Bee readers react to McClatchy decision to stop running political cartoons | Opinion

To our readers: Because of changing reader habits, McClatchy will cease publishing daily opinion cartoons beginning this month. We have long been proud to publish the work of Sacramento’s Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist Jack Ohman, who has provided readers with sharp, artful and insightful commentary that holds officials and institutions accountable. He has been a valued voice and leader on our editorial board.

Local opinion journalism remains core to McClatchy’s mission and success. We are committed to elevating strong voices who bring deeply reported, urgent local opinion journalism to our readers.

Peter St. Onge, McClatchy Opinion Editor

Ohman’s talent will be missed

“Jack Ohman Editorial Cartoons | The Sacramento Bee,” (sacbee.com)

In addition to Ohman, the McClatchy Company also fired fellow Pulitzer Prize editorial cartoonists Joel Pett of the Lexington Herald-Leader and Kevin Siers of the Charlotte Observer.

Though the golden age of editorial cartooning has passed, I was really hoping McClatchy would rise above the bottom line and uphold the values of Ohman to deliver powerful, masterfully drawn commentary on critical issues. Ohman deserves many more years and a wide audience to afflict the comfortable.

Ohman performs the hard work of distilling complex issues into one powerful visual punch. He never wastes space for both-sides topical gags.

Here ends nearly a century of provocatively great editorial cartooning at The Bee. I’m left thinking The Bee, so long a crusader, is afraid now to offend the powerful.

I look forward to seeing and reading Ohman somewhere again soon.

Shawn C Turner

Carmichael

Opinion

Ho’s pandering

“Sacramento DA is investigating city’s homeless efforts, says criminal charges are possible,” (sacbee.com, July 19)

After reciting a litany of offenses committed by Sacramento’s homeless population, County District Attorney Thien Ho writes that “past approaches have failed.” That’s why he’s promising a “new, improved” approach of doing exactly the same thing to the homeless: hassling them with police and prosecuting them.

Meanwhile, Finland has effectively ended homelessness. How? By providing them with homes.

Studies validate Finland’s approach as both cheaper and more humane than prosecution and incarceration. Recent studies of the unhoused in the U.S. point to rising rents — not mental illness — as the primary driver of people sleeping rough.

Meanwhile, San Francisco has five times more empty houses than its homeless population, and the U.S. as a whole has more empty homes than homeless.

Ho is pandering to an angry, vengeful public, but does nothing to end the problem.

Mark Dempsey

Orangevale

Empathetic response

“Sacramento DA is investigating city’s homeless efforts, says criminal charges are possible,” (sacbee.com, July 19)

The prospect of one arm of our elected government “investigating” and perhaps suing or

prosecuting another is disturbing, to say the least. Recent news coverage suggests that instead of keeping their eyes on real solutions that help unhoused people and the community at large, we are in danger of becoming a circular firing squad. We simply can and must do better than this.

It is tempting to respond to the various political games that trigger our emotional reactions. But we must instead bring the focus back to what will actually help people and the community at large. We continue to call for greater investment and much more urgency in creating affordable housing and providing the services needed to help people retain or regain housing. There is no single solution to homelessness, but it is clear that we must meet both the immediate survival needs of our unhoused neighbors and increase the supply of temporary and permanent housing.

Gabby Trejo

Executive director, Sacramento ACT