A little humor on a serious subject

Letter to the Editor, The Benicia Herald
[Benicia Herald letters to the editor only appear in the print edition.  – RS]

A little humor on a serious subject

By Roger Straw, December 9, 2014

I got a big laugh out of the letter by my friend Jim Kirchhoffer, “The Mayor is at it again,” which appeared in last Friday’s Benicia Herald.  Great spoof, and a wonderful lightening of the controversy over questions raised by Council members and the City Attorney resulting in allegations of Mayoral bias.

I was surprised, however, and somewhat horrified to discover that at least one very intelligent friend of mine didn’t find any humor or “tongue in cheek” in Mr. Kirchhoffer’s letter.  I scratched my head and wondered why?

As a possible explanation, consider this: here in Benicia, we’ve been through four and a half years of continually repeated public attacks on Mayor Patterson by a local right-wing gadfly.  Jim Kirchhoffer’s light-hearted spoof must have seemed to some Benicians like just another malicious rant.

Many thanks to Mr. Kirchhoffer for his gift of a touch of humor and for his injection of a lighter note into the current controversies.  The point behind his satire is serious and well-taken: that our elected officials should be free to express themselves on current matters having to do with public health and safety, to exercise their expertise and competence on behalf of the public welfare, and to provide the public with information on a wide range of topics via email and other forms of communication.

Roger Straw, Benicia