Campaign Reform

Re “Don’t Budge, Sen. McCain,” editorial, Jan. 23: I see Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is making the TV rounds. No surprise, nobody cares about campaign finance reform except McCain, Democrats and the liberal media. The main problem with the McCain-Feingold bill is the U.S. Constitution--the 1st Amendment, freedom of speech. Restricting contributions is virtually the same thing as restricting political speech. Why not just require full disclosure of all contributions over $1,000, no matter who gives them? Simple, quick and easy. Anything more complicated than that will be amended to death or vetoed.

More important, why don’t we first try enforcing all of the existing campaign laws? The laws that haven’t been enforced for the last eight years. “Overdue reform” may not be needed at all.

DON FULKERSON

Simi Valley

* The actual cost of campaign finance reform (or the lack thereof) will soon be seen. President Bush’s friend, Don Evans, who raised over $100 million for the Bush campaign, is the new secretary of Commerce. All Bush’s other appointees have their own agendas. Who doubts that the shrewd investors in the Bush campaigns will recoup their donations before the year is out? I won’t be surprised if the decisions of the first month don’t benefit the contributors and cost the rest of us as much as public financing of the election would have cost.

Oh well, one cynical friend says, these same political supporters were going to have direct access to the elected and appointed officials anyway. Their campaign contributions are the only way we have to charge for those privileges.

Can the news and political advertising industries avoid their own recession, now that the billion-dollar national election season is over?

GARY A. MOIR

Rancho Palos Verdes