Letter to the Editor

No guarantees on revenue use in Proposition A

To the editor:

Personally, I do not care whether or not Proposition A passes. I quit tobacco years ago. What concerns me is the track records of past revenue-enhancement proposals.

I recall a governor saying in TV ads that income from lottery and gambling boats would help schools. I also recall the citizens' outrage when it was learned that almost all of the revenue was going into the general fund.

I recall being told how much improved travel would be when another proposition passed for long-term highway plans. Yet I also recall that some of the money was frittered away, some wasted and some just lost.

I recall there is some continuing problem about the use of the state's share of money from the tobacco-lawsuit settlement: how to get a big piece of it to supporters of state officials and legislators.

I find no wording in Proposition A which would guarantee that most of the income would go for health purposes. Our legislators are sufficiently clever and cunning to be able to divert much of any revenue derived from this proposition to political purposes, pet projects, pet lawyers and pet researchers. In fact, I think some may already have plans devised. I cannot support any legislation which does not include accountability and liability in its text.

JOHN E. STROUT

Cape Girardeau