Pilot makes light of a serious...

Pilot makes light of a serious campaign violation

Regarding late campaign phone messages (“Consultant cops to phony

phone message,” Thursday), once again I find the Daily Pilot has

reported very poorly on what should be considered a serious campaign

violation.

Again, the Pilot makes the issue of criminal fraud look like a

schoolboy prank. I don’t really think this is very funny; I think

it’s pretty serious.

Dave Ellis has pulled this same tactic before. Frankly, there

wasn’t an overwhelming win by Councilman Gary Adams, who I personally

think is the worst person on the City Council. It was 53%; that’s not

to me an overwhelming win. This, what appears to look like a prank in

the Pilot, is to my mind, criminal.

Some of the other things in the way it was written really passed a

poor light on the candidate, who’s not the culprit here. It makes the

culprit look like the good guy, the way the article’s written. The

comment, “Taylor, who was once an ally with Ellis in the fight for an

El Toro airport” makes Rick Taylor look like he was the hanger-on.

Ellis, to my knowledge, isn’t even involved with the Airport

Working Group anymore. Taylor donated more than eight years of his

time on that. Ellis was paid and, I far as I know, Ellis is no longer

paid by the Airport Working Group. Taylor is not the hanger-on with

that group; Ellis was.

I just think it was done very poorly. I think the Pilot needs to

be more conscious of good reporting skills and objective reporting

techniques.

JEANNE PRICE

Newport Beach

Columnist’s take on trustee Leece is right on the money

Concerning Steve Smith’s column in the Nov. 16 paper (Family Time

-- “Some of us will miss Leece”) about Wendy Leece: bravo, well

written, well said, good points and I totally agree.

JENNIFER BRADSHAW

Newport Beach

Costa Mesa football league title was underplayed

I was reading the Daily Pilot today, as I do every morning, and

about a week or so ago you had an article about how you feature the

different schools in sports according to how well they do in sports.

Stating that Newport Harbor and Corona del Mar have always produced

more champions, that’s why they’re featured more in the paper.

Well, the Nov. 15 paper shows that Costa Mesa clinched their

Golden West League Championship with their game Friday night

(“Thundering herd rips Saddleback”). They are featured on the second

page of your sports section, while Newport Harbor, who lost their

game that night and are in a three-way tie for second place, is

featured on the first page of your sports section with two large

pictures, half of the page going onto a third page with another

photograph. So obviously, your contention that you feature only

winners is not true. Very disappointed in you.

CYNTHIA CULP

Costa Mesa

Dock workers’ strike won’t affect stock at Toy Boat stores

I don’t think any dock strike will stop Toy Boat in their

magnificent store (In Business, “Holiday stock held up in port,”

Monday).

However, I must make a correction -- there are three stores for

Toy Boat, not just two. They have a beautiful new store at Newport

Coast. For impeccable service and quality, this is the place to go.

SANDRA BASMACIYAN

Corona del Mar