Marin IJ Readers’ Forum for Oct. 20, 2025

Today’s GOP needs to pick a new pachyderm

The Republican Party may want to trade in the elephant mascot it has used for so many years. In my opinion, whoever said an elephant never forgets certainly wasn’t thinking about the modern GOP.

Not long ago, Sen. Lindsey Graham promised he’d never support filling a Supreme Court seat during a president’s final year — “use my words against me,” he challenged. Four years later, those words vanished when “politics” apparently required him to help confirm President Donald Trump’s nomination right before the 2020 election.

From my perspective, the party that calls itself fiscally conservative has overseen some of the nation’s largest debt increases. Congressional Budget Office data show deficits ballooned under both parties, but especially under recent Republican administrations. Yet, it appears to me that many party officials seem to make sure that the blame always falls elsewhere.

Some representatives of the “law and order” party that once condemned the siege of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 now appear to excuse or glorify its participants. Many in the party that once championed moral integrity now seemingly look away from its leader’s felony convictions and appear to praise strongmen abroad.

Even election integrity looks to be situational in the Republican Party: Gerrymandering is seemingly OK when it helps the GOP, but not when it doesn’t.

I think leaders in the Republican Party are being hypocritical. For a movement that so often appears to wallow in contradiction, perhaps a hippopotamus mascot would be a more fitting pachyderm.

I believe America needs a conservative movement that remembers its roots: fiscal responsibility, moral consistency and respect for democracy. The GOP once stood for those things. It still could — if it chooses to remember.

— Joe Meylan, San Rafael

Paid signature gatherers not helpful to local community

At the Nostalgia Days event in Novato earlier this month, I was approached six separate times by people collecting signatures for the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit sales-tax initiative that is expected to be on the ballot in 2026. Each of them told me the petition was simply to “keep the SMART train running.” I think the truth is more nuanced: It is about extending a sales tax that funds a significant portion of SMART’s operating budget.

By using the citizen-initiative process and paying signature gatherers to qualify it for the ballot, state election rules state it can go before voters needing no more than a simple majority for approval. If SMART itself placed the measure on the ballot, it would require a two-thirds approval.

Based on what I saw, these signature gatherers weren’t local volunteers passionate about the issue; they appeared to be paid professionals. According to a report on KPBS, “In California, always a hotbed for voter initiatives, sponsors are paying up to $5.50 per signature.” That’s a lot of money. I think it explains why I was asked six times for mine at one local event.

We need to go back to the days when voters volunteered their time, set up card tables at the farmers market and engaged their neighbors in genuine conversations about local issues. When democracy starts looking more like a business transaction, it’s worth asking who really benefits.

— Mary Stompe, Novato

Firefighters union should address height of proposal

I am writing in response to the letter by Marin Professional Firefighters Union President John Bagala, who urges Fairfax residents to vote no on the proposal to recall Mayor Lisel Blash and Vice Mayor Stephanie Hellman in the Nov. 4 special election.

Bagala never mentions what I think will become the largest threat to public safety in town. I’m talking about the too-tall behemoth apartment building planned for School Street Plaza. It appears to me that the Town Council has given up trying to stop it. I want to know how members of the Ross Valley Fire Department would fight a conflagration in that structure. How will they protect or evacuate the tenants in the upper floors?

I agree with Bagala: It is an improvement that Station 21 will now be staffed with three firefighters — Hellman and Blash deserve praise as effective advocates for that. However, considering that the closest fire station does not appear to have a ladder truck tall enough, I think our representatives should fight the planned six-story structure to the very end. I think not doing so in a public manner is an irresponsible decision by elected officials.

— Hobart Bartshire, Fairfax