Candidate’s Response Appreciated

To the Editor:

I would like to thank Congressman Jim Maloney for responding to a letter I wrote him as part of a political action project for my American Government class. In the weeks leading up to the election, I led a small “campaign” entitled “Cleaning.” When I initially visited the main Web sites of the two major parties, I was repulsed by their negativism, and sarcasm on both sides, along with the fact that each side’s Web site talked far more about their opponent than it did about their own candidate. In general, I found the sites to be an insult to the intelligence of the voters. What I hoped to accomplish was to bring the problems of these sites into the minds of my fellow students, in the forms of pamphlets and a Web site, which gave the addresses of the parties’ sites, and outlined some of the problems – still up at http://lorddweeb.tripod.com/index.htm – (not html) and hoped that if enough people were angered, perhaps the parties would at least listen.

Now that the election is in some form at least, over, it seems that this did not happen, but I still encourage people to visit the sites to see what they think for themselves. Finally, I also sent letters to many political figures in both major parties, outlining what I thought was the problem. In the end, only Congressman Maloney responded, and while the number of responses was somewhat disappointing, the time Mr Maloney put into reading and responding to my letter is greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,

Paul Dolzall

13 Ridge Road, Newtown               December 3, 2000