'Clean Money' Campaign

Letter to the editor

By John Abbott, Sacramento

Re "Political money talks - but gagging it could be worse," March 26: You could just feel the sneering cynicism in Dan Walters' column about Assemblywoman Loni Hancock's good government bill, AB 2949. That bill would allow candidates, on a voluntary basis and with broad public support, to run for state office without having to take money from special economic interests such as corporations, labor unions and trade associations.

Walters dismisses the bill since you can't "truly block the influence of [private] money in politics" with "complex regulatory schemes." The Hancock bill doesn't even attempt to "truly block" private money. Any candidate who wants to take private contributions would be free to take them just as they are today. But millions of California voters would vote for candidates who agreed to use only broad-based public financing to run for office - and that's the prospect that really frightens the Democratic and Republican politicians now beholden to special economic interests.

- John Abbott, Sacramento

See the article on Sacramento Bee website

(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.)