Proposed prosecutors commission not about justice
The United States is a democratic republic with a constitution guaranteeing justice for all. Georgia’s Senate Bill 92 and House Bill 231 would create a commission to discipline and even fire local prosecutors.
The proposed Prosecuting Attorneys Qualifications Commission could “discipline, remove, and cause involuntary retirement of appointed or elected district attorneys or solicitors-general” for “mental or physical incapacity,” “willful misconduct in office,” or “willful and persistent failure to carry out duties.”
The commission of gubernatorial and legislative appointees would be partisan, so it could pick which cases and/or prosecutors to dismiss. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’s case involving Donald Trump is probably their first termination.
Prosecutors charge suspects after looking at proof of a crime. Taking away their evidence-based decisions will remove prosecutions, so some criminals will go free. This is not justice. This is not what democracy looks like.
KATHARINE PANZELLA, POWDER SPRINGS
Expanding electrical grid with clean energy will lower costs
Cartoonist Michael Ramirez’s painted assertions on March 7 imply energy costs rise from solar/wind projects expanding the electrical grid. Recent research (e.g., energy policy at the University of Chicago) indicates the opposite.
Instead of increasing consumer energy costs, expansion of the grids will benefit homeowners’ energy budgets. Since using fossil fuels increases excess greenhouse emissions, which cause costly climate damage, it only makes sense that we create new jobs that expand electrical grids. That will ease the transition of utilities to cleaner power sources and help meet the greenhouse reduction goals of the Inflation Reduction Act.
Currently, it takes an average of 4.5 years for federal agencies to complete environmental impact studies of energy projects. We need to speed up the process but preserve their quality. What do we need now? The political will of both chambers to vote for a permitting reform bill that will usher in a cheaper, cleaner energy future. Ask Congress to support it.
BOB JAMES, ATLANTA
