Letter to the editor: The messenger

To the editor:

I appreciate the article by Nikki Wentling on July 16 highlighting the failure of the city to collect its just debts; the auditor, with the sad duty to point out the fact; and the action of the new city manager’s 2017 budget proposal to eliminate the position of city auditor.

There is an old Chinese saying that the emperor always ordered the execution of the messenger who brought the bad news. It seems to be a principle alive and well in Lawrence.