My concern is not for the problems Charles O’Byrne is having surrounding his tax obligations; rather, it is the opportunity you take to raise irrelevant factors to demean the governor to further a different editorial agenda (“Taxing Credibility,” Oct. 23).

A chief of staff has many more responsibilities than that of providing the governor with “the most basic data necessary to function as governor.” This characterization reduces O’Byrne to that of a reading machine and ignores the more monumental task facing anyone in his position.

Every government, organization or business leader has people upon whom they rely to provide advice and counsel, but no one ever suggests that the “chief of staff” is running the company.

You attempt to exploit the public’s fear and ignorance of blindness to make a point totally unrelated to the problems of O’Byrne.

You use Gov. Paterson’s blindness as a means to call into question his competence and effectiveness. In doing so, you call into question the competence of every other blind person in our state and nation.

I ask that you keep the discussion to the issues and refrain from raising factors that have nothing to do with them.

Carl Jacobsen

President,

National Federation

of the Blind

Brooklyn