ER - Salzman can be trusted and respected

Salzman can be trusted and respected
9/10/2005

Dear Editor,

I was sad to read that Richard Salzman had used pen names in a few letters to our local newspaper editors. It was a mistake on Mr. Salzman’s part, but I do not for a moment consider Mr. Salzman to be caught up in a “web of lies” as the North Coast Journal’s headline asserted.

I have great respect for Mr. Salzman’s tireless work to assure that the most important issues before our voters during the past several years have gotten fair hearings.

More than any single individual on the North Coast, Mr. Salzman has been instrumental in organizing and helping fund campaigns against major attempts by corporations and individuals who wanted to buy elections and subvert the democratic process.

Mr. Salzman’s successes have infuriated those who feel entitled to control elections and government because they have the most money. This philosophy may be having some success in other parts of the country.

We all owe Mr. Salzman, along with many other concerned and hard-working individuals, a great deal of gratitude for preserving democracy in our communities against the great odds here caused by financial inequities.

Mr. Salzman’s character has been brutally attacked repeatedly on the editorial pages of two of our local newspapers. I do not condone the use of pen names in letters to the editor, but I do not condone character assassinations either.

For those of us who know Mr. Salzman, his actions are not a betrayal, as North Coast Journal Editor Judy Hodgson would have her readers believe. The darkness in our community has grown deep.

Mr. Salzman was overzealous, perhaps, but he doesn’t have to apologize to me. I know and trust his values and his commitment to the beauty of our environment, the health and prosperity of our communities and the welfare of all people within them.

Harry Blumenthal
Eureka

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