Kudos to Ian Murphy.

• Author: Appleton, Dennis B.
• Position: Letters to the Editor - Letter to the editor

Redundancy of "loathsome lobbyists" aside, I wondered why a list of nine were chosen to represent this less than illustrious group; it certainly wasn't for lack of suitable candidates ("The 9 Most Loathsome Lobbyists," by Ian Murphy, July issue). Ten is so often the default designation for such compendia, so nine seems somewhat arbitrary by comparison.

My hypothesis is that Murphy intentionally limited this particular lineup to a single digit for representational purposes, since a single digit is what each of the lobbyists listed is clearly giving the American people. There may be an alternative rationale for the numerical selection, but if there is, I can't seem to put my finger on it.

Dennis B. Appleton

Madison, Wisconsin

"The 9 Most Loathsome Lobbyists" and all the rest of them cannot exist without the two-party system. Send the elephants back to Africa and the donkeys out to pasture.

We need campaign finance reform. I propose a mandatory donation from every person filing income tax. This could be done on the federal, state, and local levels. Each candidate would get an equal share, no matter how many are running. No personal money allowed, only individual donations with a cap of $250 to each person you support.

This will stop the auctions we call elections and, hopefully, get rid of all the...