The Rich and Famous Turn to Public Service

Is this a great state or what? Where else can a millionaire married to a Kennedy run as a populist? And why should Arnold Schwarzenegger’s candidacy be taken any more seriously than Gary Coleman’s? Oh, that’s right. He’s famous and rich -- the two most important qualifications for serving “the people.”

Isn’t it interesting that rich people who feel suddenly called to “public service” have to start at the top? I’d find Schwarzenegger more convincing if he started at, say, state controller. But that would be beneath the movie-star populist. This is like Shaquille O’Neal announcing that he was retiring from basketball and telling us he now wants to be the manager of the New York Yankees.

Richard Murphy

Whittier

Let me get this straight: The Terminator, Larry Flynt, Angelyne and Gary Coleman? Thank you, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Vista), for spending your hard-earned money on a circus for all of us. Those of us who voted in the last election are getting quite a kick out of your new democracy. Careful what you wish for....

Tim Lovestedt

Canoga Park

Issa is the one who should be recalled. After bankrolling the recall effort, Issa said he would be in the race to the end. Now the spoiled millionaire is afraid that he wouldn’t make a decent showing and is picking up his toys and running away. Clearly, Issa didn’t have the welfare of California as part of his not-so-thinly-veiled partisan political agenda. Who wants to help me recall this “chicken little” hypocrite?

Louis Mangual

Los Angeles

Since Schwarzenegger and Arianna Huffington announced their candidacies to run for governor, I’ve been hearing on the various news shows “cracks” regarding their accents. I’ve been married to a woman from Spain for 22 years and she has an accent, as do millions of Californians, and I’d like to answer those who make fun of accents with a quote from my wife: “I might talk with an accent, but I don’t think with an accent.”

Murray Jordan

Tarzana

Let’s hope Schwarzenegger soon stops spouting tiresome cliches like “total recall” and “hasta la vista, baby!” and starts telling us why he should be elected. He could begin by describing how he’d have handled the state’s budget crisis had he been governor these past seven months.

Richard Varenchik

Santa Clarita

Many years ago someone said that the U.S. is tilted slightly toward the southwest and everything loose rolls into California. Boy, was he right.

Eleanor Brown

Culver City