Candidate Guarino

Your editorial of April 14 (“Two City Races, One Endorsement”) disserves the interests of the voters in several respects. It confuses the Ethics Commission’s recent findings of impropriety with (City Atty.) James Hahn’s own self-serving response to the commission’s report. Nowhere does that report make reference to me or to misuse by me of city telephones, because the commission has never engaged in any “probe” of these totally unsupported allegations.

The reference comes from Hahn’s letter in which he rejects the Ethics Commission’s determination that his political appointees had flagrantly used city time and equipment for partisan activities. In an attack worthy of Captain Queeg, Hahn excoriated everyone critical of his administration as “hostile,” “angry” or “disgruntled.” Worse, however, Hahn exploited the situation for his own political advantage by publicizing accusations he knows to be unfounded and promoting a gross distortion of the truth by withholding critical facts.

This insidious attack on my reputation and hard-working dedication represents the worst kind of abuse of public trust--manipulating the prerogatives of office to thwart a political enemy. Hahn knows that my telephone calls related solely to city business, specifically the Juanita St. John and Harold Washington prosecutions. After I announced my intention to challenge him for office, he referred the matter to the district attorney for “investigation.”

If The Times really wants clean government, then it should determine the truth of politically suspect charges before declining any endorsement. A candidate campaigning entirely without financial backing depends upon the independence of the press to assess all the relevant facts.

MICHAEL GUARINO

Candidate for City Attorney