Letter: Proposition 13 not root of Calif.’s woes

Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2005 | 9:01 a.m.

Peggy A. Poehler's Dec. 11 letter, "California still in red from Proposition 13," needs a rebuttal. California's woes are not due to Proposition 13, which saved many homeowners' homes.

First, there was no lack of funds for the school system -- they were just wasted on an excess of administrators, unnecessary psychologists and psychiatrists, class-size reduction beyond our ability to pay, time and money wasted teaching political correctness, establishing a false sense of self-esteem, dumbing down the education goals, new revisionists' textbooks -- the list goes on and on.

Second, the bureaucrats have not accepted the taxpayers' demands for cutting spending, instead continuing to expand, pay high salaries and lucrative benefits far better than offered in the private sector. The retirement benefits alone are going to turn around and bite the taxpayers, driving many communities into bankruptcy.

Third, Poehler says there is not enough money to maintain the highways, but that is not true. The highways are properly funded, but those funds are robbed to help pay for mass transit. The billions and billions spent on light rail, subways, carpool flyover bridges and metered on-ramps have done nothing to alleviate gridlock problems.

Nevada voters, we need a Proposition 13.

Howard W. Thompson

Las Vegas