Letters to the Editor

This letter is associated with the following article:
A radical proposal by two Yale professors goes far beyond any reform envisaged by Feingold or McCain.
  • Easy to circumvent....

    Suppose Corrupt Politician calls Big Donor and asks for a major contribution. Big Donor says, sure, I'll give you the $100,000 maximum. Even assuming that $100,000 donations come in so often that it wouldn't be obvious whose contribution was delayed five days by the FEC, all that Corrupt Politician would to do to evade the spirit of the law is say, Well, so that I can be sure that you send the money, don't send me $100,000 even. Instead, send exactly $99,781.53. Assign a different trivial amount to each big donor, keep a nice spreadsheet handy, and the only people kept in the dark are the public.