Barbara and Norman Tanner have suggested a plan the Salt Lake City Council might adopt to reform campaign financing for City Council and mayoral candidates (Forum, July 7): Before the primary and general elections, the city would mail to each resident a "candidate-approved information flyer" that would show side-by-side the candidates' positions on important issues. Candidates who refused to limit their campaign expenditures would get only one line in the flyer, naming them and noting that they refused to limit their expenditures.

Campaign finance reform is imperative, and the Tanner plan would seem to have a lot of merit, not only on the city level, but on the county, state and even federal levels as well. It could open the door to meritorious candidates who would not otherwise have the resources to run. It could largely free politicians from attending to the next election rather than to governmental business. It could provide authoritative information on the candidates' positions, which would be superior to political labels, sound bites and negative campaigning. It could even weed out the politicians who resist campaign finance reform because the present system so favors the rich and incumbents.

I hope the Salt Lake City Council will seriously consider the Tanner plan. If it worked, other governments might follow the City Council's lead.

--Earl Wunderli
Letter to the Editor
Published in The Salt Lake Tribune
July 22, 1997