A20 EZ RE THE WASHINGTON POST.FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 6 , 2019
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR[email protected]LOCAL OPINIONSJoin the debate at washingtonpost.com/local-opinionsU
KRAINE’S NEOPHYTE president, Volod-
ymyr Zelensky, took a big step this week
toward proving that he will be, as he
promised, the most pro-reform president in
Ukraine’s history. On Monday, he laid out a breath-
takingly ambitious five-year plan including virtually
every measure the International Monetary Fund and
Western governments have urged on Ukraine in
recent years, from land reform to the privatization of
state companies to a cleansing of the judiciary.
That ought to be cause for celebration in Wash-
ington, where successive Democratic and Republi-
can administrations have tried to draw Ukraine
away from Vladimir Putin’s Russia and into the
ranks of Western democracies, only to be frustrated
by the fecklessness and corruption of the country’s
political leaders. Yet Mr. Zelensky has so far failed to
win the backing of President Trump. Not only has
Mr. Trump refused to grant the Ukrainian leader a
White House visit, but also he has suspended the
delivery of $250 million in U.S. military aid to a
country still fighting Russian aggression in its
eastern provinces.
Some suspect Mr. Trump is once again catering toMr. Putin, who is dedicated to undermining Ukrai-
nian democracy and independence. But we’re reli-
ably told that the president has a second and more
venal agenda: He is attempting to force Mr. Zel-
ensky to intervene in the 2020 U.S. presidential
election by launching an investigation of the
leading Democratic candidate, Joe Biden.
Mr. Trump is not just soliciting Ukraine’s help with
his presidential campaign; he is using U.S. military
aid the country desperately needs in an attempt to
extort it.
The strong-arming of Mr. Zelensky was openly
reported to the New York Times last month by
Mr. Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudolph W. Giuliani,
who said he had met in Madrid with a close
associate of the Ukrainian leader and urged that the
new government restart an investigation of
Mr. Biden and his son. Hunter Biden served on the
board of a Ukrainian gas company, while Joe Biden,
as vice president, urged the dismissal of Ukraine’s
top prosecutor, who investigated the firm.
Mr. Giuliani also wants a probe of claims that
revelations of payments by a Ukrainian political
party to Mr. Trump’s 2016 campaign chairman, PaulManafort, were part of a plot to wreck Mr. Trump’s
candidacy. In other words, Trump associates want
the Ukrainian government to prove that Ukraine
improperly acted against Mr. Trump in the
2016 election; but they also want it to meddle in his
favor for 2020.
Mr. Zelensky is incapable of delivering on either
demand. The revelations about Mr. Manafort came
from a Ukrainian legislator who was fighting for
domestic reform, not Hillary Clinton. And the Biden
case, which has already been investigated by
Ukrainian authorities, is bogus on its face. The
former vice president was one of a host of senior
Western officials who pressed for the dismissal of
the prosecutor, who was accused of blocking
anti-corruption measures.
The White House claims Mr. Trump suspended
Ukraine’s military aid in order for it be reviewed.
But, as CNN reported, the Pentagon has already
completed the study and recommended that the
hold be lifted. Yet Mr. Trump has not yet acted. If his
recalcitrance has a rationale, other than seeking to
compel a foreign government to aid his reelection,
the president has yet to reveal it.An invitation to interfere
The Trump team is trying to force Ukraine to meddle in the 2020 election.
Regarding the Aug. 28 Metro article “Md. study
favors new span near Bay Bridge”:
Without question, the delays to and from the
Eastern Shore are occurring earlier and lasting
longer both on weekends and weekdays. Mary-
land’s study focused on determining the impact of
a third bridge is well founded. Cars — whether
electric vehicles or self-driving cars of the future
— are not going anywhere, good, bad or other-
wise. Ultimately, an additional bridge will be
needed.
When the second Bay Bridge was completed in
1973, part of the plan was to eliminate traffic
signals on Kent Island in Queen Anne’s County,
and it made a huge difference. If a third bridge
were built, the traffic signals along U.S. Route 50from the Queenstown outlets to at least Maryland
Route 404 would need to be eliminated.
