Show 14 IT JS rw O IT S m I O w w By Joseph Roberts l. Incredible sums of money have been and are being sent by candidates for political offices in this year's Never before have so many spent so much trying to win jobs relatively pay so Even minor of- f some paying no are being contested at a cost to the candidates of a thousand dollars or Several we have spent over a million dollars trying to win an office that would pay in four years a total salary of This is beyond the One doesn't have to have an unduly suspicious nature to question such reckless spending by people who want us to elect them to responsible positions in our They claim they are they will represent the not just special interest and they are fiscally sound ad- and Then they spend many times more than the job they are seeking is worth to convince us they are of our Isn't there something incongruous Certainly if they conduct our business in government as they have run their campaigns we should not expect them to even understand our economic pro- much less solve we probably wouldn't vote for them if they weren't big We like the big the free the the pretty girls handing out bumper It's our in a that we fill important seaU in our governments with big me that they must spend big to win their and once in office they must spend big to keep Then we com- plain about excessive government high and If the trend in outrageous spending the only people who will run for office in future elections will be millionaires who can buy an office as they would a yacht or a string of polo politicians who have the back- ing of big money Interests and a well- organized and some wildly ambitious dreamers who will commit themselves and their families to mortgages and debts they will be paying off the rest of their Pru- dent people who are sincerely dedicated to serving their but not independently or willing to sell out to special interest groups-the very people we must have in office if we hope to have good government-will not permit their names to be put on a I propose that we by the total amount a candidate can spend to run for nomination and regardless of where the money comes The limit should be the total salary of the office sought for a com- term Why should any job be Would such a drastic limitation wreck our Not at It would simply Uke the campaign away from the soap sellers and return it to the Instead of sitting in a TV studio making tapes and choreographed by Madison Avenue image the candidates will be out among the peo- delivering their messages free of charge from a tree Instead of flooding the state with posters and billboards and filling our mail boxes with the candidates will be debating each other on public plat- holding press conferences where they can be questioned by probing jour- and sending their supporters out to ring door bells and make telephone I think a low-budget cam- free of bit-time promotion and would be a refreshing It would remove some of the doubt from the minds of the voters con- the integrity of the candidates and it would permit more good people to run It might even encourage more than 50 of the registered voters to cast a ballot in the next |