Who owns the White House?

• FDR put an indoor swimming pool in 1933 — private funds;

• Truman had the White House gutted and redone in 1948-52 — taxpayers money;

• Truman received a bowling alley in 1947 as a birthday gift — private funds;

• Eisenhower moved it to the basement in 1955 — taxpayers money;

• Eisenhower built a putting green — private funds;

• JFK built the Situation Room in 1961 — taxpayers money;

• Nixon converted the FDR’s swimming pool into a Press Room in 1970 — taxpayers money;

• Nixon built a new bowling alley in 1973 — private funds;

• Ford built an outdoor swimming pool in 1975 — private funds;

• Obama built a basketball court in 2009 — private funds; and

• Most recently — Biden renovated the Situation Room in 2023 for — $50 million using taxpayers money, amidst inflation.

I am surprised that a Hall of Fame lawyer does not know these simple facts from our nation’s recent history — otherwise why would he declare that “the demolition of the East Wing … embodies his administration’s defiance of the public and its assertion of claims to authority it does not have?”

Interestingly, this “perspective” is written while our own Sacramento State Capitol has been undergoing renovations since 2023; supposed to be completed in 2025  and cost $1.2 billion of taxpayers money — but is now scheduled to be completed in 2027 with a new price tag of $1.6B.

I suspect, however, that Mr. Cotchett is fully aware of all these facts — but thinks that the public is not, and can be fed whatever his TDS produces.

What a shame!

Zinovy Fichtenholz

San Carlos