Proposition-50 is pure folly for South Lake Tahoe

The Democrats have put partisan politics above the interests of those who live here in South Lake Tahoe. Prop 50 will segregate El Dorado County and South Lake Tahoe from the other Sierra Counties which have similar interests and issues.

We already suffer from being alienated from our County Seat by the Sierra Mountains. This will further isolate us from financial, political support and other resources vital to our economy and make us subject to the whims of Sacramento, which will dominate our district and hardly notices we exist.

The feud between Newsom and Trump is not of our doing, yet we are destined to suffer the consequences of these irresponsible, childish antics should Proposition-50 pass.

I hope the voters of South Lake Tahoe will see through this non-sense and vote against unethical political practices such as this.

John Messina
South Lake Tahoe

Dear Editor,

I’m afraid Ted Gaines is being very disingenuous regarding Proposition 50.

He claims Trump had nothing to do with Texas’s (and Missouri’s and North Carolina’s) power grabs to disenfranchise Democrats by off-Census year redistricting. Even Trump admits it; he boasts about it.

Methinks Mister Gaines is really shocked that California is fighting fire with fire, not just outrage.

Frank Riley
South Lake Tahoe

Is this what you voted for?

The recent actions of the Trump administration are out of control. It is time for anyone who cares about the future of our country to speak up to challenge his authoritarian actions which include:
• Knocking down the East wing of the Whitehouse to build a $350 million ballroom without any authorization.
• Shooting boats out of international waters without giving evidence that they are smuggling drugs.
• Installing a pro-Trump, unqualified press corps in the Pentagon.
• Moving an aircraft carrier out of the Mediterranean Sea where it is protecting our Nato allies from Russia attacks on Ukraine and hostilities in the Middle East so it can be in the Caribbean increasing aggressions against Venezuela.
• Allowing Mike Johnson to refuse to call congress into session, thus not swearing in Adelita Grijalva, an Arizona Congressperson who was fairly elected to fill a vacant seat on September 23, 2025, a seat that has been vacant since March 13, 2025. (Probably because he knows that she will be the final signature to release the Epstein files.)
• Refusing to negotiate with Congress to end the Republican government shutdown. The House of Representatives has only been in session 8 days since July 7th, yet they are being paid.
• Asking the government to reimburse him $230 million dollars for his personal legal expenses.

Yet the government shutdown continues. 1.4 million federal workers are not being paid. On November 1, many of our citizens will lose food assistance (this affects 40 million Americans) and their health insurance costs will skyrocket if they are not eliminated. Meanwhile, Trump is in Malaysia with no interest for the average American he is supposed to be looking out for. His election promises to make life more affordable, unfulfilled.

This must stop to save our country as we know it. Vote YES on Prop 50 to help restore oversight to an out-of-control administration. We need to elect a democratic Congress in 2026 to ensure there are checks and balances on the out-of-control executive and legislative branches of our government.

Susan Chandler
South Lake Tahoe

Dear Editor,

I would love to say I am surprised by the recent move of the remaining city council members putting Cody Bass in charge as Mayor but it is so typical of them.

They are not looking out for locals which is demonstrated in their refusal to appeal for Measure T being overturned and their continuous support of the new Recreation Center which will cost over $3,000,000 yearly for a total in 30 years of $102,000,000, yes that is a hundred million dollars!

So of course lets put the guy who in the past few years has been arrested for DUI, caught not paying income taxes some years and filing false income taxes for 2 other years–fined $5000 by court and ordered to pay about $136,000 in back taxes, and recently was ARRESTED at the Aleworx at 1 a.m. for an incident of harassment and aggressive behavior threatening staff. And this after he had been banned from going there by their management.

This is the person you want responsible for South Lake Tahoe leadership. How much bad judgment do we have to take in one year?? Apparently no limit to how low they can go.

Steve Rose
South Lake Tahoe