Sherry Bebitch Jeffe

The voting across party lines described by Sherry Bebitch Jeffe's "The Pull of the Center" (Opinion, June 7) may be due more to the power of advertising than to the centrist politics she describes. When one side has no competition (Dan Lungren for governor and Barbara Boxer for senator, most obviously) and spends relatively little and the other side has several competitors spending truly big money, I suspect the massive advertising pulls voters from their traditional patterns more than ideology does.

Sherry Bebitch Jeffe's column (Opinion, March 7) regarding the politicizing of the state schools superintendent position reinforces my decision to vote for the school voucher initiative in 1994. She describes agendas, infighting and glory-grabbing politicians looking for resume items. Our children deserve better than someone sitting in Sacramento making politically expedient decisions. Competition in education will allow parents to direct their children's education. A free market, or libertarian, approach will end in happier consumers (because they have choices)

Re "The California Touch Still a Political Puzzle," July 15: For Sherry Bebitch Jeffe to imply that in order for a political candidate to appeal to Californians he must look good in sunglasses and run along the beach is insulting and downright untrue. I call upon this so-called political analyst to explain the successful elections of California political leaders from both sides of the aisle like Pete Wilson, Dianne Feinstein, George Deukmejian and Gray Davis, to name just a few, who despite never being approached to guest star on "Baywatch" have put forth ideas and a vision that has appealed sufficiently to California voters to see them elected statewide.

Fear not, California Democrats, the political fortunes of Pete Wilson and Bill Clinton are not inextricably linked; notwithstanding the intriguing argument made by Sherry Bebitch Jeffe in "Wilson's Hope for Second Term--a Clinton Success" (Opinion, Jan. 10). First, California's economic recovery, induced by federal policies or not, is likely to come too late to save Pete Wilson from defeat in '94. Clinton has almost twice as long to make good on his campaign promises than does Pete Wilson.

Thus far the debate about California's propositions to limit the terms of legislators on the editorial pages of The Times has been largely misdirected and historical. Neither supporters, such as Cal Thomas (Sept. 27) nor opponents of term limits such as Nelson W. Polsby (Sept. 27) and Sherry Bebitch Jeffe (Sept. 30) seem to understand that there is a strong American precedent for term limits that emerges from radical democratic theory and a deep aversion to the concentration of political power in the hands of professional politicians.

In response to the two negative columns on Prop. 128 ("Can't See Forest for the Monument," by Daniel B. Botkin and "Noble Goals, but Far Too Many," by Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, Opinion, Sept. 9): We've got it all backwards: Here we are debating restoration of the environment when we never got the chance to debate its destruction! Botkin incorrectly asserts that the proposition states that California, through its actions alone, can substantially affect global warming. Then, building on this incorrect assertion, we are told that the entire proposition is defective because it "gets a little science wrong."

Re "California Conservatism's Worst Nightmare Revealed," Opinion Aug. 17: As a Chinese immigrant advocating drastic reductions in immigration, both legal and illegal, I strongly disagree with Sherry Bebitch Jeffe's statement, "Unless the California Republican Party can shed its mean-spirited, anti-immigrant . . . image, it could wither on the electoral vine." Bob Dole lost in November 1996 because he was boring and had no real issues. The Republican Party could have won the White House if it had explained, in a sensitive manner, to voters, especially those living in states with high concentrations of immigrants, that many of their major concerns could not be addressed without drastic immigration reductions: overcrowded schools, traffic congestion, overburdened infrastructure.