‘Bypassing Congress’

Your editorial, “Bypassing Congress” (Aug. 25), was definitely on target, but it makes me wonder where The Times has been for the last 6 1/2 years.

The Reagan Administration has used the regulatory process as the primary means to further its right-wing agenda ever since Ronald Reagan first took office.

And the amazing thing is that the Administration has been able to pursue its subversive program virtually unhindered.

Neither the Congress nor the press has made it an issue, even though the Administration has wantonly circumvented the law and undermined the mandates of the federal agencies entrusted to its care. In these 6 1/2 years, I have not seen one story that dealt with this massive subversion of the regulatory process.

As a librarian at a university library, one that is also a federal repository, I have been aware of this practice from its inception. Shortly after Reagan was sworn in as President, the most popular periodical in our library became the Federal Register, mainly because that is where all the action was taking place. The Reagan team knew from the beginning that its program was unpopular and anti-democratic. That is why it chose subterfuge over openness and why it chose to go the regulatory route rather than the legislative one.

For me, all of this raises a question that maybe you can answer: Since librarians have known the score for years, why is the press just learning about it?

WENDELL WILLIAMS

San Francisco