No Place for Partisanship

Editor:

Guilt by association is, at best, a crude political tool.  It may be understandable, although no less offensive, in a letter from someone one who appears to be one of the clique that will do or say (or conceal) anything to perpetuate their control (letter from James Dorf, Aug. 18); it is much less acceptable when used by a newspaper’s editorial writer who should – and in fact, does, know better. (Andrea Adelson, “A Surprise Among Dicterow Supporters,” Aug. 10).

First, both Mr. Dorf and Ms. Adelson are correct: Dana Rohrbacher is a first class jerk. . . . Actually, no . . . Rohrbacher is not a first class anything, and especially now that Akin has taken Bob Dornan’s place, he has fallen back to the position of second class jerk, whose 0 score from the Human Rights Campaign is deserved only because there is no lower grade.

But Mr. Dorf asks the wrong questions: “Does Dicterow share these positions?”  As Dorf knows, or should know – and would know if he had taken the time to ask Steve about it — Dicterow does not, and to imply the contrary by asking the rhetorical question is political sleaze worthy of a Republican presidential candidate.  I have known Steve for many years, and know that on social issues, and some economic ones, his brand of libertarianism takes him to most of the places that I have gotten to as a lifelong Democrat. He is there on GLBT rights, equal access to marriage, women’s freedom of choice – every issue, I would wager, that Mr. Dorf supports and Rohrbacher despises, as Mr. Dorf would have found out if he had picked up the phone and just asked Steve.

Mr. Dorf also mentions the Boom-Boom Room, now closed.  However, when it was open, I was counsel for the Boom and its owner, and while Steve was on City Council, could always turn to him to help with a municipal issue for either the Boom Boom Room or the gay community of which I learned through my representation.

Which leads to Mr. Dorf’s real problem: He fails even to consider the real question, which should have been, during Steve’s 12 years on City Council what did he do (or not do) for Laguna’s gay population.  If the gay community uses to use that as a standard for evaluating Steve Dicterow’s candidacy, as it should, that is the criterion it should use, and not the fact that some troglodyte in Washington also endorses him.

We all should remember the meaning of “non-partisan.”  The reason we vote for Laguna Beach City Council members has nothing to do with the reasons we support national or state candidates; City Council candidates should be evaluated strictly in terms of what they do or do not do for Laguna Beach. That they are Democrats or Republicans, Libertarians or Socialists, has nothing to do with those criteria.

Gene Gratz, Laguna Beach