Gonzales should speak for no one

Re “The Latino factor,” Opinion, July 2

At last, our disgraced former attorney general demonstrates some support for an enlightened public policy perspective. Good for him.

Too bad his expressed good intentions and his personal credibility are irreparably undermined by his unethical and probably illegal conduct as attorney general.

Any remarks Alberto R. Gonzales makes regarding public policy issues should be evaluated in the context of his shameless embrace and promotion of the Bush administration’s potentially criminal politicization of the Justice Department.

Andrew Spathis

Los Angeles

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I was certainly hoping never to hear from Gonzales again; however, since he decided to appoint himself as some kind of a spokesman for the Latino community, I feel the former attorney general needs help on his convenient lack of recollection about some important issues that were intrinsic to his duties as the highest law enforcement official in the land.

He writes that Latinos share the common prayer, “Just give me a chance to succeed.” Does he not remember that his actions and reckless disregard for the law denied countless people the “chance to succeed”?

During his watch, the scandal of the political firing of 11 U.S. attorneys reached all the way to Congress, where Gonzales demonstrated contempt for the very laws he had taken an oath to uphold. He became an embarrassment to the entire nation. His lack of integrity hardly gives him moral authority to speak on behalf of any racial, political or religious group.

Julio Zamarripa

Long Beach