ASU’s Crow is worth every penny, and more The Center for Arizona Policy and its hypocrisy on abortion

President Michael Crow has done an amazing job at Arizona State University. He has also helped make downtown Phoenix a true urban center and saved the Thunderbird School of International Management.

He deserves to be the highest paid university president in the country. His pay is a small fraction of what is being paid to many corporate executives.

— Ross Smith, Scottsdale

Phoenix Mayor Stanton’s inner bully is showing in street fight

I have been following the mayor of Phoenix on his quest to rename two streets. He doesn’t like the name Squaw Peak and Robert E. Lee.

I always thought Stanton was against bullying, but that is what he is doing to the residents of those streets.

Remember mayor, it is the will of the people. Robert E. Lee, while he was for most of the Civil War the commander of the Army of Northern Virginia, and for a while general-in-chief of the Confederate forces, he had a distinguished career as a colonel in the U.S. Army.

In fact, he was appointed by President Lincoln to arrest John Brown when he tried to take over the arsenal at Harpers Ferry. Also he was asked by Lincoln to be the commander in chief of the Union Army, but he declined as he wanted to be with his home state of Virginia.

Was he a slave owner, yes, of course, along with many on both sides of this conflict.

We cannot erase history if we like it or not. No normal person is honoring slavery, they are honoring men who have died for that which they believe in.

In Germany you have monuments for those who fought in World War II, not to honor the Nazi’s, but to honor their fallen.

Happily I live outside of the city of Phoenix.

— Samuel Diamond , Goodyear

Opponents of street-name change, try turning the tables

I am writing in response to the gentleman who wrote in Tuesday regarding renaming streets in Phoenix. He states that the offensiveness of the term in question is widely disputed even among Native Americans. I know a lot of Native Americans, do you? Spoken to any of them lately?

Because, if you had, they would tell you in no uncertain terms that the term in question is highly offensive. Turn the situation around for a half a minute and ask yourself how you would like it if a street, or even a sports team, were named something like Cracker or White Eyes or Honky?

I bet you would be pushing the mayor to change that name in a heartbeat.

— Elena Samfilippo, Scottsdale

Since when did politicians think of anyone’s needs but their own

In Wednesday’s letters, Mr. Rascona wonders if Sen. McCain has forgotten his constituents. I think it’s just the opposite. I don’t think there is a senator or congressman out there, Republican or Democrat, who ever votes on a bill keeping in mind the thought of “the greater good.” They vote with one thought: “Will this vote please those who voted for me, and help me keep my job”? Term limits please! — Ken Doerfler, Glendale

School vouchers for Arizona kids are not ‘a sham,’ but a lifesaver

Azcentral.com takes liberties with misleading headlines about Empowerment Scholarship Accounts. As one of the first ESA parents, I am fed up with these distorted narratives.

In “Oversight of Arizona ESA schoolvoucher program ‘almost a sham’ ” you’re painting ESA parents as looking to defraud the system.

When my son Jordan was in his highly rated Scottsdale public school, he hated school so much, I had to wrestle him out of the car and carry him, crying into his special-ed classroom.

I would then spend exhaustive hours begging his school to give him his IEP services. I felt like I was going crazy. The insanity stopped when the state passed ESAs and gave us a chance to meet Jordan’s education needs.

Saying ESAs have been a “sham” from the start is attacking the special needs community who used the program first and are the biggest ESA group today.

We bend over backwards to comply with ESA reporting and audits. Jordan has come so far with his ESA and his specialized curriculum, you would hardly recognize him as that crying little boy with cerebral palsy, who once could barely stand up, couldn’t read and hated school. ESAs are not a “sham.”

— Kathy Visser, Scottsdale The Center for Arizona Policy needs to take a hard look at the principles they espouse when arguing funding Planned Parenthood leaves them more money to perform abortions. Unfortunately, it’s the opposite of the Supreme Court ruling that churches can receive public money for non-religious activities. You can’t have it both ways.