Public campaign financing won’t fix problems

Mike Starry (letter Jan. 31) tells us to beware of simple solutions and then advocates public financing of elections.

How does that stop super PACs? That is protected free speech (Citizens United). So, Karl Rove can run his anti-Clinton ads in Iowa. How do you stop the media from trotting out Donald Trump for ratings? How do you stop demagoguery and pandering?

My candidate, Hillary Clinton, recently spoke to a black group and blamed the Flint water problem on the Republican governor. That the Environmental Protection Agency under Obama sat on the information for a year was irrelevant when pandering to a world view. We have a grossly uninformed electorate. We go for candidates who ratify our world view. Public financing of elections will fix none of the above.

Finally, the San Jose Mercury News wrote in the recent past about how freshman legislators in Sacramento used lobbyists to write bills. Term limits was a simple solution. Washington and state capitals are about influence peddling. No simple solutions will change that.

I touch on only a small portion of the issues. Mr. Starry’s solution won’t fix those either.

This story was originally published February 6, 2016 at 4:21 AM with the headline "Public campaign financing won’t fix problems."