Letters: Saving special-election money
Re “Let the governor fill seats,†Column, Nov. 25
George Skelton points out a clearly regrettable waste of about $1 million that taxpayers spend every time we hold a special election because a state legislator changed his mind about doing the job he was elected to do.
Having the governor appoint a replacement isn’t the worst of ideas, but why not simply offer the job to the runner-up? At least the replacement would be someone who ran for the office and had the support of at least a chunk of the people.
Furthermore, the specter of giving the job to someone they tried so hard and spent so much to defeat might just persuade a legislator or two to stay the course.
Mark Arnott
Los Angeles
Skelton makes a case for having the governor fill legislative vacancies. He mentions how expensive the increasingly occurring special elections are for taxpayers.
I think Skelton is right, but I disagree with his solution. Instead of the governor appointing a replacement, we should pass an amendment to the state Constitution that would forbid our political hacks from jumping ship until they fulfill their terms. That would save us millions of dollars.
John Dodson
Camarillo
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