Do we want change Seals will bring?

I keep hearing from Dan Seals and his supporters that we should overlook Seals' glaring lack of any relevant experience because he'll help bring "change." But what sort of change will Seals bring? If the people he chooses to associate with are any indication, it is change that we can, and should, live without.

The New York Times recently revealed that the Seals' single biggest donor, Congressman Charles Rangel, has engaged in a 20-year pattern of income tax fraud, hiding over $75,000 in income from tax authorities. It's made even worse by the fact that Rangel chairs the Ways and Means committee, the House committee that WRITES the tax code. Rangel is so arrogant he won't even follow laws that he wrote.

But Rangel is not the only unethical politician Seals associates with. He invited Dan Rostenkowski, a former Congressman and convicted thief, to address a class he was teaching on federal policy. Bob Creamer, convicted on several counts of bank fraud, is a close Seals adviser and trained most of his campaign staff. And State Sen. Terry Link, whose campaign workers were recently indicted on a charge of forging nominating petitions, is a key Seals ally.

That's why I'm uneasy when he talks about the change that he is going to bring to Washington. With these people as models, do we want the sort of change he says he's likely to bring?

Larry Goldberg

Northbrook