Campaign Reform
* The impromptu agreement by President Clinton and Speaker Newt Gingrich to initiate a bipartisan commission to recommend lobbying and campaign finance reforms affords the first real opportunity to take back our government (June 12). We must act quickly and with unrelenting vigor before the “usual suspects” quietly bury it. We should:
* Make it clear that bipartisanism is not the issue, but rather, the commission must be of citizens without political career interests and with proven histories of working for real reform.
* Write letters to our elected officials telling them we demand their support for this, or we will vote them out.
* Contact and support reform groups such as Common Cause and others that can move quickly to force the President and Speaker to honor their public pledge.
TOM ARMOR
Los Angeles
* Well, we discover another antiquation in the great vision of our forefathers.
Gingrich now claims he is on an equal plane with the President.
Gingrich was elected by a simple majority of 435 self-interested politicians while the President garnered more votes than any other candidate from the people of the entire United States.
But then, history teachers aren’t known for their math and they’re trained to look backward. There’s an immense gap between constructive order and destructive verbosity.
Since the Speaker of the House is third in line for the presidency, perhaps in modern times he or she should be elected by the populace.
HAL YOERGLER
West Hollywood
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