Fiscally responsible school board candidates Hello to you all. I am not on the ballot this time, but I have to comment or some of the statements made in the San Diego City School board race.  SDEA has endorsed candidates because they believe them to be “Fiscally Responsible.”    I have some trouble with that statement. At the present time, the State of California has a very tentative budget based on faulty projections for income.   Every state financial expert agrees. The word is that when the income comes in short, as I am sure it will under the present economic conditions, the governor and the state legislature will have to make mid-year cuts, and the January budget for Fiscal Year 2009-10 will be very much reduced.  Anyone anticipating the state budget shortfall that proposes spending anyway just can’t be defined as “Fiscally Responsible”! That is why I cannot support SDEA’s recommendations.  I am not able to agree that [John Lee] Evans and [Shelia] Jackson are actually “Fiscally Responsible”! Mitz Lee fully understands the situation, and she freely voted to restore all laid off permanent teachers as well as placing many probationary teachers back in small classes in school that have performance difficulties. She deserves all of our support. I think those who are really fiscally responsible and those who oppose spending down our funds beyond actual income deserve support. There will not be a bailout for districts that overspend this year! I am not sure that the SDEA recommendations for the SD Board of Education are really founded on fiscal responsibility at all. They want us to go down a more irresponsible path. Mitz Lee does not. I appreciate your letters of support in the past, and look forward to working collaboratively with teachers and others for this district’s financial stability. I think Mitz will continue that collaboration with real fiscal responsibility. John de Beck Vice President, San Diego Board of Education Representing District C Sherri Lightner for District 1 City Council The 2008 election for District 1 City Council is critically important to the future and to the quality of life in La Jolla and in the City of San Diego. On Nov. 4, voters will have an opportunity to make a real difference and to take back control of their community from the developers, the special interests, and the downtown bureaucrats and to return control to where it belongs — to the people who live and work in La Jolla. This change is long overdue. And no one is better qualified to lead this change than Sherri Lightner. I have known Ms. Lightner for several years and, during this time, she has worked selflessly, tirelessly and knowledgeably in behalf of the community to ensure that the citizens’ voices are heard and that their opinions are respected. She is a person of the highest integrity, who believes that everyone, yes, everyone, should be held accountable to the same rules and standards. Sherri Lightner walks the walk. Among the two District 1 candidates, only Sherri Lightner has proactively and continuously worked with La Jolla’s citizens and businesses to oppose paid on-street parking in the Village, to oppose three-story commercial developments that will unnecessarily increase density and traffic, and to oppose the city’s heavy-handed attempt to silence citizen input by disbanding the La Jolla Community Planning Association. Sherri Lightner represents District 1’s best hope for restoring confidence in the integrity of government and its responsiveness to the community and for restoring accountability of our elected officials to the people.   Jim Fitzgerald, La Jolla Designed for 5,000 — not 14,000 Got traffic?  This simple question and the Web address for Friends of Hidden Valley (friendsofhiddenvalley.org) was the message on yard signs posted by property owners along roads leading to La Jolla Parkway near Hidden Valley Road and Torrey Pines Road. Within hours, these signs (about 100) were stolen. The objective of directing drivers to the Web site is threefold:  (1) A large institutional complex is proposed at the corner of Hidden Valley Road and Ardath Road, which is immediately adjacent to the La Jolla Parkway intersection;  (2) The Automated Regional Justice Information System (mapping.arjis.org ) documents an average of one accident every two weeks in or near the La Jolla Parkway and Hidden Valley Road intersections;  (3) The May-2007 Torrey Pines Corridor Study reports that over 14,000 cars pass through the Hidden Valley and Ardath Road intersection on a daily basis. Hidden Valley Road is designed for a maximum capacity of 5,000 average daily trips, not 14,000! If you drive this route on a daily basis, you know what is in store for you if this complex is allowed to be developed.  This is a traffic and safety issue.  Do not allow it to become worse. Visit the Web site and get involved. Daira Paulson, La Jolla Will we get what we deserve? Regarding the UT’s “The New Democratic Party” editorial (Oct. 19): It was humorous reading the Union-Tribune blaming the other media for digging up whatever is true about Joe the Plumber after Senator McCain insisted on making an example of him. (He certainly did that.) Best to only dig when it suits one?  This has got to be the newest version of gonzo journalism. It is highly opinionated partisan writing, with all pretense of objectivity departed. It is so over-the-top that it is not even respect-worthy. Where’s the wisdom here? What we’re witnessing is the groundswell backlash of eight years of secrecy and deceit bubbling to the surface, and people will have no more of it.  Senator McCain’s choice of Governor Sarah Palin as VP is telling. Sarah Palin embodies the working-class American? Really? Bringing Ms. Palin onto the ticket is to admit, at least tacitly, that a vote for Mr. McCain is an acknowledgement that Ms. Palin could step up in the event of a tragedy and be President of the United States. Yikes! Then the real tragedy might begin! It’s too huge a gamble, and the majority of Americans seem to know this. Maybe what politics boils down to in the end is alternate realities. Different people can look at the same thing and see different truths, divined by the ideologies and politics they have developed in life. It’s comparable to drawing a circle around one’s arrow after it’s been shot, then saying, “See, right on target”; we mostly already have our minds made up and then align with facts to support those beliefs. Hopefully, as Thomas Jefferson said, the people will get the government they deserve. (Have we deserved the past eight years?) Ideally, though, we hope to receive more objectivity from our news-presenters; definitely less sanctimoniousness.  Stephen Keyes, Leucadia