Abortion a Big Issue in Conroy’s Win

The Times analysis (“Fear of Taxes Seen as Key to Conroy’s Victory,” July 25) regarding the recent election for the Assembly seat vacated by John R. Lewis has left much unsaid. The only two issues mentioned were anti-tax and anti-government sentiment, with an additional factor of a last-minute attack flurry that carried Conroy on to victory.

This writer has a strong feeling that, if Steiner had won, the analysis would have crowed about a “pro-choice” victory. Now that he has lost, his pro-abortion stance was not considered a factor. There is no doubt that Conroy received solid pro-life support, and that the pro-aborts supported Steiner.

My wife, a registered Democrat, received a letter urging Democrats to vote for Republican Steiner so that the Republicans would run a “pro-choice” candidate against the usual Democrat, and then the pro-aborts could not lose. Presumably, many Democrats received the same letter and many probably responded to this influence. This may explain the large vote for Steiner, which has forced Conroy to have a future runoff with the Democrat.

Relative to last-minute flurries of voter contact, we were called in the last week about six times by pro-Steiner forces who advertised his anti-tax and pro-abortion sentiment. So much for your “accuracy” in media.

WILLIAM S. HAYES, Tustin