Other significant challenges remain in the
towns of Easton and Cambridge, in part because
of the size of the main routes through each town.
A “ripple effect” of a third bridge might require a
bypass in Easton and Cambridge to eliminate
traffic tie-ups for locals. We need look no further
than Salisbury to see the bypass has significantly
reduced in-town tourist traffic.
Will this be easy? Absolutely not. Is it
necessary to accommodate ever-increasing traf-
fic? Completely.
Wes Guckert, Baltimore
The writer is president and chief executive of
the Traffic Group.Why we need a new Bay Bridge
ABCDE
AN INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER
S
IX MONTHS after her husband was killed in
an unprovoked shooting — allegedly by a man
who had killed before — Nafisa Hoodbhoy is
not waiting for anyone to deliver justice.
“There is no such thing as justice,” she told us. “He will
never come back.” What Ms. Hoodbhoy does have a
right to expect is answers from the D.C. government
about its handling of this disturbing case. The public
is entitled to that, too — and to know whether
government incompetence is putting other people at
risk.
The March shooting of Javed Bhutto, 63, a care-
giver to mentally disabled adults, is described in an
unnerving account by The Post’s Paul Duggan. The
article lays out how Hilman Jordan, the man accused
of killing Bhutto, had killed another man in an eerily
similar attack in 1998. How he was found not guilty by
reason of insanity and spent 17 years in St. ElizabethsHospital before he was deemed safe to be released to
the community. How he was supposed to have been
monitored closely. How neighbors, including
Ms. Hoodbhoy and Bhutto, were never told of his
history. How there were clear warning signs of
problems — including chronic drug use — that seem
to have been overlooked or ignored.
“Someone didn’t do their job, obviously. Someone
who should have been watching this insane murderer
didn’t do their job,” said Ms. Hoodbhoy. D.C. Superior
Court Judge Milton C. Lee Jr. apparently agreed,
refusing at a June hearing to return Mr. Jordan to
St. Elizabeths, run by the city’s Department of Behav-
ioral Health, and jailing him instead. “I have no faith
whatsoever,” he told Mr. Jordan, that the agency and
hospital “will do what is necessary to keep you
consistent with your treatment and to monitor you in
a way that will protect the community.”Wayne Turnage, deputy mayor for health and hu-
man services, acknowledged to us that the “optics” of
the city’s handling of this case are not good, but he said
that until all the facts are known from an ongoing
internal review, it is premature to make any kind of
judgment. He said results of that review are expected
next week. It is critical to determine if mistakes were
made. If so, what is being done to hold those at fault to
account and, more important, to ensure there is no
recurrence? Having recently discovered that the fail-
ure of two other government agencies to do their jobs
— the Department of Consumer and Regulatory
Affairs and the fire department — resulted in the
deaths of two people in a fire at an illegal boarding
house, we urge Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) to take a
good, hard look at all parts of the government to
determine if there are other tragedies in the making
that demand attention and action.Insanity
Did D.C. government missteps allow a killer to kill again?
T
HE SPARK for Walmart’s action is terrible:
deadly shootings at two of its stores this
summer, with 24 people slaughtered. None-
theless, the giant retailer’s realization that
“the status quo is unacceptable” should be ap-
plauded. Walmart will change its gun policies,
ending the sale of ammunition that can be used in
military-style assault rifles. By acknowledging it
has a role in helping to make the country safer,
Walmart hopefully sets an example that other
companies — not to mention Congress — will
follow.
Walmart on Tuesday waded full-stream into the
national gun debate with its unexpected announce-
ment that it will no longer sell certain kinds of
ammunition, will completely end the sale of
handguns and will prohibit customers from openly
carrying guns in its stores, even where doing so is
permitted by law. Walmart already had stopped
selling assault-style weapons and had imposed age
limits and background checks on gun sales that
were stricter than federal law.
Tuesday’s announcement — notably its call to
Congress to increase background checks and
consider a new ban on assault weapons — showed a
bold willingness to take a lead on this fraught issue.
