Goldstein, sign here and be quiet

TO Patrick Goldstein: I saw your open letter to Writers Guild West President Patric Verrone [“Do the Right Thing, WGA,” Jan. 22], and it gave me a great idea that will save you a lot of time and trouble in the future. The next time your contract with the L.A. Times is up, we will have Gil Cates negotiate your deal. He won’t ask you what you’re expecting or hoping for or anything, he’ll just pick a number that you should work for every day for the next three years or more.

And if it turns out that Gil Cates is hopelessly in bed with management and hands you a number far below what you think you deserve . . . well, we don’t want to hear a lot of complaining, Patrick. Just sign the deal and get back to work.

You might find all this to be a gross violation of your rights to negotiate for yourself, but the right of L.A. Times readers to read your column supersedes your right to ask for what you consider to be fair value for your work. Some things are too important to mess with. The Calendar section without your column would be like a year without the Grammy Awards. I just don’t want to think about it.

Jon Vitti

Pacific Palisades