D Santa Monica

I was appalled to read your article ("California Alliance's Cumulative Generosity Is Unmatched in Congress," Oct. 29) concerning the activities of Reps. Mel Levine (D-Santa Monica), Henry Waxman (D-Los Angeles) and Howard Berman (D-Panorama City). While they have built safe districts for themselves by diluting the minority vote through gerrymandering, they attempt to grab power in Washington by giving hundreds of thousands of dollars to other money-hungry politicians. Do these men think they can buy the political process?

In response to "Hayden's Name a Black Mark on 'Big Green,' " (Part A, Aug. 26): I was very disappointed that the Times Poll has been persuaded by the mega-corporation opponents of Proposition 128, the Big Green environmental initiative, that Assemblyman Tom Hayden (D-Santa Monica) is somehow the key issue. I believe that when the voters step inside the voting booth in November they won't be worried about Tom Hayden; they'll be worried about which cancer-causing chemicals were on the fruit they ate for breakfast, what toxins are being flushed onto their beaches, what's happening to the atmosphere or what they can do to save the redwoods.

Taking her most definite steps yet toward running for state insurance commissioner when it becomes an elective post next year, Insurance Commissioner Roxani Gillespie has filed a "candidate intention statement" with the California Fair Political Practices Commission and scheduled at least three fund-raisers. Meanwhile, a spokesman for Assemblyman Tom Hayden (D-Santa Monica) said Thursday that Hayden is forming an exploratory committee "to take a good serious look at the insurance commissioner's position."

The Times has come up with several bad arguments for supporting Proposition P but your latest is the worst of the lot--that the Oxy project on Pacific Coast Highway would not lead to drilling in the Santa Monica Bay (editorial, "Oil: Yes on P, No on O," Oct. 30). In one breath you praise Rep. Mel Levine (D-Santa Monica) for helping to keep oil out of the bay and in the next you tell him he doesn't know what he's talking about in arguing that the Occidental Petroleum project will lead to drilling in the bay. But if you don't believe Rep. Levine, how about Sens.

The headline should have read "Errant Memo Exposes Political Frauds." Although "politics ain't high tea," political consultants Michael Berman and Carl D'Agostino (operators of BAD Campaigns) offer advice so cynical and valueless as to be political poison. Liberal politicians such as Yaroslavsky, Reps. Henry Waxman (D-Los Angeles), Howard Berman (D-Panorama City) and Mel Levine (D-Santa Monica) would be better advised to spend their consulting dollars elsewhere, or further risk undermining their credibility as public servants.

Thank you for mentioning some of the tenets of my campaign in the article, "Status Quo the Likely Winner . . . ." (Times, May 22). I would like to add a few points not brought out in the article which might clarify my differences with my opponent, (U.S. Rep.) Mel Levine (D-Santa Monica), in the minds of the voter. First of all, I disagree with Levine's attitude of disparagement toward the Sandinistas and his continuing support for military aid to Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador, despite well-documented and ongoing atrocities against their own peoples.

The real focus in the 70th Assembly District is the public display of the arrogance of power of the "Bully Team" of the right wing of the Republican Party. There are hilarious aspects of the confrontation by a petite "woman" and Republican "lady on the move," Evelyn Hart. She has managed to "flabbergast" their incumbent assemblyman in the 70th District, Gil Ferguson, who proudly answers to "Caveman" and opposes affirmative action as a "burden on otherwise market choices." The entire Bully Team has been unable to control Hart.

Assemblyman Tom Hayden (D-Santa Monica) was named "Assembly Member of the Year" by the University of California Student Assn. The group, which represents more than 150,000 UC students in California, gave Hayden a 97% rating for his stance on bills supported or opposed by the student association. Hayden chairs the Assembly's subcommittee on higher education.

Mickey R. Conroy, the burly ex-Marine who is trying to rally support for his latest effort to expel Assemblyman Tom Hayden (D-Santa Monica) from office, delivered a stirring plea to Santa Monica Republicans this week: Uncle Mickey wants you. Conroy, speaking with the passion and conviction of a military recruiter, told members of the First United Republican Assembly that their help is desperately needed in the war against Hayden.