National City must return ill-gotten gains

The driving force of tax-generation has blinded National City’s Mayor Ron Morrison and city staff from seeing that questionable and illegal methods are not OK. This was rightly stated by Herman Baca and covered in La Prensa on October 30, 2009.

When National City stopped collecting the fees on business licenses, it agreed to follow the court ruling against San Diego. Now, National City must return these ill-gotten gains. I feel the City narrowly avoided a lawsuit, and if this is true, then the advice of the City Manager and City Attorney was very poor and potentially very expensive. The City of National City cannot afford any sure-losers in court, and they must be much more careful with the public’s money.

National City already has the highest sales tax in California. The brunt of this tax rests on the poorest community in San Diego County. Fees like the business license administrative tax and the housing inspection fees, which Baca is investigating, are ultimately passed on to the customer or renter. The families of National City do not need the City to hurt them anymore.

Even if it’s illegal to collect the tax, or make an unannounced rental inspection, or use public safety as a reason to increase the sales tax on everyday items, Mayor Morrison usually hides behind lame excuses and false justifications. He’s famous for them, and this is no exception. He needs the money. It’s all about the money.

Ted Godshalk
National City 

Health Care enables a just society

There are rumblings within The Catholic Church in regard to it’s position on federal funding of abortions and a government provided health care option. Several generations ago, long before Roe vs Wade, Catholic Voters were almost totally inclined toward social justice issues and were solidly Democratic. They were in essence, the religious left as opposed to the Moral Majority of the early eighties. Currently, The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is accutly aware of the consequeces of their moral dilemma. That is, it is logical and reasonable to infer that a public health care option precedes abortion in that human life issues transcend the debate. This is the moral equivalent of the chicken and the egg syndrome. Finally, to equate public health care to the free market is something like linking Social Security to an adjustable rate mortgage. Both health care and Social Security Benefits are natural and irrevocable in enabling a just society.

Daniel J. Smiechowski
San Diego