of its black football players, to remove the secessionist John Calhoun’s name from its honors college.

It is time for players in all collegiate sports to exploit their power to force change in programs clinging to anachronistic cultures. And for David Shaw and Justin Wilcox to bring more Southern 5-star recruits westward.

— Rusty Thomas, Saratoga

CalPERS needs to come clean about investments

The entire CalPERS house of cards rests on one foundational lie: that its pension assets will earn more than 6% per year on average.

For two decades, CalPERS and CalSTRS have told agencies they will earn 7% to 9%, and thus can save less money for pensions than they need to.

This gap, compounded annually, has built statewide pension deficits approaching $1 trillion and leading California toward fiscal ruin.

Imagine the good that $1 trillion could have done, invested in early childhood education, affordable housing or public health.

CalPERS now borrowing money to finance riskier investments, knowing the public must pay all losses, is unconscionable. In a different world, Bernie Madoff would have new roommates. The root evil is the investment-return lie.

Instead, CalPERS and CalSTRS should simply be honest about their investment returns. That will stop California’s unfunded liabilities from increasing; and with transparency, voters will drive governments toward fiscal prudence.

— Eric Filseth, member,

Palo Alto City Council