Mailbag: It’s better to know council candidates’ party affiliation

“Mailbag: Stop partisan city politics,” (Oct. 7) makes an interesting point about not wanting to know candidates’ political parties. The implication is that there is something untoward about such knowledge.

On the contrary, local elections ought to be transparent. Constitution and common sense suggest that anyone can exercise freedom of speech to declare his political party. This sounds like complete disclosure to me.

What if John F. Kennedy had cautioned candidates in Massachusetts that he did not want to know their political parties? What if Abraham Lincoln had cautioned candidates in Illinois that he did not want to know their political parties?

Al Wonders

Newport Beach

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Let the buses get a little dirty

It makes me angry to see total disregard for water conservation.

Most of us know about the need to conserve water, so why does the Orange County Transportation Authority have the shiniest, cleanest buses on the road? We’re all in this together, but OCTA obviously opted out.

Jo Carol Hunter

Newport Beach

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Endorsement and contracting woes

I don’t subscribe to or read the Orange County Register, but I’ve heard that the newspaper has endorsed Mayor Jim Righeimer for reelection to the Costa Mesa City Council.

Then I read an article in the Los Angeles Times that detailed the Register’s change of delivery services from the L.A. Times, which it has used since 2009, to another company (“Orange County Register’s missed deliveries are firm’s latest stumble,” Oct. 6). The article said the Register had stopped paying The Times for deliveries and now owes it $3.5 million in back payments.

According to The Times’ article, the Register’s new contractor was to start delivering papers on a recent Saturday, but “thousands [of subscribers] didn’t get their paper on Sunday,” and some still hadn’t received one by Monday.

In this context, I couldn’t help but think of the controversy over whether outside contractors — a concept supported by Righeimer — would perform city services as well as city employees. In reconciling all this with the Register’s support of Righeimer, I can’t help thinking of the old saying that “birds of a feather flock together.”

Perry Valantine

Costa Mesa