Judge’s response was honest, correct

Nevada’s appointed senator, Dean Heller, displays his lack of knowledge about how our legal system works when he continues to block the nomination of the highly qualified District Judge Elissa Cadish to the federal bench.

Sen. Heller disapproves of Judge Cadish’s honest and correct response to a 2008 questionnaire in which she said there was no constitutional right to gun ownership. At that time, prevailing U.S. Supreme Court decisions said just that. A judge has a duty to comply with those decisions.

It was only because lower court judges honored Supreme Court precedent that the recent Washington, D.C., gun case was allowed to reach the high court, where that precedent was reversed.

So today, the right to gun ownership is indeed a constitutional right, as Judge Cadish has acknowledged.

Her opinions are based on an understanding of our judicial system. Rather than constituting a flip-flop, they reflect an understanding of how our Constitution must be interpreted.

Sen. Heller should admit he was wrong and stop blocking the nomination of this highly qualified judge.

Mel Lipman

Las Vegas

Teacher’s perspective

To the editor:

Having read the editorials and Clark County School District press releases about the budget and arbitration issue, I feet compelled to add a teacher’s perspective.

I am passionately dedicated to my profession and my students. I am acutely aware, however, that most teachers are not able to work without regard to their own family needs and financial obligations. I am afraid it is not enough to pat us on our backs and tell us we are doing great work while expecting us to accept falling farther behind financially.

No one who has any real idea of how school funding works blames the district for hoarding money or just refusing to pay us what we’re due. But many of us believe that the district has not fought hard enough for state funding, nor has it mounted a real public campaign to support the money we spend on teachers. The district has seemed too eager to agree that many teachers are not doing their jobs properly, and that our energies must be devoted to rooting out these slackers, rather than supporting those who are maintaining professional standards and doing their best to advance achievement.

Every biennium for years, we have been told to suck it up and get along with the same or less. It seems to me that the longer we accept fewer resources and increased responsibility and accountability, the longer the state will continue to assume that we can do more with less. I want to do my share. In fact, I believe that in the 14 years I have been teaching in this district, I have more than met my responsibilities. Yet I have lost ground to inflation and budget cuts, having received only two real raises in that period. And this was during the so-called “good times.”

How long can young families and those who are on the verge of retirement put up with a continual loss of income? How long will the best mid-career teachers continue to choose teaching as a career? Not to mention the loss of morale caused by our vilification in the press and the implication that we are unwilling to “do our part” — as the other employee groups are doing.

Our great fear is that if we freeze our step increases, this will be the first step toward losing them altogether. Since we receive very few raises from the state, step increases are the only way we have of getting ahead. It is not that we are unwilling to do our part. We feel we are doing our part. When will the rest of our community do theirs?

Cynthia McCoy

Las Vegas

Reid’s folly

To the editor:

I read with amusement the Wednesday commentary on the California high-speed rail proposal, as I lived in California for a few months shy of 40 years. I fondly remember the pros and cons of this debacle from the start.

Is anyone really surprised how the cost estimates have soared? They will continue to soar, if it ever gets built.

Well, Las Vegas, get ready, because this is just a preview of Harry Reid’s folly from Las Vegas to Victorville.

Wait. Maybe Sen. Reid has something here. I’ll invest in a car-rental agency in Victorville. I should be able to rent out one or two cars a week, if I’m lucky. Thanks for the idea, senator.

Jim Kiester

Las Vegas