Letters: Time to give keys to governor’s mansion to another party

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Give governor’s keys to another party

Re: “Democrats end convention with no endorsement” (Page A1, Feb. 23).

It is not surprising that the Democrats failed to endorse anyone for governor. Based on Gov. Newsom’s pathetic, multi-term record of incompetence, just what is left for the Democratic Party to endorse?

More bankruptcy? More elitism with privileged parties? More sanctuary cities? More crime and corruption? More filth in the streets? Even less ability to solve the plethora of social and economic problems the state faces?

Democrats have been controlling the agenda for decades. Newsom and his followers have been, and continue to be, a failure. We don’t need more of the same. Maybe voters just might wake up. It’s time to give a non-Democrat the chance to govern California, like it used to be.

Chris Kniel
Orinda

Governor’s race reports should be more robust

Re: “Democrats end convention with no endorsement” (Page A1, Feb. 23).

Has Katie Porter dropped out of the governor’s race? She was not mentioned at all in the front-page story about the convention endorsements for the governor’s race. She is also the candidate I want to vote for. So, if she has dropped out, could you please mention that? Or do you have something against her?

I depend on real news from the East Bay Times. I am also a lifelong Democrat, and I get very frustrated with the Trump news that keeps telling us lies.

Jim Kerber
Oakland

Claims of Trump’s racism don’t ring true

I continue to defend our president because I still believe he’s right on most issues and that his haters are actually worse than he is. Even the outrage over his recent gaffe in allowing a meme to go out with the Obamas’ heads on monkey bodies is more revealing of his haters, who always assume the worst about him, than it is of President Trump himself.

Putting the Obamas’ heads on monkey bodies is either racist or racially insensitive. I suspect the latter with Trump. Indeed, he may be so not a racist that he’s sometimes unaware of how real racists might interpret certain things he does and says. His praise of Jesse Jackson after his passing also suggests the racist accusation is wrong. But he has sometimes been too willing to accept the support of racists uncritically, without criticizing their racism, likely being too afraid of losing their support.

Christopher Andrus
Dublin

Dismantling of EPA is a threat to environment

Donald Trump is trying to dismantle the Environmental Protection Agency, the EPA.

Follow this logic: Globally, we pump 13.4 million barrels of oil out of Mother Earth every day. That comes to nearly 563 million gallons. How can we convert that much oil to petroleum products, lubrication, fuel for transportation and plastics every day and not affect the quality of our air and our water?

He wants to dismantle the EPA. Do you really think that it cannot affect the weather? Consider just the greenhouse gases. Our winters are getting colder, our summers are getting hotter and drier, and Trump says, “It gets hot, it gets cold, it’s called weather,” but to these extremes?

He obviously cares more about keeping his oil executive supporters happy than the future of our species.

Jim Cauble
Hayward

Coastline needs state’s commitment to thrive

Millions of Californians across the state share cherished memories and a unique connection with our 840-mile-long coastline. California’s unique coast is home to a variety of marine ecosystems and organisms, most famously our kelp forests.

However, due to human activities such as oil drilling, unsustainable fishing practices and pollution, our coast’s vital ecosystems have been weakened, and kelp forests are being destroyed. Our ocean’s health has rapidly declined over the last decade. From 2014 to 2019, California’s kelp forests declined by 93%.

Californians, as a community, have been harming a natural, spiritual and economic resource. Fortunately, research has shown the best way for marine life to flourish is to establish protection zones, institute Marine Protected Areas and upgrade State Marine Conservation Areas and State Marine Reserves.

I urge Gov. Newsom and the state government of California to commit to conserving 30% of California’s coastal waters by 2030.

Yara Munoz
Berkeley