Letters to the Editor: Feb. 12

Regarding President Biden’s recent State of the Union address, it is amazing how many members of Congress took leave of their senses and, therefore, forgot their sense of decorum during the president’s address. It might help for all members of Congress to hear the words of Mahatma Gandhi: “Intolerance, discourtesy and harshness ... are taboo in all good society and are surely contrary to the spirit of democracy.”

Mary Jo Swartzberg

SaddleBrooke

Recycling

Re: the Feb. 5 article “Tucson needs partner focused on more than the bottom line.”

Through innovation and investment, Republic Services is committed to advancing recycling and circularity. Across the country, only about a third of America’s waste is diverted for recycling. Plastics are often downcycled into textiles or plastic block instead of becoming a new bottle or jug, while glass gets downcycled into fiberglass or is crushed and used in construction. These downcycled applications have few options for further recycling. We’re working to keep recyclables in the circular economy longer, which will reduce the need for virgin materials and help protect the environment. Republic will open the nation’s first Polymer Center later this year, which will process plastics from markets including Tucson, to enable greater plastics circularity. Supporting a circular economy is challenging but achievable with investment and commitment. Republic Services has the infrastructure and focus on sustainability to affect real change.

Terrence Sims, general

manager of Republic Services of Tucson

Southeast side

Water, water, everywhere?

Re: the Feb. 5 article “Help find a solution to Arizona’s water crisis.”

I submit the following suggestions regarding water use in this very arid state. It is past time to require golf courses to severely reduce their water consumption by adopting xeriscape landscaping guidelines. Arizona has over 370 golf courses (over 6,000 holes) all of which need to continue bringing in the tourist dollar. But they certainly do not all have to be green. I also challenge all dining establishments to cease serving water unless and until patrons request a glass. Please be aware that we Michiganders are strengthening our water protections and will not look too kindly on bailing you desert denizens out.

Mike Bryant

Snowbird staying in Marana

Thank you, Sheriff Dannels

Thank you, Sheriff Dannels, for representing Cochise County so well with your testimony to elected officials in Washington. I appreciate you sharing “the reality” of the border crisis. It affects all of Cochise County and must be addressed. After being ashamed of two of our county supervisors who made us a laughingstock of the nation after the recent election, my admiration of Sheriff Dannels has grown and we can again be proud of a county official. He has done an excellent job in his position, and I am proud to call him our Sheriff.

Betsy Ajeman

Willcox

Tucson Electric Power

Recently TEP needed to access a power pole by driving over our property. The trucks damaged the desert and broke a driveway light...but...the very next day, a landscape crew came out and repaired the desert and replaced our driveway light. The TEP employees were professional, polite and efficient. Thank you, TEP, for all you do.

Barbara and Mike

Schoenhals

Foothills

Social Security

Re: the Feb. 7 letter “Taking away benefits.”

In answer to the letter writer who says Republicans “want to cut Social Security,” untrue. What is true is that some Republicans want to reform Social Security so that it remains solvent and thus doesn’t have to start paying only 77% of scheduled benefits starting in 2034. And although the letter writer claims that to use Social Security taxes “for any other government expense is stealing,” that is in effect what happens, as the federal government uses Social Security taxes for general purposes and gives the Social Security Trust Fund Treasury Securities in exchange. Since 2010, Social Security has had annual cash flow deficits, meaning Social Security has had to draw on general tax funds to help make payments to its Social Security recipients. Thus, there is no real money in the Social Security Trust Fund as in, say, one’s bank account.

David Pearse

Foothills

LD 17 legislators ignore oaths of office

Those of us who live in LD 17, which reaches from Marana to Mescal, are represented in the Arizona Legislature by three Republicans who are all members of the “Freedom Caucus.” Recently, all three voted against raising the educational funding cap which would have led to widespread and severe budget cuts in Arizona’s public schools by denying them money allocated to them in the 2022 state budget.

Refusing to raise the funding cap so that the budget could be fully implemented was, as Republican Rep. David Cook noted, a violation of a legislator’s oath to uphold Arizona law and the Arizona Constitution. That apparently was meaningless to Republican Rep. Rachel Jones who justified her “no” vote by saying “I wasn’t part of the Legislature last year who promised that money.” So, does being a member of the “Freedom Caucus” mean our LD 17 representatives are free to ignore all laws they did not vote for or agree with? Sounds like the “Chaos Caucus” to me.

Eileen Hollowell

Oro Valley

Inflation Reduction Act

Inflation Reduction Act saves lives.

Democrats really delivered for Arizonans by passing the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). In 2023, Medicare Part D recipients will now receive essential vaccines for free, insulin users will see a monthly cap of $35, and drug manufacturers will be penalized for raising prices faster than inflation.

Arizona seniors have long been taken advantage of by drug manufacturers setting high prices for life-saving medications. Provisions in the IRA take power from price gougers, saving us money and our lives.

No Republicans in Arizona’s Congressional Districts voted for the IRA; only Democrats did. Now Republicans want to repeal major provisions, making false assertions that the “drug provisions are so dangerous” and willfully hindering life-saving cures.

As a Medicare recipient, I am already seeing savings on our prescription costs that Republicans now want to take away. I applaud the Democrats who helped pass the IRA. It is far past time for the Republicans to do more for Arizonans.

Judy J. Gillies

Oro Valley

Not my parent’s Republican Party

Editor,

I’ve heard it said that today’s Republican Party is not your parent’s Republican Party. That’s an understatement, and I don’t understand why the press continues to refer to today’s Republicans as conservative. What are they conserving?

The secretive so-called “Freedom Caucus” wing of the Republican Party in the Arizona Legislature is determined to tell women, teachers and “others” what they can and can’t do. They remind me of the Taliban, not my parent’s Republican Party. My parent’s Republican Party believed in local control and democratically elected school boards.

Today’s Republican Party is not conservative. Conservatives like former Arizona U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake have long been drummed out of the Republican Party because they would not march in lockstep with the new authoritarian Republican Party. The press should be more accurate by referring to today’s Republicans as authoritarians.

Dave Gallagher

Foothills

LIV Tucson

So Tucson is lucky enough to get another professional golf tour thanks to the new Saudi-backed LIV Golf Tour. Great golfers like Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson will be featured. These players and the entire field will be getting paid handsomely for their efforts. In addition, all the players were paid just to join the new tour, apparently Phil Mickelson was paid $150 million. Of course, these players made huge money on the PGA Tour but gave it up for Saudi money. I guess it’s easy to ignore the fact that Jamal Khashoggi was killed and cut into pieces while his fiancé waited outside a Saudi consulate. Also easy to ignore is the fact that women in Saudi are second-class citizens who are not allowed to marry, divorce, travel, or even get a job without permission from their male guardian. I’m told this is called “sport washing.” This tour was designed to make Saudi look better to the rest of the world. I call it BS.

Joe Karsina

Marana

Bad schools, less water use

It seems Arizona’s newly elected Superintendent of Public Education’s solution to the 55% cut in CAP water allocations is to eviscerate public school curricula in order to make Arizona an even less desirable state in which to raise children, thus signaling to parents that should their children require schools they should look in another state and reducing the population of thirsty Arizonans whilst retaining as much CAP water as needed for our most favored constituents: the five Cs. What’s next Arizona, a go-fund-me for the public libraries?

Cynthia Duncan

Midtown