I read with interest your article on Assemblyman Mike Gatto's hearing in Glendale on pension reform ("Lawmakers talk pension reform following the Bell scandal," Oct. 21).

It was abundantly clear that bureaucrats (whose interests align with the status quo) fear Gatto's reforms. Is that not reason enough to support him?

Mary Ann Healy


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We need extradition treaty with Armenia

Regarding the Oct. 14 story "FBI raid nets 15 accused in $100M Medicare case":

It was reported on the same day that this story was published in the Burbank Leader that Mexican authorities had turned over suspected Valley Village bride-to-be killer Omar Armando Loera to Los Angeles Police Department detectives. That's worthy of special note, because, despite Armenia's recently reported offer to help U.S. authorities investigate the Medicare scam, if Loera had been detained in Russia and/or Armenia he might not have been so similarly handed over. That's because the U.S. does not have an extradition or rendition treaty with either of those two countries.

How long must this bilateral lack of a formal extradition treaty, between the U.S. and Armenia in particular, go on this way? In contrast, we currently do have an extradition treaty with Mexico, as well as with India and many other nations.

Harvey Pearson

Los Feliz

Easy decisions on election day

I'm really pleased with the easy decisions for our major California election choices.

Yes for Jerry Brown — articulate, intelligent, experienced and independent, beholden to nothing but what is right for our state and our people. Some have unbelievably argued on this page against Brown because he appointed Rose Bird to the state Supreme Court decades ago. This is absurd.

She was removed from office in 1986 because she was opposed to the death penalty. Good for her. I am forever baffled over the hypocrisy of those who oppose embryonic stem cell research that has the potential for curing disease and disability yet often have no qualms about killing adult human beings by execution.

No, no, no for Jerry's opponent, Meg Whitman, who is doing her utmost to buy the Golden State throne (one-seventh of a billion dollars of her own gold, at last count, plus millions of outside gold). This is a nauseating, record-setting attempt to buy a new plaything. She says she wants to run the state like she ruled EBay, I'm sure with an iron hand. There is no way she can readily do this as governor where those she needs to help implement her strategies will have job security fears for opposing her imperial wishes and anger.

Even easier is yes for Sen. Barbara Boxer, another intelligent and experienced candidate who is beholden to nothing or anyone, but only to do what is right for our nation and our state. Bless her for supporting legislation safeguarding the environment and her opposition to the Iraq war from the get-go.

And it's no, no, no for Carly Fiorina who couldn't even hold onto her job at Hewlett-Packard where she was fired for unsatisfactory job performance. I could, but I won't, add personal knowledge details of how employees hated her for what she was doing to HP. For this and many other reasons, why would we want this failure as our senator?

And lastly, yes for Rep. Adam Schiff, our 10-year congressman who has consistently been there for our nation and especially his constituents. It's an easy no, no for John Colbert, whoever he is.

An easy decision, so let's do it: Vote for Brown, Boxer and Schiff.

Robert Morrison