Lobbying Rips Off the Public
By Tobi Dragert, Letter to the Editor
Re "New anthrax vaccine sunk by lobbying," a Times
investigation, Dec. 2
The influence of lobbyists becomes more blatant
and destructive to the public interest every day. We simply
must put an end to it.
As long as candidates must use private funding, citizens
will pay more than they would pay for elections, because
once in office, those candidates must try to forget who
their donors are when voting on legislation that directly
affects those donors. Can anything be a better recipe for
corruption?
There is pending legislation in Sacramento -- Assembly Bill
583 -- that can rescue California. We also need public
election financing on the federal level.
If the public doesn't provide the money that politicians
need to run for office, then big money and the wealthy will
continue to do so, and our democracy will come closer and
closer to being a plutocracy.
What a tragic day that would be.
Tobi Dragert
Los Angeles
See the article on Los Angeles Times website