Free to Flout the Law

While it’s certainly no relief to those of us who aren’t “members of the club” and who must, consequently, pay when we break the law, it certainly must be reassuring to the “good ol’ boys and girls” of San Diego to learn that its “generous” and “popular” Police Chief Bill Kolender can flout the law for himself and for them with impunity. He certainly has supportive buddies in John Lockwood, our city manager who had the opportunity to review and punish (with a slap on the wrist) Kolender’s conduct, and our mayor, Maureen O’Connor, who praises Lockwood for the “strength” he has shown in his near-total whitewash of Kolender.

The investigation among officialdom in “America’s Finest City” is evidently exceeded today only by President Reagan’s escapades at a national level. And these matters, at both levels, appear to have been going on for years and years and might well have continued without exposure to public scrutiny had it not been for the sense of responsibility and the reportorial quality of The Los Angeles Times in bringing them to our attention.

JACK F. LITTLE

San Diego