Leon Panetta
Although Leon Panetta has not yet announced he will run for governor (“Panetta Decries Big-Money Campaigns,” March 19), California voters should be wary of anyone who suggests that “the initiative process perhaps should be changed so that measures would not go on the ballot until they first had been reviewed by the governor and the Legislature.”
Is there a hidden agenda here? He might as well state outright he doesn’t believe we are capable of enacting or denying initiatives for ourselves, however controversial they may be to our politicians.
Hey, Leon! Wasn’t it your former boss that said “the era of Big Government is over”? It’s up to us, the people, to decide what initiatives wind up on the ballot, not our legislators. The last thing we need is our next governor to “improve” our ballot initiative procedures, resulting in further erosion of our rights to govern ourselves. If Panetta becomes a candidate for governor, be afraid, California. Be very afraid.
DAVID R. PERIGO
Lomita
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