Davis Shaded Budget Facts During Campaign

What a hypocrisy we find in “Budget Balanced on Faulty Figures” (Feb. 23), wherein we learn that Gov. Gray Davis and others in the political establishment were given full knowledge of the state’s perilous fiscal condition last year, only to continue to irresponsibly bloat this year’s budget. And then, in the same issue (“Governors Unite, Will Ask Bush for Aid”), we find Davis whining and bellyaching about how the federal government must come to the aid of California. Hypocrisy? No, that sounds more like nonfeasance!

Robert B. Evans

Anaheim

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Maybe California should refuse to participate in the impending war until we get a $15-billion aid package from Washington, as is being negotiated with Turkey (“Turkish-Kurdish Rift Muddies War Plans,” Feb. 25). We surely could use it, with our budget deficit, courtesy of President Bush’s friends in the energy business. We would even let them bargain us down to, say, $13 billion, but not a dollar less.

I guess our chances are not good, though. After all, we are not a majority Muslim, military-dominated pseudo-democracy.

Michael Dressel

Los Angeles

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Re “Davis Recall Bid Has Supporters and Doubters at GOP Convention,” Feb. 23: Recall Davis? Yes! But what then? California’s $30-billion-plus budget deficit cannot be fixed overnight. The state government is controlled by a Democratic majority that has run amok with spending and tax increases. Why ruin the promising political career of a Republican or a Democrat by putting him or her in an impossible situation of attempting to rapidly rescue California’s fiscal mess?

I say, let Davis stay. Watch him squirm. Make him work. Force him to lower runaway spending. Make him clean up his own mess. The Democrats have no one to blame but themselves.

Marilu Greene

Santa Barbara