LETTERS: Where is transparency in Henderson?
To the editor:
Last month, there was an article on a new policy that allowed three city of Henderson officials to sell back more vacation time than any other employee of the city, and at any time during the year (“Henderson’s top officials can claim biggest sell-backs,” Feb. 15 Review-Journal).
This tiny “group” includes City Manager Jacob Snow, City Attorney Josh Reid and City Clerk Sabrina Mercadante. The Executive Compensation Committee that approved this new rule was termed in the report an “informal committee, which meets in private” and includes seven other high-ranking officials.
Informal committee? Meets in private? Is this even legal? All the executives are paid a very sizable salary from taxpayer dollars. Whatever happened to the public’s right to know? Where is the transparency?
It smells to me like high-ranking elected officials voted themselves a great perk. Henderson residents would do well to remember this in the upcoming municipal election.
JEANNE CRAYTON
OVERTON
Bias in Section A
To the editor:
For decades I was under the impression that Section A of all newspapers was reserved for straightforward reporting of local, state, national and international news. That is until the Review-Journal printed an article on Page 4A from CNN reporter Stephen Collinson (“Rudy’s furor hints at need for attention,” Feb. 21 Review-Journal).
This article was devoid of anything newsworthy. Instead, it was a scathing personal attack and hit piece on former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. My question is: Why wasn’t it placed in the op-ed section, where opinions belong?
It is of no concern to me what CNN or Mr. Collinson think of Mr. Giuliani. What does concern me is the integrity of the Review-Journal. Someone at the R-J dropped the ball. Management should take the necessary steps to prevent a recurrence.
EDWARD DUFFY
LAS VEGAS
Tax refund fraud
To the editor:
It’s disgusting that billions of our dollars are being distributed in fraudulent tax refunds by the IRS when there is such a simple solution. Congress needs to pass a simple bill declaring that all taxpayers who receive the Earned Income Credit must have a paid tax preparer file their taxes.
The majority of legitimate tax preparers agree this would stop at least 30 to 40 percent of the fraud being perpetrated upon the taxpayers. There are hundreds of thousands, maybe even millions of people fraudulently filing their own tax returns online, or with an unlawful preparer filing their return and not signing it as a legal, paid preparer.
Just think of what those extra billions of dollars could do for our debt, our seniors, our children and our country. Even greedy politicians could get on this bandwagon, with no partisan bickering needed.
We just need this one little law that’s easy to pass and easy to implement, with billions of dollars landing in federal coffers, and no one hurt except those who break our laws.
JOANN WYMORE
LAS VEGAS
Get Rebels on local TV
To the editor:
I have lived in Las Vegas for more than 25 years and am an avid UNLV football and basketball fan. I am not physically able to attend games anymore and am frustrated that most games are not locally televised. The only way to see the games, it seems, is to go to a sports bar to watch them.
I’ve lived in several cities before where the local college team’s games are always televised, both home and away. UNLV needs this community’s support, and it’s difficult to give that support to a team you never get to see. I suspect UNLV men’s basketball coach Dave Rice and football coach Tony Sanchez would agree that a strong local following is essential to their programs’ success, particularly to their recruiting efforts.
It’s frustrating to watch highlights on the 11 o’clock news and realize that’s all we locals are going to see.
PAT STANLEY
LAS VEGAS
Lawyers and advertising
To the editor:
How I wish we could revert to the days when it was unethical for attorneys to advertise. Once the regulation prohibiting such advertising was overturned, the floodgates opened, and now we are literally bombarded with ads from those who were once called “ambulance chasers.” Is there no other business anywhere in Southern Nevada that can sponsor the news, or are lawyers the only game in town?
As long as I’ve lived here, I can’t remember a time when lawyers and their lawsuit ads didn’t literally permeate the advertising industry. Just look around and listen. Billboards, pop-up computer ads, TV and radio commercials. Over and over, we hear the names and their jingles to the point of nausea.
Why don’t you egomaniac attorneys — and you know who they are — lighten up on us a little? There’s got to be more to the legal system than constantly begging for our money. How I wish that regulation was back again.
PETER HASLEHURST
LAS VEGAS
