Disclosures on Herschensohn

The attempts to uncover a scandal involving the disclosures on Bruce Herschensohn prove one thing--the press was asleep at the switch in applying the same character tests to Herschensohn that it did to the Democrats, including President-elect Bill Clinton.

The issue was not Herschensohn’s night life, but his hypocrisy in preaching a conservative, zero-tolerance platform, and then doing exactly what his platform condemns. Herschensohn can’t have it both ways. The charges would have been unfair if Herschensohn and his supporters would have a less strident position, but the Republican convention proved that they’re fanatics.

It’s even more astounding to see a master of dirty tricks--Herschensohn, a protege of Nixon, complain at all. All’s fair with him and his gang. His gang of right-wing zealots harassed Barbara Boxer, Brown Shirt-style, to chase her press conference out of Newport Beach. While Herschensohn offered a shallow apology, he never scourged his campaign of the right-wing desperadoes. The Newport Beach incident was the low-point in 1992 campaign, and nothing the Democrats did compared to its destructive tone. The whole campaign showed that after 24 years of Nixon/Reagan/Bush a prominent Republican finally got bitten by their own dog--hardball politics.

YOLANDA GARCIA

Los Angeles