David Bonior

The need for campaign finance reform was made ironically clear in Sara Fritz’s interview with House Minority Whip David Bonior (Opinion, Jan. 12).

Discussion of what our elected officials are doing with our taxes dominated the conversation: Namely, investigating one another to the point where their legal bills force them to fund-raise in ethically questionable ways. Is the absurdity of this insulting to anyone else?

BILL BEGERT

Los Angeles

While I appreciate Bonior’s efforts to expose Newt Gingrich’s ethical lapses, I have a great deal of trouble with Bonior’s leadership role in the Democratic Party as minority whip. Bonior is decidedly out of step with the positions of his party on both social and economic issues. He is anti-choice as well as a strong opponent of both NAFTA and GATT. For a man with those positions to be in such a highly visible and powerful position seems to be inappropriate. I would suggest to the party hierarchy that they reexamine his role before he amasses any more power.

RICHARD SHERMAN

Port Hueneme

Bill Clinton will surely be surprised to find out he was talked into supporting the minimum-wage bill by Bonior. Why Bonior is trying to detract from the president’s clear and obvious leadership on this issue says more about Bonior than it does about Clinton.

And Bonior believes that the “renewal” of American civilization can’t be accomplished without Head Start, school lunches and college loans. My head swims in wonder at how the republic survived without these benefits for its first 175 years!

Finally, no clear-thinking person--of either political party--can’t acknowledge that there’s some element of revenge in Democratic attacks on Gingrich .J.J. and that there’s nothing really unusual with that, since politics are often tit for tat. But by denying such a motive, Bonior makes himself much the hypocrite he claims Gingrich to be.

PATRICK BATES