Commissioner Roxani Gillespie and Proposition 103 Rollbacks

One wonders at the mental and moral makeup of people like Gillespie, “public servants” who are placed in responsible positions to serve the public good, but instead devote their time, and our taxes, to the benefit of private interests, as illustrated by Atty. Gen. Van de Kamp’s excellent column (“A Road Map for Prop. 103 Rollbacks,” Op-Ed Page, Sept. 3).

In the wake of Ronald Reagan’s 1980s, when we are witnessing wall-to-wall scandals unfolding in our city halls, in our state capitols, in the Congress, the Pentagon--and right into the White House--we’ve learned something of the base contempt, the obscene greed, and disregard for decency which underlies the actions of those we’ve elected to enact and enforce our laws.

If, in the long run, any good at all can be said to have resulted from Commissioner Gillespie’s tenure as the insurance industry’s best friend in Sacramento, this may be that Proposition 103--drifting past her, like a faithful Voyager--has given us a close, unclouded view of how reckless and arrogant a “public servant” can be.

It takes no Nostradamus to predict that when election time rolls around next year, a host of grateful insurance companies will put on the heat to make sure Gillespie retains her post as commissioner. That failing (we devoutly pray), Gillespie will, no doubt, find a good home where she properly belongs: as an insurance industry executive. After all, as little Dorothy put it: “Home is where the heart is . . . “

Or was it: “your pocketbook?”

WILLIAM D. LANSFORD

Playa del Rey