Clovis mayor’s poor leadership: Letters to the editor, Dec. 16, 2020

Clovis mayor shows poor leadership

When Clovis mayor Drew Bessinger addressed a local rally, he urged the crowd of Trump cultists and virus deniers to distrust neighbors who reach out in unity, post-election: “Remember that when these people smile and extend their hand in friendship and say, ‘We need to unite our nation. Will you join us?’ Don’t trust them.” No reasonable person advocates this dangerous nonsense, and no decent person rejects the idea of unity.

As mayor, Bessinger has no business making such appearances, not to speak of promoting open hostility among neighbors. That is not leadership—it is irresponsibility and recklessness. At the 14 Dec Council, callers spoke out against Bessinger’s behavior, asking him to apologize or resign. He did apologize—for the calls, not for his own egregious conduct.

I’ve observed the energy, effort, and excitement which Bessinger and Council members throw into designing frippery such as a city flag and a cheap and utterly useless souvenir coin. What I have not observed is equal commitment to leadership in managing the greatest public-health crisis of our lifetime.

By aligning with Trump cultists and petulantly refusing to enforce public-health guidelines, Bessinger and the Clovis City Council have abdicated leadership and compromised the health of constituents.

Time to address climate change

In the early 2000s, British Petroleum unveiled a propaganda campaign to deflect responsibility from itself as the true source of fossil fuel emissions. The question they asked was, “What is your carbon footprint?” implying that we, the public, could significantly reduce carbon emissions by making lifestyle changes. Meanwhile, the company produced close to 4 million barrels of oil a day and continued acquiring new oil and gas reserves.

While we can try to make responsible choices, our options are often limited, and only make a small impact. So, the question should be what can BP do about its carbon footprint? Oil and gas companies get enormous subsidies while profiting from spewing heat-trapping carbon emissions into our atmosphere. How can we address this?

We can support legislation that lowers emissions on a massive scale by putting fees on carbon pollution at the source — the fuel and oil companies. Numerous studies have shown that legislation like the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act will create energy options, clean our air and promote a thriving economy.

Now that we have a president who is making climate change a top priority, we must support bills that help him address this existential threat.

Bee editorial on GM sadly misguided

Your recent editorial calling for boycotting General Motors was sadly misguided. We just ended the presidency of one of the most divisive presidents in our history, and your approach would start out the new administration by throwing the first stone? It’s the Hatfields and McCoys all over again. Keep those embers burning.

Your approach would be to close down any business that has a different viewpoint than yours. Yes, get those bad guys running the company, you say. Never mind that the majority of the employees of General Motors are blue color, union-based workers. You would put them out on the street. Way to go, Fresno Bee!

Ultimately it will be the free market system that you hate that will dictate who survives. The company that produces the best and most efficient automobiles will survive. If General Motors, or any other manufacturer, fails to keep up, they will go out of business.

I can’t wait for the efficiency of electric cars to get better and the price to go down. More completion will get us there faster. Your approach of silly bickering won’t.

This story was originally published December 16, 2020 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Clovis mayor’s poor leadership: Letters to the editor, Dec. 16, 2020."