We must find an alternative to Medicare

(PNI) To all you folks out there that keep saying, "Leave Medicare alone": That is not an option.

The country made a mistake with this program many years ago and we cannot support it in its current form. Open your minds to alternatives.

--Dominic Foanio, Gilbert

Benson followed herd on Biden

I either laugh at Benson's cartoons or ignore them. Either way, I respected his cleverness. But his Aug. 17 cartoon on Vice President Joe Biden was disappointing.

Benson is usually creative. It was sad to see him following the media script that the vice president's recent comment about chains was anything more than a simple play on words.

--Dwight Snider, San Tan Valley

Obama should leave Biden behind

Can Barack Obama afford to have Vice President Joe Biden as a running mate in 2012?

Joe Biden is a nice, likable person but is not an asset to the Democratic Party. He continues to put his foot in his mouth and recently offended the party's constituents in Virginia.

If you are politically minded you could envision pressure forcing Joe Biden to resign his position and return to private life. This would allow the president to pick a stronger running mate and improve his chances of re-election.

It's just a thought from someone who spent 10 years in Washington, D.C., observing the clowns.

--Dess Chappelear, Sun City West

Pension reform is all about math

Regarding "Cutting pension benefits for state workers a misguided idea driven by greed," (Letters, Tuesday):

The letter writer takes issue withRepublic columnist Robert Robb's prescription for strengthening the state's public pension system.

Arizona's largest pension plan has half the amount of assets that it needs to fulfill its obligations to current state workers and retirees. While this is a sobering statistic, Arizona has time to emerge from its $37billion hole and avoid the fate of European Union nations buried under unsustainable pension and entitlement programs.

This means we have to stop making the same unfulfillable retirement promises to new hires and younger members of the current state workforce.

Finding a path to transition workers to a 401(k)-style plan will prevent the predictable scenario where spending on pensions crowds out spending on education and public safety, leads to tax increases, or, if we kick the can far enough down the road, Arizona defaults on benefit payments to the next generation of retirees.

It's not, as the letter writer asserts, greed that drives those who seek to prevent this devastating scenario; it's math.

--Chris McIsaac, Phoenix

The writer is the research director for the Arizona Chamber Foundation and the author of the paper"Pension Tension: Understanding Arizona's Public Employee Retirement Plans."

Voters, remember what Joe forgot

Joe Arpaio's commercials proclaim him to be the biggest protector of children because he goes after deadbeat dads.

It's a shame he didn't take the same stand when his department fell down on the job in investigating dozens of sex-crimes cases, most of them involving children, in El Mirage. That sure doesn't sound like he's doing much to defend children.

And before anyone tries to defend him, please remember, he not only isn't contesting these accusations, he isn't even contesting the numbers. And we all heard his apology to the victims "if there were any" (his words not mine).

It scares me that people will still vote for him. Voters, please remember him ignoring over 400 sexual assaults when you vote for Maricopa County sheriff. Please.

--Tim Hunt, Phoenix

Who should sheriff be targeting?

It is curious that Sheriff Joe Arpaio is being accused of racial profiling primarily on the basis that the majority of illegal immigrants being arrested are Mexicans.

According to the American Immigration Council, an advocacy group for Latinos, roughly 70 percent of illegal immigrants applying for legal residency under the new Obama executive order are in fact from Mexico. So exactly who should Sheriff Arpaio be looking for?

--R. Peters, Phoenix

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Romney Might Be Ideal Alternative for Calif. Democrats Tired of Obama (ContributorNetwork)

COMMENTARY | Former Massachusetts governor and G.O.P. hopeful Mitt Romney launched a short private event tour in California Tuesday. According to the Associated Press, Romney started his trip at a hotel in Sacramento, where co-hosts of a private event were asked to raise at least $10,000. In 2008, Romney, who owns a beach home in San Diego, raised over $8 million from supporters in the Golden State -- more than from any other state -- and he hopes to capitalize on that again. He's going to have to if he wants to win the White House during an election year where the sitting president is expected to spend $1 billion.

Romney also has stopovers planned in Beverly Hills and San Francisco, all events private, with names on the invitation list including people like long-time friend Meg Whitman, former CEO of Ebay and recent gubernatorial candidate, as well as billionaire George Argyros, reports The Daily Beast. Whitman is helping the former governor with his national fundraising drive.

Romney should do well in California, a state that typically leans left but which maintains Republican hot zones such as San Diego County. In 1980, Democrats frustrated with President Carter banded together for former Republican governor Ronald Reagan, and many feel that it was the effort of the "Reagan Democrats" that pushed him over the top, compelling him to the White House, reports the Washington Post.

As the most moderate candidate running so far in the wide field for the GOP campaign, Romney will likely pick up typically Democratic votes from those less than eager to re-elect lackluster President Obama. In fact, because Christian conservatives who make up a large and noisy voting block are unlikely to support a Mormon for the White House, Romney has to pick up Democratic support to stem the tide. Romney, like John Kennedy in 1960, has repeatedly stated that his religion won't be a factor in his decision making.

Romney's biggest recommendation to California Democrats might be, however, that he successfully governed very Democratic Massachusetts, the first state to allow same-sex marriage, though Romney is himself, against it. Same-sex marriage is an issue dear to most California Democrats, and the Massachusetts stance may provide cover for the less accepting Romney. Massachusetts residents also enjoy a successful universal health coverage program. Health care is President Obama's Achilles heel; Romney has a leg up on the issue, at least among Democrats.

Possibly signaling to Democrats that he is interested in their vote, Romney recently refused to take the "pro-life pledge" that most others seeking the G.O.P nomination have taken, assuring voters that if elected president they would only appoint pro-life judges. Romney has said that he is against abortion and but also supports a woman's "right to choose." He has taken a different position since, saying that he's changed his mind, but overall, he is simply not a hardliner.

Romney may become the nominee to his party, but because he doesn't take the hard line on social issues that others in his party are taking, the more moderate Republican is going to have to cross party lines if he wants to be president of the United States. California, the largest state in the union, might just be a good place to start. There is a sense among some Democrats, including this one, that the current president is ineffectual and that with the absence of a challenge for the Democratic primary, we have to make a change; from a field of scary options, Mitt Romney is possibly the least scary of them all.

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