Bus contract drama a waste of our money
To the editor:
Regarding Clark County's bus contract, it is time for the Regional Transportation Commission to forget the lobbying and grandstanding that is being done to deny the obvious low bidder. The dog and pony show has gone on for too long.
The specifications were written for the bid, a pre-bid conference was held and bids were submitted. The low bidder -- First Transit -- met bid specifications and should be awarded the contract.
It is hard to believe the thinking and mentality that is being displayed in making every effort to divide the contract and rebid. It was a level playing field going in, and the elected officials who make up the RTC board should not decide whether the low bidder can do the job. If that were the case, the bid should have been rejected up front.
Obviously, the low bidder is a large and very reputable operation with a proven track record around the country. First Transit's bid was $50 million lower than its incumbent competitor, Veolia, so the bid should be awarded to First Transit. The company will perform. If this took place in the private sector, this would have been a done deal.
When you are not spending your own money, it shows. The bids did not go the way half of the RTC board would have liked. This is $50 million you are talking about. Think!
Bob McDonald
Las Vegas
Losing their minds
To the editor:
Thank you to Review-Journal columnist Jane Ann Morrison for writing on Saturday exactly what was on my mind after reading Adrienne Packer's Friday story on the county's bus contract.
I am a constituent of both Las Vegas Councilman Steve Ross and Clark County Commissioner Larry Brown, who serve on the Regional Transportation Commission board. When did these guys lose their minds and decide it's OK to waste $50 million of taxpayer money over RTC staff recommendations and "loyalty" to current bus operator Veolia?
We already have a successful "Toss Ross" recall campaign in progress. Do we now need to "Lose Larry"?
Dick Laird
Las Vegas
Reid's spending
To the editor:
According to Glenn Cook's Sunday column, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid just can't quit trying to assign blame for his own economic incompetence somewhere else. Anywhere else. George W. Bush. The tea party. Sen. Reid's overspending just can't be the problem.
Let's review. Sen. Reid and the Democrat-controlled Congress failed to pass a budget for more than two years so they could max out our credit cards. Trying to avoid the most predictable economic train wreck in recent history, House Republicans passed not one, but two different budgets that would have taken corrective spending action. Sen. Reid killed them both, insisting on higher taxes and more credit. He vows to do the same as long as he's majority leader.
While he didn't get his new taxes, Sen. Reid did get more spending and more debt. Now the nation's credit rating has been downgraded, as predicted. That means an increase in the amount of our budget (if we ever get one) that goes to service our national debt. The reason being "the full faith and credit of the United States" no longer means "risk free." Think about all those Social Security IOU's that are backed by that same "full faith and credit." Not very comforting, is it?
Way to go, Sen. Reid. We know exactly where the blame lies. Let's hope the Reid Recession can be reversed when the tea party strips him of Senate leadership.
ROBERT R. KESSLER
LAS VEGAS
Viva cheap seats
To the editor:
The folks at Cirque du Soleil who came up with the "Viva Elvis" show at CityCenter are going to close down for six weeks next year to "revamp" (Norm Clarke column, Thursday Review-Journal)? They are disappointed the place isn't sold out every night?
There's an easy cure: Reduce the ticket prices. My parents recently visited from Chicago, and I would have loved to take them to that show, but it would have cost $800 for four of us to see it. That is insane!
All good shows on the Strip need to reduce their prices. It doesn't matter how great your show is, people won't go if tickets are the same as their mortgage payment.
Chris Mazza
Las Vegas
Class warfare
To the editor:
Barack Obama apologist Randall Buie (Thursday letters) claims our president inherited the country's financial problems from George W. Bush. Actually, it's the new tea party Republicans in the House who inherited a fiscal mess, and it's Republicans who are trying to recoup the Democrat-caused loss of Standard & Poor's AAA credit rating, which the United States had managed to keep through wars and depression.
As Holman Jenkins of The Wall Street Journal put it, Democrats produced a debt-fueled expansion of the entitlement state. How else could this bunch of grifters get elected to office, other than to create dependent groups and buy their votes?
They tell their constituents that those who already have a lot don't deserve to keep what they've earned.
Democrat class warfare has strangled free market capitalism with hyper-regulation and environmental hysteria. Now investors, retirees and pension plans -- public and private -- are facing ruin. Bank money, at near zero interest, is being eaten up by inflation.
Recently Rush Limbaugh read to his listeners a seven-page compilation of media headlines containing the words "Obama blames." What else would you expect from a political party when its single-minded focus on acquiring power blows up the economy?
Lynn Muzzy
Minden
