Campaign Financing

* Re “The System Is the Biggest Villain,” editorial, July 29.

The more we see and read about the sordid campaign financing mess, the more it seems that the real problem is merely enforcing the laws already on the book. Foreign money is already illegal; use of “soft money” for direct candidate support is illegal, and soliciting and receiving funds on federal property is illegal. And, timely public disclosure of donations is the law. Apparently all of those laws have been broken and those responsible should be prosecuted, regardless of party.

If anything needs fixing, it’s putting more teeth in upholding the law. That may mean transferring the Federal Election Commission to the court system.

But, the worst solution is to “blame the system” and thus let violators off the hook.

DICK ETTINGTON

Palos Verdes Peninsula

* A brief flash of hope was sparked by your coverage of the campaign finance scandals, but it was soon extinguished by the familiar muck of your editorial’s advice. The Times, along with virtually every major media voice, has trumpeted the virtues of big government, and then reacted with dismay when an enormous market for the attentions of that bloated leviathan developed. How could you imagine that you could create such a monstrosity, with all of its machinery for extracting wealth and coercing behavior, without developing an enormous market for government favors?

That governments and politicians have brought direct marketing techniques to such favor-selling seems merely an extension of ancient practices, even if the Clinton administration seems to have pushed the envelope in this area.

Are you now willing to accept compromises on freedom of speech, in the form of campaign finance restrictions, in order to get “control” of this monster?

CLIFF STYLES

Culver City

* While it may appear that there is a lot of nit-picking going on in Washington about illegal contributions, one must understand that that is what happens when such contributions are used to elect nitwits to office.

JIM HULGAN

Azusa