LETTERS: Smith columns on McDonald the work of a hack

Did Review-Journal columnist John L. Smith miss his logic class when he attended college? Then again, from the thinking on display in his Sept. 23 column ("Nevada treasurer not too open about hiring GOP chairman McDonald"), I wonder if he even has a degree from any institution of higher education. He obviously hates Republicans and has let those irrational feelings spill over into his vocation (if it can be called that).

Yes, Nevada Treasurer Dan Schwartz, a Republican, hired Michael McDonald, the chairman of the Nevada Republican Party, as his senior deputy in charge of community outreach. Mr. McDonald has been an outstanding chairman. The chairmanship is not a paying position. People with jobs become chairman. Countless Republicans in Nevada who have been here through four or five chairmen will tell you that, although I doubt Mr. Smith would bother to actually do any investigative research. Of course, Mr. McDonald is currently "embattled." It is election season, and his opponents are trying hard to unseat him as chairman.

Knee-deep in local leadership experience due to many of the positions he has held, Mr. McDonald is highly qualified to do community outreach. Should the treasurer not hire someone imminently qualified for a position he feels is needed because he knows that person? Wouldn't knowing the person and having firsthand knowledge of how effective that person is be, instead, a plus?

Smearing someone's reputation by lumping him in with people he happens to know is bad form. On that basis, no journalists should be seen with Mr. Smith, and no newspaper should have him on its payroll. I guess we should look at this latest spew of unfounded allegations as proof that he hasn't yet learned his lesson.

Virginia Starrett

Gardnerville

Body cameras for Congress

Here's an idea that could improve the approval rating of Congress, which is at about 14 percent and sinking fast: We should require members of Congress to wear body cameras that record both audio and video when conducting the people's business.

There is a movement afoot across the United States to require police officers to wear body cameras and record their interactions with people, to ensure that police are acting in accordance with the law and to protect the rights of the citizens they encounter in the performance of their duties. The same should hold true of our elected representatives.

After all, Congress is writing the laws we must live by and is interacting on a daily basis with many more criminals than is an ordinary police officer in America. And there is no record or scrutiny of their cloaked interactions with these criminals to ensure the congressman or congresswoman is acting in accordance with the Constitution to protect the rights of the citizens they allegedly represent.

David Baker

Las Vegas

Grocery closing

We've lived in Summerlin near the Trails Center for more than a dozen years, and we've enjoyed a perfectly good Vons grocery until this summer, when it was taken over by Haggen. Now I read that Haggen will close the store at 1940 Village Center Circle ("Haggen plans to close 7 Las Vegas stores by end of year," Sept. 26 Review-Journal).

It seems that Safeway and Albertsons decided to merge last year, and the Federal Trade Commission required the firms to divest themselves of low-performing stores to win antitrust approval. Somehow, the tiny Haggen grocery chain was loaned the money to acquire around 150 of these cast-off stores. So now the newly purchased stores are bankrupt. Jobs will be lost, and Haggen deserves the blame for poor management. Safeway and Albertsons are probably stronger than ever, and my local grocery will be closed.

It might not be a total loss if the newly abandoned stores are sold for their current distressed value. That might allow another grocery to purchase a store at a fair price and serve our area again.

I just wonder who will bear the loss from this foolish lending. I'll bet it won't be the lender.

Ed Dornlas

Las Vegas