Letters to the Editor: The felony verdict

You don’t have to be a rabid Trump supporter to find his recent felony conviction of falsifying business  records in payment of “hush” money to Stormy Daniels troubling.

A former justice department official and White House Council under two administrations, David Rivkin, Jr., and a professor of Constitutional Law at Florida International College of Law, Elizabeth Foley, both now practicing appellate and constitutional law in Washington, D.C., argue that the trial violated due process by "elevating a misdemeanor into a felony, with no evidence or proof of intent to  defraud."

Former New York Democratic Governor and Attorney General Andrew Coumo stated that such charges would have never been filed on anyone else other than Donald Trump.

Many other prominent officials and constitutional scholars have agreed. Michael W. McConnell, a professor at Stanford Law School, said the hush money payments to Ms. Daniels weren’t illegal, but the labeling of such payments as legal fees is a misdemeanor in New York, but the statue of limitations expired in 2019.

The New York District Attorney, Alvin Bragg, who  made it his mission in pursuing the case against Trump, was elected with at least the indirect largess of billionaire George Soros. Mr. Soros provided  millions to Democratic primary DA candidates who would not actively prosecute criminal cases, and reduce or eliminate cash bail.

He made a notable exception with Trump.

Vic Massara, Omaha, Neb.

Sitting on a surplus

Gov. Kim Reynolds is sitting on a $2 billion budget surplus, yet anytime something goes wrong — from the recent flooding and tornadoes, to the C6 Zero explosion in Marengo, to the building collapse in Davenport — she goes running to Washington, begging for a handout, not including the millions and millions of federal dollars that pour into Iowa to subsidize our industrialized (fake family) agriculture. Strange, isn’t it, considering she's always bad-mouthing Washington and has little or nothing to say about the matter of climate change, which is creating a host of these problems.

Jim Walters, Iowa City

Sports pics

Jamie Knapp did what Spirit Lake couldn’t when their baseball and softball teams visited last week-catch the home team in the act of base thievery. Nice pics! I noticed the boy, being from Mars, slid headfirst, barehanded, gloves sticking out of his back pocket like the handkerchief in a gentleman’s suit coat. The girl, from Venus, went feet first and wore her gloves. Actually, they’re both from Storm Lake and the bottom line was they were both “SAFE!”

Mike Wellman, Des Moines