How We Finance Political Campaigns Re "A Better Way to Buy Politicians," by Lindsay Mark Lewis (Op-Ed, Feb. 17): Legalizing bribery cannot be the answer. Mr. Lewis argues that we should repeal the McCain-Feingold law and allow wealthy individual and corporate interests to give unlimited donations to political parties. I think he's wrong. While the Supreme Court's lawless Citizens United decision created an entirely new road map for corruption by allowing wealthy individual and corporate interests to dominate our elections through the use of so-called super PACs, reviving the old soft money contributions to parties would only make matters worse. Political memories are short - the corrupt era of soft money was directly responsible for the enactment of some of the worst policies in generations: job-killing trade agreements heavily promoted by multinational corporate interests; tax cuts that disproportionately benefited the 1 percent while adding trillions to our long-term debt; and reckless Wall Street-promoted financial deregulation that paved the way for the shenanigans that set off the worst recession since the Great Depression. We must take government off the auction block and put it back in the hands of the citizens, where a true democracy belongs. At a minimum, that means overturning the Citizens United decision and retaining the McCain-Feingold safeguards. The writer is executive director of Progressives United, founded by former Senator Russ Feingold of Wisconsin. Lindsay Mark Lewis's Op-Ed article argued that, with the advent of unlimited political donations to outside groups like super PACs, Congress should simply allow political parties to raise unlimited funds, too. Mr. Lewis shows little concern for donor influence with statements like, "This way, donors might have more direct leverage over candidates." The reality, of course, is that Americans don't want more unlimited contributions in politics. They want none. The best way to insulate candidates is to have them rely on everyday people for donations, not corporate funders - on the great many, not the big money - through a small donor public matching fund system. DAVID DONNELLY Executive Director Public Campaign Action Fund Washington, Feb. 17, 2012 "Some Saner Voices on "Super PACs" " (editorial, Feb. 9) highlighted the absurdity of our campaign finance system. Super PACs have poured more than $45 million into this year's election, mostly spent on thousands of unaccountable attack ads into Americans" homes in early voting states. Across the country, from Iowa to Florida to Colorado to New Mexico, we're inundated with intrusive commercials. It's unfortunate enough that they are on the air, but it's outrageous that the people we represent can't find out who made them. The only sure fix is reform. Ultimately, we must pass the constitutional amendment we introduced letting the states and Congress regulate campaign finance. In the meantime, Congress should take the Supreme Court up on the one area it has left alone, disclosure requirements. The Times is right to mention Congress's poor standing with the electorate. Perhaps Congress can begin to redeem itself by cleaning up our elections. The writers are Democratic senators from Colorado and New Mexico, respectively.