Downfall of Sen. Cranston

Cranston is at the end of his career because he took too many chances and bent too many rules. Aside from his politics, his conduct in fund raising was duplicitous. While fighting for abortion rights and to stop the Vietnam War, he squeezed campaign contributions from arch-conservatives. Cranston believed that his causes and the success of the Democratic Party came before all else.

As has been pointed out, this is not the first time Cranston has been accused of fund-raising improprieties. It is, however, the first time his avarice got him caught up in a scandal of national proportions.

In the final analysis, it was the senator’s fund-raising skill, his knowledge of Senate campaign finance loopholes and his many years in the Senate that created the opportunity for misconduct. We must limit the terms of federal elected officials or face repeat performances of the Keating and Cranston affair. If we don’t limit their terms, then we should restrict the number of years they can sit on any committee or subcommittee. If we can’t make our representatives more honest, we can sure as hell take some of the punch out of what they can promise their campaign contributors.

SEAN McCARTHY, Los Angeles