Frequent letter contributor Anita Dwyer writes fantastical stuff, which I often scan as it is sometimes quite humorous. But her Dec. 6, 2020 News-Press op-ed (“I’m Proud to Lean to the Right”) is beyond that line.
Implying that Barack Obama, Michelle Obama and Hilary Clinton “had their licenses taken from them” is grotesquely untrue and has been refuted by fact checkers everywhere.
The Obamas voluntarily stopped their bar membership years ago because they were not practicing law. Hillary Clinton allowed her Arkansas lawyer status to expire in 2002 at which time she was a resident of New York and had no reason to continue as a member of the Arkansas bar. These decisions had nothing to do with ethical violations or allegations.
I was a practicing attorney and did much the same years ago.
If you want to maintain active lawyer status in most states, you need to continue legal education, which involves attendance at seminars with associated costs, pay a fee and renew your license annually. I choose not to do this for the same reasons they did.
There is nothing about that decision that reflects on their or my ethics.
Glen Mowrer
Santa Barbara
