Republicans’ failed attempt to oust governor
Gov. Gavin Newsom did not get recalled. The Republican effort to oust him failed. You can’t fool all of the people all of the time. The governor is imperfect like the rest of us. He has faced issues of the coronavirus, fires, education and myriad others. He has done well and not to everyone’s satisfaction. He has my satisfaction and admiration. Republicans tried to fool all the Californians into thinking Newsom is incompetent all the time. Most Californians voted not to be fooled all the time by lies and hoaxes.
Robert Cromey, San Francisco
Plan to reduce emissions
Regarding “Biden urges climate action while stumping for Newsom in California: ‘These fires are blinking code red for our nation’ ” (Sfchronicle.com, Sept. 13): I’m inspired by President Biden’s call to action during his visit to California, and I appreciate that he points out how we need to tackle climate change at the source and not just deal with the effects. “We know that decades of forest management decisions have created hazardous conditions across the Western forests. But we can’t ignore the reality that these wildfires are being supercharged by climate change,” he said. Sadly, maintenance and regulation aren’t enough to keep our state from burning. A price on carbon could help tackle the problem at the source. For example, the plan proposed in the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act would reduce the United States’ carbon emissions to net zero by 2050, and the $3.5 trillion spending package is our best shot in years at passing something like this, given the current makeup of our government.
Dan Sulfaro, San Francisco
Pathway to citizenship
The lives of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients like me, other undocumented youth, temporary protected status holders and immigrant essential workers, as always, hangs in the balance. The recent ruling against DACA has left the fate of hundreds of thousands of DACA recipients in peril. The only way for young people like me and millions of other immigrants to be protected is for Congress to pass a pathway to citizenship.
Congress is closer than ever to passing legislation that will take a massive stride in fixing our long-broken immigration system by creating a pathway to citizenship for millions of undocumented immigrants. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Congress to keep American families together, improve the economy and do right by those who have called the U.S. home for years — in some cases, decades. The time is now for our leaders to act. As a new resident of the Bay Area, I am grateful for the support of representatives, such as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who champion immigrant communities and recognize the value that we bring to parts of the country like Northern California. I urge other members to follow Pelosi’s example and support the inclusion of immigration reform in the budget reconciliation process.
Maria Vanegas, Berkeley
End of local elections
Regarding “Eyes of nation on recall vote count” (Sept. 14): We are witnessing a major shift in American politics with the end of local elections.
People throughout the U.S. care about the outcome of the California gubernatorial recall, as well as that of many state legislature, mayoral and sheriff elections. Every day many of us receive dozens of emails asking us to support candidates running for local offices in distant cities and states. The other day I received one asking me to donate to the campaign of someone I had never heard of running for district attorney in some town on the opposite coast. Senatorial and U.S. House campaigns, OK, but district attorney? This trend increases the cost of what were once purely local elections to the point where even campaigning for city council, county supervisor, school board or dog-catcher will require megabuck funding. That cannot be good.
Jeff Johnson, San Francisco