That Kroger quickly joined Walmart in asking
customers not to openly carry guns in its stores and
also called for stricter background checks under-
scored the importance of the country’s largest
employer paving the way.
Walmart’s stance is in keeping with public
opinion polls that consistently show widespread
support for sensible gun-control measures. The
gun-control movement tragically gathers new
support and strength each time there is a mass
shooting that affects yet another community.
Walmart chief executive Doug McMillon said the
company’s new policies were based on weeks of
research and discussions that followed the Julyshooting at a Walmart in Mississippi in which two
people were killed and the August massacre at a
store in El Paso in which 22 people were killed. “It is
extremely hard not to take action when people are
dying at one of your stores,” an executive of a
nonprofit that advocates social responsibility in
business told the New York Times.
No doubt, as some critics have pointed out,
Walmart’s evolution on gun sales might be tied toother motives, such as new emphasis in building
online markets in East and West Coast cities and
suburbs where gun sales are not key and the
clientele is more liberal. But if, indeed, Walmart
has determined that guns and the violence that
accompanies them are bad for business, so much
the better. We hope Republicans in Congress who
refuse to wake up to the need for gun reform find
their stance is bad for business, too.Rolling back
gun availability
Walmart is acting to curb violence.
When will Congress?ABCDE
FREDERICK J. RYAN JR., Publisher and Chief Executive Officer
News pages: Editorial and opinion pages:
MARTIN BARON FRED HIATT
Executive Editor Editorial Page Editor
CAMERON BARR JACKSON DIEHL
Managing Editor Deputy Editorial Page Editor
EMILIO GARCIA-RUIZ RUTH MARCUS
Managing Editor Deputy Editorial Page Editor
TRACY GRANT JO-ANN ARMAO
Managing Editor Associate Editorial Page Editor
SCOTT VANCE
Deputy Managing Editor
BARBARA VOBEJDA
Deputy Managing Editor
Vice Presidents:
JAMES W. COLEY JR. ..................................................................................... Production
L. WAYNE CONNELL..........................................................................Human Resources
KATE M. DAVEY .................................................................................. Revenue Strategy
ELIZABETH H. DIAZ ................................................. Audience Development & Insights
GREGG J. FERNANDES........................................................Customer Care & Logistics
STEPHEN P. GIBSON...................................................................Finance & Operations
SCOT GILLESPIE .......................................................................................... Engineering
KRISTINE CORATTI KELLY...................................................Communications & Events
JOHN B. KENNEDY.................................................................General Counsel & Labor
MIKI TOLIVER KING........................................................................................Marketing
KAT DOWNS MULDER........................................................................Product & Design
SHAILESH PRAKASH...............................Digital Product Development & Engineering
JOY ROBINS ........................................................................................... Client SolutionsThe Washington Post
1301 K St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20071 (202) 334-I was grateful for the Aug. 31 front-page article
“How VA failed to stop an intoxicated doctor,” an
in-depth, horrific story on Veterans Affairs patholo-
gist Robert Morris Levy, but I was upset at the lack
of context for the first official quote, from Veterans
Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie: “It’s hard to
fathom how a physician sworn to do no harm could
be so reckless, and the fact that his behavior
continued for some time is testament to his
shameless duplicity.” Alcoholism is a disease. When
will the medical community recognize that most
addicts have no idea what they are doing?
The hospital’s chief physician began hearing
complaints in 2012 “that Levy was showing up to
the lab drunk.” In 2015, an employee reported him
to supervisors as intoxicated. But “Levy denied the
allegation to a panel of hospital medical staff....
No further action was taken.” How could medical
professionals believe an alcoholic who said he had
not been drunk?
As with other medical issues, such as dementia
and psychosis, it’s impossible to create objective
guidelines for determining the point at which a
professional can no longer do his or her job.
Because it took me years dealing with several
close family members to tell when their social
drinking became a serious problem, I believe
oversight committees need to include experts on
addiction.
