Financing for Mayor Campaign

* So wheeler-dealer Richard Riordan, who cheerfully replied “greed” as his justification for “flipping companies like cards,” and who also stated, “I’m taking lessons in learning how to wave to the poor people” in a 1988 interview, now claims those remarks are “inconsistent with my commitment to social justice” (“Riordan Cost as Many Jobs as He Created, Study Finds,” May 8).

If Riordan is suddenly so committed to social justice, he could prove himself a qualified leader by giving back to society the $74 million-plus he pocketed in his unethical and destructive junk-bond shenanigans. And while he’s at it, he could apologize for his hypocritical TV ads blaming Michael Woo for homelessness and urban decay in Hollywood; as if these urban problems are not endemic to the entire country and a direct result of the Reagan-Bush years of massive social spending cuts, deregulation and the upward transfer of wealth.

Riordan and his vulture capitalist cohorts have demonstrated to us “poor people” that social and economic justice can only be achieved when private companies are owned, run and have their profits shared by the people who actually do the work--workers. Riordan, like Perot, has also shown that elections will be truly democratic only when funding and air time for candidates are regulated--so that the playing field is level and not tilted toward millionaires.

CHRIS HOPKINS

Los Angeles