Sen. John Lewis and the AQMD

Sen. John Lewis hit the nail on the head when he said that the Air Quality Management District (AQMD) pro-business rhetoric is just hot air (Orange County Voices, Aug. 14). I testified before the Special Commission on Air Quality and the Economy and I know now what a waste of my time it was. The AQMD Governing Board, with three exceptions, knew all along that the commission was “eyewash” and the powers to be in the AQMD were not going to do anything to change their plan to run most business out of California.

AQMD Executive Officer James Lents said that small businesses are not in fear of the AQMD. I don’t know who he has been talking to; I know dozens of business owners that think the AQMD is worse than the Russian KGB ever thought of being.

We need the people of Southern California to wake up and see what the AQMD is doing to jobs here. The AQMD costs each family in this area $2,200 per year. That’s a lot of money, and what are we getting for it? Clean air? No! More and more unemployment. The AQMD is cleaning up the air by cleaning out the jobs.

JIM MORRISSEY, Anaheim