Lucrative congressional retirement

The Opinion page article "Congressional Reform: Handle With Care," July 2, discusses the large number of members of the House of Representatives retiring this year. But the author neglects to mention a key factor: Congress made it illegal for members retiring after this coming election to divert their campaign funds to their own personal use.

Although the conversion of these millions of dollars may have been made legal, at face value it seems clear that they were obtained by fraud in the first place. Members of Congress solicited these funds for their reelection, did not use them for that purpose, and are now slipping them into their pockets. Steve Juniper, Berkeley, Calif.

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