Change funding to end derogatory campaigns

Your Oct. 14 front page article is far too kind as to the terminology "sniping." The campaign rhetoric - not only for the governor's race; but for too many other offices as well - is disgusting.

The advertising and live interviews are all too derogatory. Candidates should be focusing on their future plans to improve our political climate, not the supposed failings of their past actions and records. As alluded in your article, this negativism is going to convince too many voters to not to vote, instead of prompting them to go to the polls and cast their much-needed ballots for the future of our state and local governmental bodies.

How do we get this message to our candidates for future elections beyond 2014? One major way is to make the funding for advertising by lobby sources to be illegal. In the federal IRS system, there is a provision for the taxpayer to donate to a fund which will be used to provide the candidates with funds to do their advertising. We should adopt it and make it mandatory in the state of Illinois, that similar funds be used in financing our candidates and other funding be abolished.

Bob Schieck

Antioch