A Celebrity Governor Is Nothing to Celebrate

Re “Schwarzenegger In, Feinstein Out,” Aug. 7: Thinking of voting for Arnold Schwarzenegger? Talk to someone from Minnesota first.

Much to most everyone’s relief here, Jesse “The Body” Ventura is no longer governor. Four years ago, a low-turnout election produced a critical mass of people who thought it would be a “neat idea” to have an entertainment celebrity governor who would tell it like it is.

What we got instead was a buffoon with a feather boa who knew absolutely nothing about running a state. He got very little done, the state’s fiscal situation is now a shambles and Minnesotans had to endure four years of listening to a narcissistic idiot talk about himself instead of about how he would make the state a better place in which to live.

A pop-culture icon is not the same thing as a populist. The latter has a vision for the people -- the former has a vision for his hairdo.

Leslie A. Loveless

St. Paul, Minn.

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I truly wish Arianna Huffington success in her bid for the Golden State’s governorship. Her columns in The Times reveal that she has a solution for any problem that this state or America faces. She is a true pundit, as defined in my Webster’s dictionary: “A person who professes to have great learning; or self-professed authority.”

Now, if Huffington is successful, the buck will stop in her office in Sacramento. She will have to prove that she is the one who is “going to take on the Bush administration and the policies that have so damaged the state,” as she has warned Schwarzenegger he would have to do if he ran.

In other words, Huffington will have to demonstrate that she is more interested in governing this state than zinging George W. Bush and promoting sales of her latest book.

W.H. Smith

Palm Desert

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Finally, an articulate, intelligent, witty and charismatic alternative to “Pigs at the Trough: How Corporate Greed and Political Corruption Are Undermining America” [Huffington’s book]. A voice for the people. Go, Arianna, go!

Dan Pellow

Los Angeles

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Schwarzenegger and political commentator Huffington entered the gubernatorial race on the same day. Who would have thought that two of the highest-profile candidates running to replace Gov. Gray Davis would have serious accents -- and neither can roll their Rs. You’ve got to love America.

Marci Rose

Simi Valley

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Let’s save a lot of time and money and just hand the governorship of the state of California to Schwarzenegger.

There is no way that a celebrity with Schwarzenegger’s name recognition, broad smile and ability to recite well-prepared scripts before television audiences can lose. This is another Ronald Reagan.

The Republicans are to be congratulated -- they have their puppet.

Martin A. Brower

Corona del Mar

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Gray, No!

Green, Si!

[Peter Miguel] Camejo in ‘03!

Bill Hunnell

Sierra Madre

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California has effectively become the first state in the country with a parliamentary government. Regularly scheduled elections now mean nothing, when anyone with $1.7 million to pay for signature collection can force a no-confidence vote by recalling a legitimately elected officeholder.

If there is a silver lining in the chaos to come, perhaps it is that the warring Republicans and Democrats will now be forced to form coalitions, rather than holding the populace hostage to extremist politics whose only goal is increased political powers.

Jack Mearns

Los Angeles

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President Bush should be recalled, not Davis. Bush refused to intervene when Enron’s profiteering sparked the energy crisis in California. His flawed economic policy, which caused the stock market to nose-dive and induced serious unemployment, has caused serious budget problems for California as well as dozens of other states. Let’s get the facts straight.

Rodney D. Sutherland

Pomona

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Now, I don’t wanna hear one more word outta ya’ll about Texas politics.

J.W. Walters

Garland, Texas