For the second time, I am writing to the editor of The Post, but this time I have nothing more to lose. [“‘Sabotage’ Puccini’s ‘Tosca’? Hardly,” Letters to the Editor, Oct. 1, 2011]
The Post printed the Feb. 11 front-page article “Major opera left Kennedy Center after a forced face-off” before the deadline I received to answer questions. The Post had already established that the root of the misfortune currently afflicting the Washington National Opera must once again be me. No surprise here. So I now must set the record straight.
By The Post’s own admission, during my tenure, the WNO experienced a period of artistic growth, thanks to the high quality of work done by every member of the company. Productions during those years enjoyed massive attendance and significant sponsors’ support. It’s unfair to attack me by tarnishing the work of so many people who have made the WNO great. I have never had anyone fired, least of all Mark Weinstein, who was hired as executive director by the WNO board and by that same board let go. There was certainly a budget deficit; it’s not easy to manage a theater in the U.S. because it essentially relies on sponsors, not on fixed revenue, but there were several benefactors who supported it. Like me, they believed in the enormous potential of this company.
Raising the level of first-rate artistry is not a pipe dream that the board and I pursued; investors support projects that are truly worth investing in. When, however, the board asked me to cut productions, I complied.
Dismantling the past does not benefit opera in the U.S. It creates more disaffection among the public, leaving deserted the halls of great theaters that have shaped the history of opera.
Plácido Domingo, Monte Carlo, Monaco
Southwest pricing context
I appreciated the Feb. 15 Travel article “‘Uno Reverse Card this policy y’all’: Southwest changes are infuriating fans.” But no coverage of Southwest’s shift toward nickel-and-diming customers with its new seating policies is complete without mentioning who’s behind it.
Apart from a brief mention of “pressure to boost its bottom line,” though, it did not address the root cause of both this change and the end of the company’s standout “bags fly free” policy: Elliott Investment Management. After taking a $1.9 billion position in Southwest in 2024, Elliott overhauled the board and pushed out many members of the previous leadership team.
The Post identified this effort to boost profits and share prices in the Sept. 29, 2024, Travel article “Southwest’s longstanding seating policy to change next year.” And the March 16, 2025, Travel article “Southwest dared to be different. Now it’s just like everyone else” acknowledged that cost-cutting would come at passengers’ expense and quoted longtime aviation journalist Benét J. Wilson as saying: “This is what happens when a hedge fund takes over. They dismantle everything that made Southwest special.” This context merits mention as the airline continues to change.
Harold Jaffe, Chicago
Which workers does Mamdani represent?
Regarding the Feb. 19 editorial “Mamdani’s ‘painful’ tax admission”:
With the acknowledgement of the $12 billion deficit over two years, Zohran Mamdani confronts a brutal irony: The “working New Yorkers” he vowed to champion are split into two very different classes. On one side are those who work for the city itself. They are protected by strong unions, enjoying above-market wages, rich health benefits and often generous, defined-benefit pensions. On the other side are private-sector workers who earn less, carry more risk and do not retire with generous pensions.
In discovering a projected $12 billion budget deficit over the next two years, New York’s mayor is really discovering that he can no longer pretend these two groups have the same interests. Every extra dollar conceded at the bargaining table to municipal labor now comes, in one form or another, from the pockets of the less protected workers he claims to represent — through higher taxes, diminished services or a weaker city economy.
The question is no longer whether he stands with “labor” but which labor: the insulated public-sector workers or the taxpayers who also sweep the streets, drive vans and stock shelves without the promise of a lifetime check.
Peter Michel, Alexandria
George vs. George
When I saw the subheadline “George Mason is upset by George Washington” in the Feb. 14 Sports roundup, I thought it was a bit of history in honor of Presidents’ Day and wondered what one George had done to upset the other. Was the general upset because Mason had declined to serve in the Second Continental Congress or refused to sign the Constitution? No, it was because the Patriots had routed the Revolutionaries. If I were George Mason, I would be upset, too.
Jill McGovern, Washington
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