Campaign Reform
Re “Just Say ‘Not for Sale,’ ” editorial, Oct. 12: The campaign finance reform laws passed in the ‘70s are directly responsible for the campaign comedies we are witnessing in the ‘90s. Candidates are required to spend day after day, week after week and year after year scrounging for money in $1,000 or less increments (a sum that hasn’t changed through the decades).
The only people who can start a campaign from a standstill a la Eugene McCarthy, or James Buckley or Ronald Reagan (campaigns that were started with the help of relatively few and significant financial contributors), are people with lots of money or celebrities. That’s why we are witnessing this spectacle of actors, wrestlers, tycoons, etc.
The McCain-Feingold bill would only serve to amplify the voice of the media and incumbency. Why not have real reform: Get the government out of regulating who can give what to whom, and instead have full and immediate disclosure about any and all contributions.
WEBSTER WILLIAMS
Los Angeles
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