Mary Carpenter, WashingtonIn need of addiction experts
Eve Fairbanks’s Sept. 1 Outlook essay on the
South’s antebellum rhetoric following the Civil War,
“The ‘reasonable’ rebels,” brought to mind the
rhetorical logic used to defend unfettered gun
ownership in the United States. “It’s not guns that
kill people; it’s the people behind the guns.” And “If
we ban or control gun ownership, only outlaws will
have guns.” Pure nonsense. Easy access to guns just
makes gun violence more likely.
The analogy of regulation around cars is apt. Car
ownership is not denied to reasonable people, but
everyone who drives has to be licensed and wear seat
belts. Not everyone obeys these rules, but thousands
of lives are saved every year thanks to those who do.
Furthermore, the gun-carrying public is helpless
to prevent mass murders by determined killers, as
we saw in El Paso and again in Odessa, Tex., where
many lives were lost in 30 seconds before anyone —
even armed officers — could subdue the shooters.
Easy access to more guns is not the answer. The
answer is reasonable restrictions on who can own
guns and what sort of guns we can own.
Michael Gladish, MitchellvilleGun restriction needed
David Von Drehle’s Sept. 1 op-ed, “Labor needs a
better ground game,” called for unions to see
themselves as partners with employers — a two-step
dance that starts on the wrong foot with the second
step. A brief look at Wikipedia on the list of AFL-CIO
affiliated and nonaffiliated unions reveals about
60 affiliated and 10 unaffiliated unions. With a
dance card like that, employers might be confused
about whom to dance with, if they dance at all.
A better game plan would be for all 70 union
leaders to go into a room with a chimney, lock the
door and discuss until they agree to release five puffs
of white smoke, signaling that they agreed to merge
into five large, strong unions.
Those leaders are smart enough to figure out the
details and put labor on the path to the best game
plan.
No one wants to pay to watch a losing sports team.
But they will pay premium prices to join a winning
team.
Victor Ciuccio, BethesdaDavid Von Drehle was partially correct regard-
ing increased interest in union membership. If more
unions were like the International Brotherhood of
Electrical Workers union, which operates a highly
regarded apprentice training program that turns out
certified journeyman electricians after “years of
supervised training and instruction,” union mem-
bership would no doubt be a lot higher than it is now.
Compare IBEW with the United Auto Workers
union, which has repeatedly failed to unionize
Southern automobile assembly and parts plants
over several years. In the case of the UAW, nonunion
workers in these plants have repeatedly shown that
they figure that they have a lot more to lose in voting
in a national union than they could ever gain in
increased benefits and job security.
Lawrence G. Karch, GainesvilleI agree with Steven Greenhouse’s analysis in
his Sept. 1 Outlook essay, “Republicans pushed laws
to gut unions. That could win them the election, too.,”
about how unions have lost political power because of
the failure of the Democratic Party to support them,
but his analysis should have pointed out that unions
have hurt themselves by not supporting Democratic
candidates who would have supported them. When I
ran for Maryland delegate as a Democrat in 2014, I
was stunned while meeting with local union leaders
to learn that they were more interested in my NRA
rating (D) than my pro-union support.
My father, two grandfathers and five uncles had
been union members, so I knew the benefits that
union membership offered and strongly supported
them. Union officials expressed concern that I would
take away their guns, which I did not advocate.
Instead, they supported my opponent, an incumbent
Republican, who had repeatedly submitted right-
to-work legislation in the General Assembly but had
an NRA rating of A. Not surprisingly, I lost. Unions
even failed to support one of their own union officers
running for office in a neighboring county.
So, Mr. Greenhouse was right in saying that
Democrats’ failure to support unions has hurt their
political clout, but unions’ failure to support Demo-
cratic candidates has, in turn, not only lessened the
political clout of the Democratic Party in key states
but also resulted in a decline in their own status,
membership and negotiating leverage.
Len Zuza, SolomonsThe state of the unions
EDITORIALSTOM TOLESCORRECTIONThe Sept. 4 editorial “Do something, Mr. McCon-
nell” misspelled the names of two victims of the
Dec. 14, 2012, shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary
School in Newtown, Conn. The correct names are
Dawn Hochsprung and Ana G. Marquez-Greene.